WIST Quotations

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 8 (1963)

Dave — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 18:04:13 +0000

According to Oscar Wilde, all that experience teaches us is that history repeats itself, and that the sin we do once and with loathing we will do many times and with pleasure. But the neurotic knows that the sin he does once and with loathing he will do many times and with loathing.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913–1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 8 (1963)

See Wilde.

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 10 (1966)

Dave — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 15:53:45 +0000

A neurotic is someone who’s afraid to see himself as he’s afraid others see him.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913–1983) American journalist and author
The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 10 (1966)

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 4 (1963)

Dave — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 17:17:43 +0000

The neurotic circles ceaselessly above a fogged-in airport.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913–1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 4 (1963)

Szasz, Thomas -- “Mental Illness,” The Second Sin (1973)

Dave — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 14:48:56 +0000

Doubt is to certainty as neurosis is to psychosis. The neurotic is in doubt and has fears about persons and things; the psychotic has convictions and makes claims about them. In short, the neurotic has problems, the psychotic has solutions.

Thomas Szasz (1920–2012) Hungarian-American psychiatrist, educator
“Mental Illness,” The Second Sin (1973)