--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We prefer a meaningless collective guilt…" description: "\"We prefer a meaningless collective guilt to a meaningful individual responsibility\" — Thomas Szasz" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ab/thomas-szasz-3801_collectives_we-prefer-a-meaningless-collective-guilt_3230355.jpg" --- # We prefer a meaningless collective guilt to a meaningful… ![“We prefer a meaningless collective guilt to a meaningful individual responsibility” quote by Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ab/thomas-szasz-3801_collectives_we-prefer-a-meaningless-collective-guilt_3230355.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ab/thomas-szasz-3801_collectives_we-prefer-a-meaningless-collective-guilt_3230355.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ab/thomas-szasz-3801_collectives_we-prefer-a-meaningless-collective-guilt_3230355.jpg) > “We prefer a meaningless collective guilt to a meaningful individual responsibility” [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Collective guilt is empty, while personal responsibility drives meaningful change. **In simple terms:** Responsibility matters more than blame. Key Takeaway Embrace personal accountability. Themes ethics individualism society Mood reflective critical Type philosophical ethical When to use this quote - workplace culture - public policy - personal development Key Concepts moral philosophy psychology Questions to Reflect On - What responsibility are you avoiding? - How does blame affect your actions? A Different Perspective Collective guilt can sometimes motivate group solidarity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Collective Guilt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/collective-guilt-320413/) [Collectives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/collectives/) [Guilt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/guilt/) [Guilt Meaningful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/guilt-meaningful-6108729/) [Individual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/individual/) [Individual responsibility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/individual-responsibility/) [Meaningful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/meaningful/) [Meaningless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/meaningless/) [Prefer Meaningless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prefer-meaningless-6108730/) [Regret](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/regret/) [Responsibility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/responsibility/) ## Related quotes > [Punishment is now unfashionable... because it creates moral distinctions among men, which, to the democratic mind, are odious. We prefer a meaningless collective guilt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/punishment-is-now-unfashionable-because-it-creates-moral-distinctions/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [The application of collective guilt, running from one generation to another, is a dangerous doctrine which would leave few modern nations unscathed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-thatcher/the-application-of-collective-guilt-running-from-one-generation-to/) [Margaret Thatcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-thatcher/) > [I don't believe in collective guilt, but I do believe in collective responsibility.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audrey-hepburn/i-don-t-believe-in-collective-guilt-but-i-do-believe-in-collective/) [Audrey Hepburn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audrey-hepburn/) > [“there is no collective guilt,...guilt is individual, like salvation.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-forsyth/there-is-no-collective-guilt-guilt-is-individual-like-salvation/) [Frederick Forsyth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-forsyth/) > [I do not believe in collective guilt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elie-wiesel/i-do-not-believe-in-collective-guilt/) [Elie Wiesel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elie-wiesel/) > [I don't believe in collective guilt. The children of killers are not killers, but children.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elie-wiesel/i-don-t-believe-in-collective-guilt-the-children-of-killers-are-not/) [Elie Wiesel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elie-wiesel/) > [As for the concept of collective guilt, I personally think that it is totally unjustified to hold one person responsible for the behavior of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/as-for-the-concept-of-collective-guilt-i-personally-think-that-it-is/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Collective guilt is borne by what is conventionally called the scapegoat. Now the scapegoat for white society - which is based on myths of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frantz-fanon/collective-guilt-is-borne-by-what-is-conventionally-called-the/) [Frantz Fanon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frantz-fanon/) > [There is no such thing as collective guilt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-waldheim/there-is-no-such-thing-as-collective-guilt/) [Kurt Waldheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-waldheim/) > [Where all are guilty, no one is; confessions of collective guilt are the best possible safeguard against the discovery of culprits, and the very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/where-all-are-guilty-no-one-is-confessions-of-collective-guilt-are/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“Still, among the critics of the concept of collective guilt, Bultmann was one of the few who spoke of a collective responsibility of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hammann-konrad/still-among-the-critics-of-the-concept-of-collective-guilt-bultmann/) [Hammann Konrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hammann-konrad/) > [The core of racism is the notion that the individual is meaningless and that membership in the collective - the race - is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-schwartz/the-core-of-racism-is-the-notion-that-the-individual-is-meaningless/) [Peter Schwartz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-schwartz/) > [“Each and every member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints bears a personal responsibility to learn and live the truths of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-a-bednar/each-and-every-member-of-the-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day/) [David A. Bednar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-a-bednar/) > [Nothing strengthens the judgment and quickens the conscience like individual responsibility.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-cady-stanton/nothing-strengthens-the-judgment-and-quickens-the-conscience-like/) [Elizabeth Cady Stanton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-cady-stanton/) > [Nations are beginning to look to some vague organization, some nebulous course of humanity, to pay their bills and tell them what to do.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/calvin-coolidge/nations-are-beginning-to-look-to-some-vague-organization-some/) [Calvin Coolidge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/calvin-coolidge/) ## More by Thomas Szasz > [Institutional psychiatry is a continuation of the Inquisition. All that has really changed is the vocabulary and the social style. The vocabulary conforms to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/institutional-psychiatry-is-a-continuation-of-the-inquisition-all/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [By pretending that convention is Nature, that disobeying a personal prohibition is a medical illness, they establish themselves as agents of social control and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/by-pretending-that-convention-is-nature-that-disobeying-a-personal/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [We shall therefore compare the concept of homosexuality as heresy, prevalent in the days of the witch-hunts, with the concept of homosexuality as mental…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/we-shall-therefore-compare-the-concept-of-homosexuality-as-heresy/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [The basic ingredients of psychotherapy are religion, rhetoric, and repression, which are themselves mutually overlapping categories.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/the-basic-ingredients-of-psychotherapy-are-religion-rhetoric-and/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [For Jews, the Messiah has never come; for Christians, He has come but once; for modern man, He appears and disappears with increasing rapidity.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/for-jews-the-messiah-has-never-come-for-christians-he-has-come-but/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [I submit that the traditional definition of psychiatry, which is still vogue, places it alongside such things as alchemy and astrology, and commits it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/i-submit-that-the-traditional-definition-of-psychiatry-which-is-still/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [I believe the time has come to acknowledge that the practice of routine circumcision rests on the absurd premise that the only mammal in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/i-believe-the-time-has-come-to-acknowledge-that-the-practice-of/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [He who does not accept and respect those who want to reject life does not truly accept and respect life itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/he-who-does-not-accept-and-respect-those-who-want-to-reject-life-does/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [The passion to interpret as madness that with which we disagree seems to have infected the best of contemporary minds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/the-passion-to-interpret-as-madness-that-with-which-we-disagree-seems/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [We should pledge ourselves to the proposition that the irresponsible life is not worth living.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/we-should-pledge-ourselves-to-the-proposition-that-the-irresponsible/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [A child becomes an adult when he realizes that he has a right not only to be right but also to be wrong.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/a-child-becomes-an-adult-when-he-realizes-that-he-has-a-right-not/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [We have, in our day, witnessed the birth of the Therapeutic State. This is perhaps the major implication of psychiatry as an institution of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/we-have-in-our-day-witnessed-the-birth-of-the-therapeutic-state-this/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [The homosexual is a scapegoat who evokes no sympathy. Hence, he can only be a victim, never a martyr.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/the-homosexual-is-a-scapegoat-who-evokes-no-sympathy-hence-he-can/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [People dream of making the virtuous powerful, so they can depend upon them. Since they cannot do that, people choose to make the powerful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/people-dream-of-making-the-virtuous-powerful-so-they-can-depend-upon/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [The greatest analgesic, soporific, stimulant, tranquilizer, narcotic, and to some extent even antibiotic - in short, the closest thing to a genuine panacea -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/the-greatest-analgesic-soporific-stimulant-tranquilizer-narcotic-and/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) [Explore all 121 Thomas Szasz quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) ## More Collectives quotes > [Where I grew up, learning was a collective activity. But when I got to school and tried to share learning with other students that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/where-i-grew-up-learning-was-a-collective-activity-but-when-i-got-to/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [As in any machine, all the wires must be connected to the mains through one main wire. In the same way, you all must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nirmala-srivastava/as-in-any-machine-all-the-wires-must-be-connected-to-the-mains/) [Nirmala Srivastava](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nirmala-srivastava/) > [What is accurately portrayed is the rich humanity not just of Martin Luther King but of the movement, which was a multiracial movement. You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/what-is-accurately-portrayed-is-the-rich-humanity-not-just-of-martin/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [It clearly follows that to make men moral it is necessary to make their social environment moral. And that can be done in only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mikhail-bakunin/it-clearly-follows-that-to-make-men-moral-it-is-necessary-to-make/) [Mikhail Bakunin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mikhail-bakunin/) > [There is a way in which the collective knowledge of mankind expresses itself, for the finite individual, through mere daily living . . .…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurens-van-der-post/there-is-a-way-in-which-the-collective-knowledge-of-mankind-expresses/) [Laurens van der Post](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurens-van-der-post/) > [The law is the collective organization of the individual's right to lawful defense of his life, liberty and property. When it is used for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederic-bastiat/the-law-is-the-collective-organization-of-the-individual-s-right-to/) [Frederic Bastiat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederic-bastiat/) > [But we need to be very clear: because of our decades of collective denial, no gradual, incremental options are now available to us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-klein/but-we-need-to-be-very-clear-because-of-our-decades-of-collective/) [Naomi Klein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-klein/) > [A “collective” mind does not exist. It is merely the sum of endless numbers of individual minds. If we have an endless number of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/a-collective-mind-does-not-exist-it-is-merely-the-sum-of-endless/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Through Sahaja Yoga what happens to you, that you become a collective personality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nirmala-srivastava/through-sahaja-yoga-what-happens-to-you-that-you-become-a-collective/) [Nirmala Srivastava](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nirmala-srivastava/) > [If you don't allow people to contribute, to offer their point of view, or to criticize what has been put before them, then they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nelson-mandela/if-you-don-t-allow-people-to-contribute-to-offer-their-point-of-view/) [Nelson Mandela](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nelson-mandela/) > [“The whole organization seemed to be in free fall, indulging in a collective fantasy in which experienced colleagues refused to admit that their every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-whole-organization-seemed-to-be-in-free-fall-indulging-in-a/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [We seem to have lost contact with the earlier, more profound functions of art, which have always had to do with personal and collective…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-london/we-seem-to-have-lost-contact-with-the-earlier-more-profound-functions/) [Peter London](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-london/) > [If you need someone to come out of the sewer with a wire you don't hire someone who needs laborious collective instruction. You let…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-monahan/if-you-need-someone-to-come-out-of-the-sewer-with-a-wire-you-don-t/) [William Monahan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-monahan/) > [For all the civilians saved thanks to the presence of peacekeepers, there have been those who were lost - the United Nations personnel who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-eliasson/for-all-the-civilians-saved-thanks-to-the-presence-of-peacekeepers/) [Jan Eliasson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-eliasson/) > [Man, in the collective sense, is the hero of science. Man, in the collective sense, is the hero of Earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacque-fresco/man-in-the-collective-sense-is-the-hero-of-science-man-in-the/) [Jacque Fresco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacque-fresco/) [Browse all 1,039 Collectives quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/collectives/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We prefer a meaningless collective guilt to a meaningful individual responsibility", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Szasz" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/we-prefer-a-meaningless-collective-guilt-to-a-meaningful-individual/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Collectives" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/we-prefer-a-meaningless-collective-guilt-to-a-meaningful-individual/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ab/thomas-szasz-3801_collectives_we-prefer-a-meaningless-collective-guilt_3230355.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ab/thomas-szasz-3801_collectives_we-prefer-a-meaningless-collective-guilt_3230355.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ab/thomas-szasz-3801_collectives_we-prefer-a-meaningless-collective-guilt_3230355.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We prefer a meaningless collective guilt to a meaningful individual responsibility” — Thomas Szasz", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Thomas Szasz", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "We prefer a meaningless collective guilt...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/we-prefer-a-meaningless-collective-guilt-to-a-meaningful-individual/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/we-prefer-a-meaningless-collective-guilt-to-a-meaningful-individual/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```