57 Quotes by Anthony Storr

All the world loves a lover, and a lover loves all the world.

It is a tragic paradox that the very qualities that have led to man's extraordinary capacity for success are also those most likely to destroy him.

If creative work protects a man against mental illness, it is small wonder that he pursues it with avidity; and even if the state of mind he is seeking to avoid is no more than a mild state of depression or apathy, this still constitutes a cogent reason for engaging in creative work even when it brings no obvious external benefit in its train.

The creative consequences of man's imaginative strivings may never make him whole; but they constitute his deepest consolations and his greatest glories.

When a man suffers from delusions he is described as mad but when a million do so they belong to a world religion

The creative person is constantly seeking to discover himself, to remodel his own identity, and to find meaning in what he creates.

Avoidance behavior is a response designed to protect the infant from behavioral disorganization. If we transfer this concept to adult life, we can see that an avoidant infant might very well develop into a person whose principal need was to find some kind of meaning and order in life which was not entirely, or even chiefly, dependent upon interpersonal relationships

Inspiration cannot be willed, though it can be wooed.

Imagination flourishes best in solitude.