R. D. Laing

insanity adjustment insane world

“Insanity — a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world.”

—R. D. Laing (1927-1989)

life sexually transmitted disease mortality

“Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent.”

—R. D. Laing (1927-1989)

madness breakdown break-through liberation enewal

“Madness need not be all breakdown. It may also be break-through. It is potential liberation and renewal as well as enslavement and existential death.”

—R. D. Laing (1927-1989)

life living depend love

“Whether life is worth living depends on whether there is love in life.”

—R. D. Laing (1927-1989)

pain life avoid

“There is a great deal of pain in life and perhaps the only pain that can be avoided is the pain that comes from trying to avoid pain. ”

—R. D. Laing (1927-1989)

range think do limit fail notice thought deed

“The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice, there is little we can do to change; until we notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds.”

—R. D. Laing (1927-1989)

playing game not rules punish

“They are playing a game. They are playing at not playing a game. If I show them I see they are, I shall break the rules and they will punish me. I must play their game, of not seeing I see the game”

—R. D. Laing (1927-1989)

history change speed see present disappear

“We live in a moment of history where change is so speeded up that we begin to see the present only when it is already disappearing.”

—R. D. Laing (1927-1989)

human beings unlimited capacity deceive lies truth

“Human beings seem to have an almost unlimited capacity to deceive themselves, and to deceive themselves into taking their own lies for truth.”

—R. D. Laing (1927-1989)

murderer prostitute culture society normal moral mature

“we are all murderers and prostitutes – no matter to what culture, society, class, nation one belongs, no matter how normal, moral, or mature, one takes oneself to be.”

—R. D. Laing (1927-1989)

creative people mental territory risk

“Creative people who can't help but explore other mental territories are at greater risk, just as someone who climbs a mountain is more at risk than someone who just walks along a village lane.”

—R. D. Laing (1927-1989)

alienation asleep unconscious normal absurd kill

"The condition of alienation, of being asleep, of being unconscious, of being out of one’s mind, is the condition of the normal man. Society highly values its normal man. It educates children to lose themselves and to become absurd, and thus to be normal. Normal men have killed perhaps 100,000,000 of their fellow normal men in the last fifty years."

—R. D. Laing (1927-1989)

passion do company life create fake priceless

"If you have passion for what you do, the company you keep, the life you live, it will be reflected in whatever you create. Passion is like that; it springs out, jumps, unpredictable and unplanned, into everything we touch. If it doesn't, others know. Passion can't be faked and it can't be manufactured. Which is why it is so priceless."

—R. D. Laing (1927-1989)

realize afraid live love die

"We have to realize that we are as deeply afraid to live and to love as we are to die."

—R. D. Laing (1927-1989)

do not know think

"If I do not know that I do not know, I think I know.

If I do not know that I know, I think I do not know."

—R. D. Laing (1927-1989)

range think do limit fail notice

"The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice."

—R. D. Laing (1927-1989)

normal repression denial project destructive action

"What we call "normal" is a product of repression, denial, splitting, projection, introjection, and other forms of destructive actions on experience...It is radically estranged from the structure of being."

—R. D. Laing (1927-1989)

psychological breakdown enlightenment

"Psychological breakdowns are actually breakthroughs to enlightenment."

—R. D. Laing (1927-1989)

insanity natural adjustment unnatural negative environment

"Insanity is a perfectly natural adjustment to a totally unnatural and negative environment."

—R. D. Laing (1927-1989)

revert truth suffering erased sheer lies

"If we can revert to the truth, then a great deal of one's suffering can be erased, because a great deal of one's suffering is based on sheer lies."

—R. D. Laing (1927-1989)