“Among our egocentric sad-sacks, despair is as addictive as heroin and more popular than sex, for the single reason that when one is unhappy one gets to pay a lot of attention to oneself. Misery becomes a kind of emotional masturbation.”

— Tom Robbins, book Wild Ducks Flying Backward

Source: Wild Ducks Flying Backward

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Among our egocentric sad-sacks, despair is as addictive as heroin and more popular than sex, for the single reason that…" by Tom Robbins?

Tom Robbins250

American writer 1932

Related quotes

“The unhappy person resents it when you try to cheer him up, because that means he has to stop dwelling on himself and start paying attention to the universe. Unhappiness is the ultimate form of self-indulgence. When you're unhappy, you get to pay a lot of attention to yourself. You get to take yourself oh so very seriously.”

Tom Robbins book Jitterbug Perfume

Jitterbug Perfume (1984)

“It’s pretty sad that people think low Congressional staff pay is a good thing. Low pay a big reason why money in politics is a problem - you can make a lot more money becoming a lobbyist & setting up a relationship w/ one, since the actual job doesn’t pay enough.”

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (1989) American politician

Twitter Quotes (2019), February 2019

“Love is what makes sex more than masturbation. If there is no love even if you are really with a partner you masturbate with a partner.”

Slavoj Žižek (1949) Slovene philosopher

Interview in HARDtalk, BBC World Service (12 January 2010)

“Someone who is paying attention can do the same thing that Trump is doing with hate, and do it with love, and become president … That’s kind of beautiful. There’s nothing more optimistic than that.”

Penn Jillette (1955) American magician

2010s, Why Penn Jillette is Terrified of a President Trump (2016)
Context: Someone who is paying attention can do the same thing that Trump is doing with hate, and do it with love, and become president … That’s kind of beautiful. There’s nothing more optimistic than that. … Donald Trump does, when it comes right down to it, fuck up everything … He fucks up his casinos. He fucks up his buildings.... Maybe he’ll fuck up his campaign before he fucks up the country.

“We don't know where breakthroughs will come from and there is no guarantee that they will come from a popular area which is currently drawing a lot of attention. I think the natural pattern is that something new, something which no one was paying attention to before appears when there is a bottleneck. It would be a serious mistake to nip things like this in the bud.”

Makoto Kobayashi (physicist) (1944) Japanese physicist

Interview, IPMU News No 5 (March 2009) http://www.ipmu.jp/ipmu-news/005/012-015-Interview.pdf

“[On Sid Vicious] Yes I can take on England, but I couldn't take on one heroin addict.”

John Lydon (1956) English singer, songwriter, and musician

The Filth and the Fury (2000)

“One must not let oneself be overwhelmed by sadness.”

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929–1994) public figure, First Lady to 35th U.S. President John F. Kennedy

Quoted in The Unknown Wisdom of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1994) edited by Bill Adler

“If we get more of what we pay for, then let’s pay to get more dads, rather than pay more when dads are absent.”

Warren Farrell (1943) author, spokesperson, expert witness, political candidate

Source: The Boy Crisis (2018), pp. 227

“Love and the gracious heart are a single thing…
one can no more be without the other
than the reasoning mind without its reason.”

Dante Alighieri book Vita Nuova

Amore e 'l cor gentil sono una cosa...
e così esser l'un sanza l'altro osa
com'alma razional sanza ragione.
Source: La Vita Nuova (1293), Chapter XVI (tr. Mark Musa)

“Kids are like heroin, a little heroin addiction. When it’s bad, you’ve never been so miserable, but when it’s good you’ve never been so high.”

Dan Savage (1964) American sex advice columnist and gay rights campaigner

“Among our egocentric sad-sacks, despair is as addictive as heroin and more popular than sex, for the single reason that when one is unhappy one gets to pay a lot of attention to oneself. Misery becomes a kind of emotional masturbation.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Tom Robbins250

Related quotes

Related topics