Adam Phillips Quotes

United Kingdom, Psychologist
September 19, 1954

Adam Phillips is a British psychotherapist and essayist. Since 2003 he has been the general editor of the new Penguin Modern Classics translations of Sigmund Freud. He is also a regular contributor to the London Review of Books.

To grow up is to discover what one is unequal to.

Adam Phillips
- Discover
- Grow Up
- Unequal
The past influences everything and dictates nothing.

Adam Phillips
- Past
- Influences
- Dictates

Everybody is dealing with how much of their own aliveness they can bear and how much they need to anesthetize themselves.

Adam Phillips
- Bear
- Dealing
- Aliveness
The big secret about Art is that no one wants it to be true.

Adam Phillips
- Art
- True
- Secret
Monogamy is a way of getting the versions of ourselves down to the minimum.

Adam Phillips
There is always a ..belief that by destroying the thing that we love we destroy our needs.

Adam Phillips
- Love
- Needs
- Belief
People change, but there really are limits. One thing you discover in psychoanalytic treatment is the limits of what you can change about yourself or your life. We are children for a very long time.

Adam Phillips
- People
- Change
- Limits
The vocabulary of one’s self-criticism is so impoverished and clichéd. We are at our most stupid in our self-hatred.

Adam Phillips