“Alienation as our present destiny is achieved only by outrageous violence perpetrated by human beings on human beings.”
Source: The Politics of Experience (1967), p. 3 of Introduction
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Ronald David Laing 30
Scottish psychiatrist and author 1927–1989Related quotes
1963, American University speech
Context: Let us examine our attitude toward peace itself. Too many of us think it is impossible. Too many think it unreal. But that is a dangerous, defeatist belief. It leads to the conclusion that war is inevitable — that mankind is doomed — that we are gripped by forces we cannot control. We need not accept that view. Our problems are manmade — therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. Man's reason and spirit have often solved the seemingly unsolvable — and we believe they can do it again.
Zero Gravity interview (2006)
“The greatest human achievement is to fulfil one’s destiny.”
Originally published in New Worlds Science Fiction, August 1965; reprinted in Michael Moorcock (ed.) Best SF Stories from New Worlds 4, p. 83
Short fiction, The Source (1965)
Source: A History of God (1993), Chapter 7, God of the Mystics
“Only by being cultivated does a human being … become altogether human and permeated by humanity.”
Nur durch die Bildung wird der Mensch, der es ganz ist überall menschlich und von Menschheit durchdrungen.
“Ideas,” Lucinde and the Fragments, P. Firchow, trans. (1991), § 65
On the Mindless Menace of Violence (1968)
Context: The victims of the violence are black and white, rich and poor, young and old, famous and unknown. They are, most important of all, human beings whom other human beings loved and needed. No one — no matter where he lives or what he does — can be certain who will suffer from some senseless act of bloodshed. And yet it goes on and on and on in this country of ours.
Living in Truth (1986), The Power of the Powerless
Source: Who Is Man? (1965), Ch. 5