The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they’re okay, then it’s you.
—Rita Mae Brown (b.1944) American Writer, Feminist
What frightens us most in a madman is his sane conversation.
—Anatole France (1844–1924) French Novelist
I have my own little world, but it’s okay – they know me here.
—Unknown
In things pertaining to enthusiasm, no man is sane who does not know how to be insane on proper occasions.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
You only require two things in life: your sanity and your wife
—Tony Blair (b.1953) British Statesman
One of the definitions of sanity is the ability to tell real from unreal. Soon we’ll need a new definition
—Alvin Toffler (1928–2016) American Writer, Futurist, Businessman
To disagree with three-fourths of the British public is one of the first requisites of sanity
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Sanity is madness put to good uses.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
Might we not say to the confused voices which sometimes arise from the depths of our being: “Ladies, be so kind as to speak only four at a time?”
—Sophie Swetchine (1782–1857) Russian Mystic, Writer
Show me a sane man and I will cure him for you.
—Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) Swiss Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Philosopher
Sanity is a cozy lie
—Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American Writer, Philosopher
A lunatic may be “soothed,”… for a time, but in the end, he is very apt to become obstreperous. His cunning, too, is proverbial, and great…. When a madman appears thoroughly sane, indeed, it is high time to put him in a straight jacket.
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–49) American Poet
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 man who is “of sound mind” is one who keeps the inner madman under lock and key.
—Paul Valery (1871–1945) French Critic, Poet
An asylum for the sane would be empty in America.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Madness need not be all breakdown. It may also be break-through. It is potential liberation and renewal as well as enslavement and existential death.
—R. D. Laing (1927–89) Scottish Psychiatrist
I haven’t lost my mind; I have a tape back-up somewhere.
—Unknown
Madness is rare in individuals – but in groups, political parties, nations, and eras it’s the rule.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Sanity is the lot of those who are most obtuse, for lucidity destroys one’s equilibrium: it is unhealthy to honestly endure the labors of the mind which incessantly contradict what they have just established.
—Georges Bataille (1897–1962) French Essayist, Intellectual
We take our bearings, daily, from others. To be sane is, to a great extent, to be sociable.
—John Updike (1932–2009) American Novelist, Poet, Short-Story Writer
In a mad world, only the mad are sane.
—Akira Kurosawa (1910–98) Japanese Film Director, Film Producer, Screenwriter
A little madness in the Spring
Is wholesome even for the King.
—Emily Dickinson (1830–86) American Poet
What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy?
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b.1929) American Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer
Sanity is not statistical.
—George Orwell (1903–50) English Novelist, Journalist
There is no insanity so devastating in man’s life as utter sanity.
—William Allen White (1868–1944) American Journalist, Author, Editor
There was never a genius without a tincture of madness.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Everything great in the world comes from neurotics. They alone have founded our religions and composed our masterpieces.
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922) French Novelist
A man might pass for insane who should see things as they are.
—William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) American Unitarian Theologian, Poet
If you are physically sick, you can elicit the interest of a battery of physicians; but if you are mentally sick, you are lucky if the janitor comes around.
—Martin H. Fischer
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