“The ability to play is one of the principal criteria of mental health.”

— Ashley Montagu

Ashley Montagu (1981, p. 156), cited in: Thomas J. Sweeney (1989), Adlerian counseling: a practical approach for a new decade, p. 54

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Aug. 22, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The ability to play is one of the principal criteria of mental health." by Ashley Montagu?

Ashley Montagu photo

Ashley Montagu 8

British-American anthropologist 1905–1999

Related quotes

“Of the two contradictory aspects, one must be principal and the other secondary. The principal aspect is the one playing the leading role in the contradiction. The nature of a thing is determined mainly by the principal aspect of a contradiction, the aspect that has gained the dominant position. But this situation is not static; the principal and the non-principal aspects of a contradiction transform themselves into each other and the nature of the thing changes accordingly.”

Mao Zedong book On Contradiction

On Contradiction (1937)

“I believe that one can and must hope for the collective regaining of a mental health that is characterized by the capacity to love and to create…”

Erich Fromm (1900–1980) German social psychologist and psychoanalyst

Credo (1965)
Context: I believe that one can and must hope for a sane society that furthers man’s capacity to love his fellow men, to work and create, to develop his reason and his objectivity of a sense of himself that is based on the experience of his productive energy.
I believe that one can and must hope for the collective regaining of a mental health that is characterized by the capacity to love and to create...

“I suspect the Haitian Ministry of Health's principal contribution to health in Haiti is providing nice, healthy jobs to those Haitians with the connection to get them.”

P. J. O'Rourke (1947) American journalist

All the Trouble in the World (1994)

“The first requisite for success is the ability to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem incessantly without growing weary.”

Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American inventor and businessman

“Health is a state of complete harmony of the body, mind and spirit. When one is free from physical disabilities and mental distractions, the gates of the soul open.”

B.K.S. Iyengar (1918–2014) Indian yoga teacher and scholar

Source: Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom, p. 48

“The principle that adequate health care should be provided for all, regardless of ability to pay, must be the foundation of any arrangements for financing the Health Service.”

Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British stateswoman and politician

Prime Minister's Questions (1 December 1981) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/104755
First term as Prime Minister

“In order to protect the physical hygiene and mental health of the living, we usually bury the dead.”

José Saramago book All the Names

Source: All the Names (1997), p. 181

“Because these people are operating at a very very low level of mental health, they are incapable of understanding the teaching.”

John Cleese (1939) actor from England

From Channel 4 documentary The Secret Life of Brian (2007)

“The ability to read awoke inside of me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive.”

Malcolm X book The Autobiography of Malcolm X

Source: The Autobiography of Malcolm X

“A lack of desire to spend money becomes a symptom of disease that requires expensive medication. Which medication then destroys the libido, in other words destroys the appetite for the one pleasure in life that's free, which means the person has to spend even more money on compensatory pleasures. The very definition of mental 'health' is the ability to participate in the consumer economy. When you buy into therapy, you're buying into buying.”

Jonathan Franzen book The Corrections

The Corrections (2001)

Related topics