47 quotes
Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist (1875–1961)
“Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”
"As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being."
on Life
"Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment and especially on their children than the unlived life of the parent."
on Parenting
"Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate."
on Philosophy
""...the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being."
"Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves."
"What is not brought to consciousness, comes to us as fate."
"When an inner situation is not made conscious it appears outside as fate."
"The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely."
on Fear
"Whatever is rejected from the self, appears in the world as an event."
"The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed."
"In the last analysis, most of our difficulties come from losing contact with our instincts, with the age-old forgotten wisdom stored up in us."
on Wisdom
"I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become."
on Identity
"Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness."
on Happiness
"The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are."
"Know all the theories, master all the techniques, but as you touch a human soul be just another human soul."
on Empathy
"Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people."
"How can I be substantial if I do not cast a shadow? I must have a dark side also If I am to be whole"
"The gods have become our diseases."
on Psychology
"I am astonished, disappointed, pleased with myself. I am distressed, depressed, rapturous. I am all these things at once and cannot add up the sum."
"Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol, morphine or idealism."
on Addiction