The Szasz Quotationary

The Szasz Quotationary is a collection of excerpts and aphorisms from the writings of Thomas Szasz.

The Szasz Quotationary is a collection of excerpts and aphorisms from the writings of Thomas Szasz organized in 50 chapters arranged alphabetically by subject. For more than 60 years, Szasz has exposed the deceptive and coercive nature of the history, ideology and practice of psychiatry, calling mental illness “a myth,” involuntary commitment and treatment “a crime against humanity” and the insanity defense “incompatible with the principles of a free society.” His scathing critique of psychiatry has drawn the enmity of most of his colleagues and the admiration of those who believe as he does that coercive psychiatry has no place among liberty-loving people and should be abolished.

Szasz is a philosopher, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and professor emeritus of psychiatry at the State University of New York Upstate Medical University in Syracuse. He was born in Budapest in 1920. His books include The Myth of Mental Illness, The Manufacture of Madness, Insanity: The Idea and Its Consequences, Fatal Freedom, Pharmacracy, and Coercion as Cure.