All power of fancy over reason is a degree of insanity.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
No excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
We cannot unthink unless we are insane.
—Arthur Koestler (1905–83) British Writer, Journalist, Political Refugee
There is in every madman a misunderstood genius whose idea, shining in his head, frightened people, and for whom delirium was the only solution to the strangulation that life had prepared for him.
—Antonin Artaud (1896–1948) French Actor, Drama Theorist
When a man is pushed, tormented, defeated, he has a chance to learn something; he has been put on his wits … he has gained facts, learned his ignorance, is cured of the insanity of conceit, has got moderation and real skill.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
As a whole part of psychological education it needs to be remembered that a neurosis can be valuable; also that adjustment to a sick and insane environment is of itself not health but sickness and insanity.
—James Agee (1909–55) American Journalist, Poet, Screenwriter, Film Critic
Better mad with the rest of the world than wise alone.
—Baltasar Gracian (1601–58) Spanish Scholar, Prose Writer
Man disavows, and Deity disowns me: hell might afford my miseries a shelter; therefore hell keeps her ever-hungry mouths all bolted against me.
—William Cowper (1731–1800) English Anglican Poet, Hymn writer
Insanity is the only sane reaction to an insane society.
—Thomas Szasz (1920–2012) Hungarian-American Psychiatrist, Psychoanalyst
We are all born mad. Some remain so.
—Samuel Beckett (1906–1989) Irish Novelist, Playwright
I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–49) American Poet
Insanity is hereditary; you can get it from your children.
—Sam Levenson (1911–80) American Humorist, Writer, Teacher
For virtue’s self may too much zeal be had; the worst of madmen is a saint run mad.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
Sanity is very rare: every man almost, and every woman, has a dash of madness.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Now see that noble and most sovereign reason, like sweet bells jangled, out of time and harsh.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
You must always be puzzled by mental illness. The thing I would dread most, if I became mentally ill, would be your adopting a common sense attitude; that you could take it for granted that I was deluded.
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) Austrian-born British Philosopher
There is a thin line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.
—Oscar Levant (1906–72) American Musician, Composer, Author, Comedian, Actor
A mistake which is commonly made about neurotics is to suppose that they are interesting. It is not interesting to be always unhappy, engrossing with oneself, malignant and ungrateful, and never quite in touch with reality.
—Cyril Connolly (1903–74) British Literary Critic, Writer
Those whom God wishes to destroy, he first makes mad.
—Euripides (480–406 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
There is no great genius without some touch of madness.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked.
—Allen Ginsberg (1926–97) American Poet, Activist
The sanity of society is a balance of a thousand insanities.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Where does one go from a world of insanity? Somewhere on the other side of despair.
—T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) American-British Poet, Dramatist, Literary Critic
I may be crazy but it keeps me from going insane.
—Waylon Jennings (1937–2002) American Country Music Singer, Songwriter
Great wits are sure to madness near allied
And thin partitions do their bounds divide.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
There is no insanity so devastating in man’s life as utter sanity.
—William Allen White (1868–1944) American Journalist, Author, Editor
We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
In order to act, you must be somewhat insane. A reasonably sensible man is satisfied with thinking.
—Georges Clemenceau (1841–1929) French Statesman, Physician, Journalist
I teach that all men are mad.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
Insanity is contagious.
—Joseph Heller (1923–99) American Novelist
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