“A neurosis defends itself by coming up with rationalizations to explain away bizarre behavior.”

— David Brin , book The Uplift War

Source: The Uplift War (1987), Chapter 35 (p. 221)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "A neurosis defends itself by coming up with rationalizations to explain away bizarre behavior." by David Brin?

David Brin 123

novelist, short story writer 1950

Charles Perrow (1925–2019) American sociologist

Source: 1970s, Complex organizations, 1972, p. 88

“Rational and kindly behavior tends to produce good results and these results remain good even when the behavior which produced them was itself produced by a pill.”

Aldous Huxley book Brave New World Revisited

"Brave New World Revisited" (1956), in Moksha: Writings on Psychedelics and the Visionary Experience (1977), p. 99

“Rationality requires a choice among all possible alternative behaviors. In actual behavior, only a very few of all these possible alternatives come to mind.”

Herbert A. Simon book Administrative Behavior

Source: 1940s-1950s, Administrative Behavior, 1947, p. 79; As cited in: Terry Winograd, ‎Fernando Flores (1986) Understanding Computers and Cognition: A New Foundation for Design. p. 21.

“No matter how calmly you try to referee, parenting will eventually produce bizarre behavior, and I'm not talking about the kids. Their behavior is always normal.”

Bill Cosby (1937) American actor, comedian, author, producer, musician, activist

“He begins to think for himself and meets Nineteenth-century Rationalism Which can explain away religion by any number of methods.”

Clive Staples Lewis book The Pilgrim's Regress

Pilgrim’s Regress 19–20
The Pilgrim's Regress (1933)

“Institutions are human behavior, and they are, therefore, to be explained by the characteristics of that behavior.”

George C. Homans (1910–1989) American sociologist

George C. Homans (1962), "Autobiographical introduction", in: Sentiments & activities; essays in social science https://archive.org/stream/sentimentsactivi00homa#page/34/mode/2up, p. 35

“As a "rational" being, he now places his behavior under the control of abstractions. He will no longer tolerate being carried away by sudden impressions, by intuitions.”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist

On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense (1873)
Context: The venerability, reliability, and utility of truth is something which a person demonstrates for himself from the contrast with the liar, whom no one trusts and everyone excludes. As a "rational" being, he now places his behavior under the control of abstractions. He will no longer tolerate being carried away by sudden impressions, by intuitions.

“No crime can ever be defended on rational grounds.”

Livy (-59–17 BC) Roman historian

Book XXVIII, sec. 28
History of Rome

“I hate rude behavior in a man,' he explained in his quiet, unassuming drawl. 'I won't tolerate it.' He politely tipped his hat, and rode away.”

Larry McMurtry Lonesome Dove

Source: Lonesome Dove

“The tendency to be rational is the consistent and hence predictable element in human behavior.”

David D. Friedman (1945) American economist, physicist, legal scholar, and libertarian theorist

Source: Price Theory: An Intermediate Text, 1986, p.4

“A neurosis defends itself by coming up with rationalizations to explain away bizarre behavior.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

David Brin 123

Related quotes

Related topics