Quotes from Anthony Stevens

If a man knows more than others, he becomes lonely,

There are things that are not yet true today, perhaps we dare not find them true, but tomorrow they may be. So every man whose fate is to go his individual way must proceed with hopefulness and watchfulness, ever conscious of his loneliness and its dangers

The need to create a citadel in which to hide from the world is characteristic of people with a schizoid disposition

To Jung, the purpose of life was to realize one's own potential, to follow one's own perception of the truth, and to become a whole person in one's own right. This was the goal of individuation, as he later called it. If he was to keep faith with himself, he had to go his own way: it would have been impossible for him to spend his life playing second fiddle in a two-man band.

To be normal', he said, 'is the ideal aim of the unsuccessful.

the despair displayed by young children on loss of their mother is a normal response to frustration of their absolute need for her presence ... children usually manage to survive, it is true, but at the cost of developing a defensive attitude to emotional detachment, and by becoming self-absorbed and self-reliant to an unusual degree. Typically, they are left with lasting doubts about their capacity to elicit care and affection.

It is indeed no small matter to know one's own guilt and one's own evil, and there is certainly nothing to be gained by losing sight of one's shadow. When we are conscious of our guilt we are in a more favourable position – we can at least hope to change and improve ourselves

I feel it is the duty of one who goes his own way to inform society of what he finds on his voyage of discovery,' he wrote.

To be normal is the ideal aim of the unsuccessful" ~ Carl Gustav Jung (1987-1961) as cited in Anthony Stevens

The specious idea that gender differences are due entirely to culture, and have nothing to do with biological or archetypal predispositions, still enjoys wide currency in our society, yet it rests on the discredited tabula rasa theory of human development and is at variance with the overwhelming mass of anthropological and scientific evidence.

I feel it is the duty of one who goes his own way to inform society of what he finds on his voyage of discovery" ~ Carl Gustave Jung

In addition to the Self, Jung postulated archetypal components which play specific roles in the psychic development and social adjustment of everyone. These include the ego, persona, shadow, anima, and animus. Jung considered these to be archetypal structures which are built into the personal psyche in the form of complexes during the course of development. Each is a psychic organ operating in accordance with the biological principles of adaptation, homeostasis, and growth.

There are things that are not yet true today, perhaps we dare not fine them true, but tomorrow they may be. So every man whose fate it is to go his individual way must proceed with hopefulness and watchfulness, ever conscious of his loneliness and its dangers

through the miracle of consciousness, the human psyche provides the mirror in which Nature sees herself reflected.

Clinical diagnoses are important, since they give the doctor a certain orientation. But they do not help the patient. The crucial thing is the story. For it alone shows the human background and the human suffering, and only at that point can the doctor's therapy begin to operate

Looking back on his life he reflected, 'In my case it must have been a passionate urge to understanding that brought about my birth. For that is the strongest element in my nature' (MDR 297).

But unlike many of his detractors, one suspects, Jung worked on his shadow: 'It is indeed no small matter to know one's own guilt and one's own evil, and there is certainly nothing to be gained by losing sight of one's shadow. When we are conscious of our guilt we are in a more favourable position – we can at least hope to change and improve ourselves' (CW X, para. 440).

Archetypes are 'identical psychic structures common to all' (CW V, para. 224), which together constitute 'the archaic heritage of humanity' (CW V, para. 259).

Neurosis, he said, in the nearest he came to a definitive definition, is the suffering of a soul that has not found its meaning.

My patients brought me so close to the reality of human life that I could not help learning essential things from them. Encounters with people of so many different kinds and on so many different psychological levels have been for me incomparably more important than fragmentary conversations with celebrities

cryptomnesia (lit. hidden memory) – that although he had lost all conscious recollection of Binet's work, it had none the less borne fruit in his personal unconscious.

What distinguishes the Jungian approach to developmental psychology from virtually all others is the idea that even in old age we are growing towards realization of our full potential.

Those who reject the archetypal hypothesis remain unimpressed by the discovery of parallel themes in myths derived from different parts of the world,

Archetypes versus cultural transmission Those who reject the archetypal hypothesis remain unimpressed by the discovery of parallel themes in myths derived from different parts of the world, maintaining that these can be explained just as well by human migration and cultural diffusion as by an innate predisposition.