We have been taught to wish for it, but the wish to be understood may be our most vengeful demand, may be the way we hang on, as adults , to our grudge against our mothers; the way we never let our mothers off the hook for their not meeting our every need. Wanting to be understood, as adults, can be our most violent form of nostalgia.
To grow up is to discover what one is unequal to. - Adam Phillips
To grow up is to discover what one is unequal to.
- Adam Phillips
Tragic heroes are failed pragmatists. Their ends are unrealistic and their means are impractical. - Adam Phillips
Tragic heroes are failed pragmatists. Their ends are unrealistic and their means are impractical.
The past influences everything and dictates nothing. - Adam Phillips
The past influences everything and dictates nothing.
Everybody is dealing with how much of their own aliveness they can bear and how much they need to anesthetize themselves. - Adam Phillips
Everybody is dealing with how much of their own aliveness they can bear and how much they need to anesthetize themselves.
Believing in religion is like believing that adulthood is the solution to childhood. - Adam Phillips
Believing in religion is like believing that adulthood is the solution to childhood.
The vocabulary of one’s self-criticism is so impoverished and clichéd. We are at our most stupid in our self-hatred. - Adam Phillips
The vocabulary of one’s self-criticism is so impoverished and clichéd. We are at our most stupid in our self-hatred.
Monogamy is a way of getting the versions of ourselves down to the minimum. - Adam Phillips
Monogamy is a way of getting the versions of ourselves down to the minimum.
There is always a ..belief that by destroying the thing that we love we destroy our needs - Adam Phillips
There is always a ..belief that by destroying the thing that we love we destroy our needs
People change, but there really are limits. One thing you discover in psychoanalytic treatment is the limits of what you can change about yourself or… - Adam Phillips
People change, but there really are limits. One thing you discover in psychoanalytic treatment is the limits of what you can change about yourself or…
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