Anthony Storr quotes

Anthony Storr was a British psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and author known for his writings on psychology and creativity. His books explored the complexities of the human mind and the psychological roots of creativity, solitude, and religion. He made significant contributions to both clinical practice and popular understanding of mental health. Here are 16 of his quotes:

Originality implies being bold enough to go beyond accepted norms.

Anthony Storr

If we did not look to marriage as the principal source of happiness, fewer marriages would end in tears.

Anthony Storr

I want to show that the dividing lines between sanity and mental illness have been drawn in the wrong place.

Anthony Storr

With the exception of certain rodents, no other vertebrate except Homo sapiens habitually destroys members of his own species.

Anthony Storr

The sane are madder than we think, the mad saner.

Anthony Storr

The professional must learn to be moved and touched emotionally, yet at the same time stand back objectively: I've seen a lot of damage done by tea and sympathy.

Anthony Storr

I get intrigued by a puzzle, and writing a book is the best way to solve it.

Anthony Storr

Since I was not able wholly to subscribe to any one set of beliefs advanced by any 'guru' I had to fall back on my own, however derivative.

Anthony Storr

Some split between the inner world and outer world is common to all behaviour, and the need to bridge the gap is the source of creative behaviour.

Anthony Storr

One man's faith is another man's delusion.

Anthony Storr

Few subsequent gurus seem to have matched the simplicity and directness of Jesus′s message; but it must be remembered that we have very little information. If the world had possessed a detailed biographical account of Jesus, an authentic picture of what he was like as a man, it is quite possible that Christianity would not have been estabished as a world religion.

Anthony Storr

In other words, gurus generalize from their own experience. Some gurus are inclined to believe that all humanity should accept their vision: others allege that, when the last trump sounds, their own followers will be saved, whilst the majority of mankind will remain unredeemed. This apparently arrogant assumption is closely connected with certain features of personality displayed by a variety of gurus.

Anthony Storr

It's not psychopathology that counts. It's what you do with it.

Anthony Storr

Gurdjieff then suddenly announced that he was going to Tuapse, on the Black Sea. The dutiful de Hartmanns followed. Their account of an exhausting nocturnal walk forced on them by Gurdjieff in spite of the fact that they were unsuitably clad and also dead tired is a striking example of the autocratic and unreasonable demands which Gurdjieff made on his followers which they nevertheless slavishly obeyed. Olga de Hartmann's feet were so swollen and bleeding that she could not put on her shoes and had to walk barefoot. Thomas de Hartmann had missed a night's sleep because he had been ordered to stay on guard. Their limbs ached and they were both exhausted; but they went on nevertheless.

Anthony Storr