“Anxiety is the unwillingness to play even when you know the odds are for you.”

— Thomas Szasz, The Second Sin (1973), "Emotions"

About Thomas Szasz

1920 – 2012

Hungarian-American psychiatrist and author of "The Myth of Mental Illness".

“The wise treat self-respect as non-negotiable, and will not trade it for health or wealth or anything else.”

“Boredom is the feeling that everything is a waste of time; serenity, that nothing is.”

“In the animal kingdom, the rule is, eat or be eaten; in the human kingdom, define or be defined.”

“When in doubt, tell the truth.”

“To withdraw is not to run away, and to stay is no wise action when there is more reason to fear than to hope.”

“You really only know when you know little. Doubt grows with knowledge.”

“There is not a truth existing which I fear or would wish unknown to the whole world.”

“Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.”

“It is a general popular error to suppose the loudest complainers for the publick to be the most anxious for its welfare.”