Who said “Society highly values its normal man. It educates children to lose themselves and to…”?

Verified

R. D. Laing. A published source records them saying or writing it.

SourceThe Politics of Experience (1967)

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“Society highly values its normal man. It educates children to lose themselves and to become absurd, and thus to be normal. Normal men have killed perhaps 100,000,000 of their fellow normal men in the last fifty years.”
— R. D. Laing
VerifiedThe Politics of Experience (1967) · evidenceNormality

Cite this quote

For academic work, cite the original where you can: The Politics of Experience (1967).

APA

Laing, R. D. (n.d.). Society highly values its normal man. It educates children to lose themselves and to become absurd, and thus to be normal. Normal men have killed perhaps 100,000,000 of their fellow normal men in the last fifty years. [Quotation]. Famous Quotations Network. Retrieved October 24, 2026, from https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/14749-society-highly-values-its-normal-man-it-educates/

MLA

Laing, R. D. “Society highly values its normal man. It educates children to lose themselves and to become absurd, and thus to be normal. Normal men have killed perhaps 100,000,000 of their fellow normal men in the last fifty years.” Famous Quotations Network, https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/14749-society-highly-values-its-normal-man-it-educates/. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Laing, R. D. “Society highly values its normal man. It educates children to lose themselves and to become absurd, and thus to be normal. Normal men have killed perhaps 100,000,000 of their fellow normal men in the last fifty years.” Famous Quotations Network. Accessed October 24, 2026. https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/14749-society-highly-values-its-normal-man-it-educates/.

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More quotes by R. D. Laing

“Alienation as our present destiny is achieved only by outrageous violence perpetrated by human beings on human beings.”
VerifiedThe Politics of Experience (1967), p. 3 of Introduction · evidenceDetails & citeAlienation
“Schizophrenia cannot be understood without understanding despair.”
Mental Illness
“Whether life is worth living depends on whether there is love in life.”
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“The experience and behavior that gets labeled schizophrenic is a special strategy that a person invents in order to live in an unlivable situation.”
Madness
“Madness need not be all breakdown. It may also be break-through. It is potential liberation and renewal as well as enslavement and existential death.”
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All 12 R. D. Laing quotes →