It is only when we no longer compulsively need someone that we can have a real relationship with them.

The ecstatic state of wholeness is bound to be transient because it has no part in the total pattern of ‘adaptation through maladaptation’ which is characteristic of our species…the hunger of imagination, the desire and pursuit of the whole, take origin from the realization that something is missing, from awareness of incompleteness.

Inspiration cannot be willed, though it can be wooed.

If we did not look to marriage as the principal source of happiness, fewer marriages would end in tears.

The human spirit is not indestructible but a courageous few discover that, when in hell, they are granted a glimpse of heaven.

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

With the exception of certain rodents, no other vertebrate except Homo sapiens habitually destroys members of his own species.

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

The sane are madder than we think, the mad saner.

The professional must learn to be moved and touched emotionally, yet at the same time stand back objectively: I've seen a lot of damage done by tea and sympathy.

Originality implies being bold enough to go beyond accepted norms.

Some split between the inner world and outer world is common to all behaviour, and the need to bridge the gap is the source of creative behaviour.

One man's faith is another man's delusion

I get intrigued by a puzzle, and writing a book is the best way to solve it.

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

Whether a belief is considered to be a delusion or not depends partly upon the intensity with which it is defended, and partly upon the numbers of people subscribing to it.

In a culture in which interpersonal relationships are generally considered to provide the answer to every form of distress, it is sometimes difficult to persuade well-meaning helpers that solitude can be as therapeutic as emotional support.