Silvan S. Tomkins > Quotes

“Reason without affect would be impotent, affect without reason would be blind.”
― Silvan S. Tomkins, Affect Imagery Consciousness 4 Volume Set

“Reason without affect would be impotent, affect without reason would be blind. The combination of affect and reason guarantees man's high degree of freedom.”
― Silvan S. Tomkins, Affect Imagery Consciousness 4 Volume Set

“Though he has not been driven out of the Garden of Eden to live by the sweat of his brow in fear of his God, nonetheless he knows what it means to be driven into that corner of Eden which is hell; and having internalised disgust and dissmell, he is now capable of judging others as he has been judged. Like his parent, he now both loves and wishes to control others and wants others to realise their best potentialities.”
― Silvan S. Tomkins

“[T]he self lives in the face, and within the face the self burns brightest in the eyes.”
― Silvan S. Tomkins

“Distress is not a toxic crippling affect which necessarily generates avoidance strategies, but rather promotes remedial strategies which can attack the sources of distress.”
― Silvan S. Tomkins