It seems a pity that psychology has destroyed all our knowledge of human nature. – G.K. Chesterton, London Observer, 9 December 1934

A mistake which is commonly made about neurotics is to suppose that they are interesting. It is not interesting to be always unhappy, engrossed with oneself, malignant and ungrateful, and never quite in touch with reality. – Cyril Connolly, The Unquiet Grave

Let the credulous and the vulgar continue to believe that all mental woes can be cured by a daily application of old Greek myths to their private parts. – Vladimir Nabokov, 1951

The purpose of psychology is to give us a completely different idea of the things we know best. – Paul Valéry, Tel Quel, 1943