Karl Menninger Quote
The adjuration to be "normal" seems shockingly repellent to me; I see neither hope nor comfort in sinking to that low level. I think it is ignorance that makes people think of abnormality only with horror and allows them to remain undismayed at the proximity of "normal" to average and mediocre. For surely anyone who achieves anything is, a priori, abnormal.
Karl Menninger
The adjuration to be "normal" seems shockingly repellent to me; I see neither hope nor comfort in sinking to that low level. I think it is ignorance that makes people think of abnormality only with horror and allows them to remain undismayed at the proximity of "normal" to average and mediocre. For surely anyone who achieves anything is, a priori, abnormal.
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abnormal, abnormality, achievement, average, excellence, horror, ignorance, mediocre, mediocrity, normal
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About Karl Menninger
He wrote many books including The Human Mind (1930), Man Against Himself (1938), Love Against Hate (1942), The Vital Balance (1963) and The Crime of Punishment (1968). During his life he advocated for a number of causes including children suffering from abuse or neglect, Native Americans, women's rights, prisoners, the elderly, the environment, wildlife, and against nuclear weapons.
Despite being one of the most famous psychiatrists during his time, he was an outsider to mainstream psychiatry, calling the DSM-II a modern “Witches Hammer Manual”