Quotes By Author: Irvin D. Yalom

“Religion has everything on its side: revelation, prophecies, government protection, the highest dignity and eminence…and more than this, the invaluable prerogative of being allowed to imprint its doctrines on the mind at a tender age of childhood, whereby they become almost innate ideas.”

“I think my quarry is illusion. I war against magic. I believe that, though illusion often cheers and comforts, it ultimately and invariably weakens and constricts the spirit.”

“Every person must choose how much truth he can stand.”

“If you kill God, you must also leave the shelter of the temple.”

“The freedom of an unscheduled afternoon brought confusion rather than joy. Julius had always been focused. When he was not seeing patients, other important projects and activities-writing, teaching, tennis, research-clamored for his attention. But today nothing seemed important. He suspected that nothing had ever been important, that his mind had arbitrarily imbued projects with importance and then cunningly covered its traces. Today he saw through the ruse of a lifetime. Today there was nothing important to do, and he ambled aimlessly down Union Street.”

“Life is a spark between two identical voids, the darkness before birth and the one after death.”

“The spirit of a man is constructed out of his choices.”

“It is wrong to bear children out of need, wrong to use a child to alleviate loneliness, wrong to provide purpose in life by reproducing another copy of oneself. It is wrong also to seek immortality by spewing one’s germ into the future as though sperm contains your consciousness!”

“Despair is the price one pays for self-awareness. Look deeply into life, and you’ll always find despair.”