Psychopaths Quotes

Psychopaths can assume the burden of mental accounting without any obvious distress. That is no accident: They are psychopaths. They do not care about others and are quite happy to sever relationships whenever the need arises. Some people are monsters of egocentricity. But lying unquestionably comes at a psychological cost for the rest of us. ~ Sam Harris

The man reeks of mental illness. I can taste his pathology... Goes well with my palette. ~ Juditta Salem

While I don't think sociopaths have any sort of moral urge to do good things, I think they can and do act morally in the context of pursuing their own advantage. A good analogy would be a corporation. There are a lot of corporations that do things that you like, maybe even good things, like produce vaccines or electric cars, although the primary motivation is to make a profit. But just because you are trying to make a profit doesn't mean you can't do it by doing things you like, or that you are good at, or that comport with the way you see the world, or want the world to see you. ~ M.E. Thomas

You're standing on an escalator and you're watching the people go past on the opposite escalator. If you could climb inside their brains you would see we aren't all the same. We aren't all good people just trying to do good. Some of us are psychopaths. And psychopaths are to blame for this brutal, misshapen society. They're the rocks thrown into the still pond. ~ Jon Ronson

It is easy to romanticise, say, tigers or lions and cats. We admire their magnificent beauty, strength and agility. But we would regard their notional human counterparts as wanton psychopaths of the worst kind. ~ David Pearce

The only thing that disturbs me is that many psychopaths say they had a very happy childhood. ~ David Lynch

That's what they do, psychopaths. They figure out your language, your currency, your needs, your dreams and fears. Then they figure out how to use those things to get what they want from you. Most ~ Lisa Unger

Narcissism: It's Primal. No Productive Control of Energy: Seeks constant fresh sources of stimulation and is highly energized running from human-object to human-object, activity to activity, but does not accomplish anything and never evolves or learns from activities and the many people recycled through. ~ Lynna Kivela

What can I say? People aren't observant. People don't question stuff like this. They never think twice about déjà vu when there could be a glitch in the Matrix. They walk past tramps in the streets without even glancing at their misfortune. They don't psychoanalyse the creators of slasher-horrors when they're probably all psychopaths. ~ Alice Oseman

We find people of value,' she said, speaking like a teacher addressing a small child, 'and we determine what story they need to hear. It's the story that they're already telling themselves, don't you see? It's the nightmare they believe in. Once you understand that nightmare, you join them in it. Their fear becomes your fear. It's all a shared experience then. And once you have that, once they feel that is the truth, all the way down to their core, then your coping strategy becomes theirs. It's a natural progression. This is the power of a shared narrative. Of the echo chamber. ~ Michael Koryta

See, she's proving to be an asset already," Lucifer exclaimed, rubbing his hands together. "I knew I was making the right choice pairing you up." "You're both insane," he muttered. "Thank you," they replied in chorus. And despite himself, Xaphan's lips almost twitched a smile in response. He clamped his mouth tight. I don't smile. Even for cute psychopaths. ~ Eve Langlais

There are two kinds of folks who sit around thinking about how to kill people: psychopaths and mystery writers. ~ Richard Castle

The Islamic State's ideology exerts powerful sway over a certain subset of the population. Life's hypocrisies and inconsistencies vanish in its face. Musa Cerantonio and the Salafis I met in London are unstumpable: No question I posed left them stuttering. They lectured me garrulously and, if one accepts their premises, convincingly. To call them un-Islamic appears, to me, to invite them into an argument that they would win. If they had been froth-spewing maniacs, I might be able to predict that their movement would burn out as the psychopaths detonated themselves or became drone-splats, one by one. But these men spoke with an academic precision that put me in mind of a good graduate seminar. I even enjoyed their company, and that frightened me as much as anything else. ~ Graeme Wood

If everyone could understand the working of a psychopath's mind, we undoubtedly would be closer to insanity ourselves. ~ Dan Simmons

You sick bastard," she said.
"Yes, I guess you could call me that." Terry replied. ~ Jonas Eriksson

Once we ask why it should be that all human beings - including infants, the intellectually disabled, criminal psychopaths, Hitler, Stalin, and the rest - have some kind of dignity or worth that no elephant, pig, or chimpanzee can ever achieve, we see that this question is as difficult to answer as our original request for some relevant fact that justifies the inequality of humans and other animals. ~ Peter Singer

Dad seemed lost in a depressed daze. He had recently been saying privately that the evangelical world was more or less being led by lunatics, psychopaths, and extremists, and agreeing with me that if "our side" ever won, America would be in deep trouble. But by then Dad was dying and knew he had very little time left. There was no time to change his life or his new "friends." All ~ Frank Schaeffer

Rationality plays a crucial role in decision making, but without the moral compass of emotions and the steady guide of empathy we would just be cold psychopaths. ~ Nikolaos Dimitriadis

In a nutshell, individual selection favors what we call sin and group selection favors virtue. The result is the internal conflict of conscience that afflicts all but psychopaths, estimated fortunately to make up only 1 to 4 percent of the population. The products of the opposing two vectors in natural selection are hardwired in our emotions and reasoning, and cannot be erased. Internal conflict is not a personal irregularity but a timeless human quality. No such conflict exists or can exist in an eagle, fox, or spider, for example, whose traits were born solely of individual selection, or a worker ant, whose social traits were shaped entirely by group selection. ~ Edward O. Wilson

If I think she' hot and it turns out she's a psychopath, then what does that say about me? I'm totally not ready for that kind of therapy. ~ Barry Lyga

If you ask me, psychopaths are more talented than the rest of us ... but they're still fucking psychopaths. ~ Jonathan Kellerman

But the fact is that we care a lot about what others think of us. The only people known to have no sociometer are psychopaths. ~ Jonathan Haidt

He's really sort of the devil. He's completely emotionally detached. He has no empathy. You find that in psychopaths. It's about power with Voldemort. It's an aphrodisiac for him. Power makes him feel alive. ~ Ralph Fiennes

There is only one motive for writing a novel: to be published and read. To me there is no distinction between the mystery novel and the novel, only between good books and bad books. A good book takes the reader into a new world of experience; it is an experiment. A bad book, unless the writing is inept, reinforces the intransigent attitude of the reader not to experiment with a new world. Since there are criminals and psychopaths and sociopaths in all my novels they are in a way psychological thrillers. ~ John Franklin Bardin

It's the doom of our species that psychopaths always want to be in charge. ~ Linda Nagata

We are all born with an innate understanding of interpersonal equity - the idea that if you lend me your rake today, I'll respond in kind when you come to borrow my shovel tomorrow. Or nearly all of us are born with that. Psychopaths aren't. ~ Jeffrey Kluger

…the subject is so important, and with 
such vast implications for society… The damage that psychopaths do to the global economy, and human civilization in general, is incalculable. ~ Robert D. Hare

Chefs are nutters. They're all self-obsessed, delicate, dainty, insecure little souls and absolute psychopaths. Every last one of them. ~ Gordon Ramsay

You might get the impression from the specifics of my less than stellar career that all line cooks are wacked-out moral degenerates, dope fiends, refugees, a thuggish assortment of drunks, sneak thieves, sluts and psychopaths. You wouldn't be too far off base. ~ Anthony Bourdain

Serial killers ruin families,' shrugged Bob. 'Corporate and political and religious psychopaths ruin economies. They ruin societies. ~ Jon Ronson

I'm just an innocent racist who likes to flirt with young adult women And I meet emotionally retarded misfits who are kinky about infants' feet, scheming psychopaths, suicidal emos, brain dead skinheads and mestizos posing as white supremacists. ~ Greg Deane

This was truly to be a radical milestone: the world's first-ever marathon nude psychotherapy session for criminal psychopaths. Elliott's raw, naked, LSD-fueled sessions lasted for epic eleven day stretches. The psychopaths spent every waking moment journeying to their darkest corners in an attempt to get better. There were no distractions - no television, no clothes, no clocks, no calendars, only a perpetual discussion (at least one hundred hours every week) of their feelings. When they got hungry, they sucked food through straws that protruded through the walls. As during Paul Bindrim's own nude psychotherapy sessions, the patients were encouraged to go to their rawest emotional places by screaming and clawing at the walls and confessing fantasies of forbidden sexual longing for one another ... ~ Jon Ronson

Psychopaths are social predators, and like all predators, they are looking for feeding grounds. Wherever you get power, prestige and money, you will find them. ~ Robert D. Hare

Fact: Seventy-seven percent of psychopaths in the United States are incarcerated. ~ Kent A. Kiehl

Truly, we are witnessing the twilight of the psychopaths. Whether in their death throes they succeed in pulling down the curtain of eternal night on all of us, or whether we resist them and survive to see the dawn of a civilization worthy of the name, is the great decision in which all of us others, however humbly, are now participating. ~ Kevin Barrett

Psychopaths are rarely in touch with their own feelings, emotional well-being, and psychological needs. ~ Asa Don Brown

Inescapable shock research continues to the present day. Although I am not a PETA person, I think it bears mentioning (again) that other species do not deliberately inflict uncontrollable, inescapable pain. Only humans do this - in the psych lab, in abusive families, in prisons, and in the extreme sadism of sexual psychopaths. Deliberate cruelty and the instrumental use of others is the sole province of homo sapiens. ~ Paul F. Dell

Psychopaths, skillful as they are at manipulating others, have trouble with emotional regulation and generally screw up at either extreme: theatrical histrionics or cold stoicism. ~ Jonathan Kellerman

Life sucked all right. It sucked hard, because it was random and terrifying and too easily lost. Life was full of death cults and psychopaths, bad timing and bad people. Life was broken ... Because you could make one mistake in righteous anger, and lose the person you most loved.
But everything that sucked about life also proved that it was priceless, because otherwise all of that wouldn't hurt so bad. ~ Scott Westerfeld

Self-Professed Black Magicians seem universally unable to fight, fuck, or even buy their way out of wet paper bags, despite phantasizing constantly about becoming powerful psychopaths. ~ Peter J. Carroll

He did another experiment, the Startle Reflex Test, in which psychopaths and non-psychopaths were invited to look at grotesque images, like crime-scene photographs of blown-apart faces, and then when they least expected it, Bob would let off an incredibly loud noise in their ear. The non-psychopaths would leap with astonishment. The psychopaths would remain comparatively serene. Bob ~ Jon Ronson

Psychopaths are rats in the lab, Psychopaths don't have conscious... What next???

- (Dexter Series season 8 episode 3...) ~ Deyth Banger

It has been more profitable for us to bind together in the wrong direction than to be alone in the right one. Those who have followed the assertive idiot rather than the introspective wise person have passed us some of their genes. This is apparent from a social pathology: psychopaths rally followers. ~ Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Why don't you want to see your mom? Did she burn your
dolls in a sacrificial fire? Read your e-mail?"
"She wants to run my life," I explain.
"What a bitch. It's like she thinks she's your mother
or something."
"She's a psychopath," I said. "It's complicated."
"Psychopaths can't afford fur coats."
"This one can. ~ Laurie Halse Anderson

Language and words for psychopaths are only word deep; there is no emotional colouring behind it. A psychopath can use a word like, 'I love you' but it means nothing more to him than if he said, 'I'll have a cup of coffee.' ~ Robert D. Hare

Human beings are disgustingly predictable, and this is as true of psychopaths as it is of grandmothers. ~ Douglas Preston

I'd always wondered why there had been no mention of psychopaths in the DSM. It turned out, Spitzer told me, that there had indeed been a backstage schism - between Bob Hare and a sociologist named Lee Robins. She believed clinicians couldn't reliably measure personality traits like empathy. She proposed dropping them from the DSM checklist and going only for overt symptoms. Bob vehemently disagreed, the DSM committee sided with Lee Robins, and Psychopathy was abandoned for Antisocial Personality Disorder. ~ Jon Ronson

Listen to me, you little idiot," Sin hissed, leaning forward until his nose nearly touched hers. "You and your friends nearly got me killed, and someone else is in danger because of you oblivious, drug addicted morons bringing us to the attention of a bunch of fanatic psychopaths. So tell me what you know or I will rip your fucking jugular open with my teeth."
"There's my boy," Emilio said proudly, grinning.
"Shut the fuck up," Sin didn't even look at the other man. ~ Santino Hassell

I always said that if I wasn't studying psychopaths in prison, I'd do it at the stock exchange. ~ Robert D. Hare

Psychopaths have a grandiose self-structure which demands a scornful and detached devaluation of others, in order to ward off their envy toward the good perceived in other people. He will choose you, disarm you with his words, and control you with his presence. He will delight you with his wit and his plans. He will show you a good time but you will always get the bill. He will smile and deceive you, and he will scare you with his eyes. And when he is through with you, and he will be through with you, he will desert you and take with him your innocence and your pride. ~ Robert D. Hare

The only conspiracy that matters is the conspiracy of the psychopaths against the rest of us. ~ Kevin Barrett

Psychopaths are not crazy; they are fully aware of what they do, and the consequences of those actions. ~ Hannibal

Aside from battles, the history of nations seemed to consist of nothing but powerless old poops like myself, heavily medicated and vaguely beloved in the long ago, coming to kiss the boots of young psychopaths. ~ Kurt Vonnegut

I wouldn't be in shallow relationships, so I do nothing. I have no sex and no romance. Who needs it.? Who needs all these potential problems like disease and pregnancy.? I have no problems. No fear of disease, psychopaths, or stalkers. Why not just be with your friends and have real conversations and a good time.? ~ Candace Bushnell

The Germans are not a race of psychopaths, Alma. They're normal people like you and me, but with fanaticism, power, and impunity, anyone can turn into a monster, like the SS at Auschwitz, he told his sister. ~ Isabel Allende

according to a brief perusal of women writer's comments online over the past few days, men are: overly confident, predatory, helpless, psychopaths, terrified of women, fascists, the reason why the world is in this mess, literally so stupid, and the problem here. Of course what these women really mean is that they themselves are not overly confident, not predatory, not helpless, and on down the line. It's just easier to say that men are these things, than that you are not these things. People would rightly become suspicious if you suddenly started going on about how amazing you were. They'd start looking for proof you weren't. But by attributing these negative behaviors and traits to your "opposite" group, it's an easy, criticism-proof way of saying, "I would never behave like this, I would never be like this." And ~ Jessa Crispin

At least she had a clear picture of what the Lying Game was now: Girl Scouts for psychopaths. ~ Sara Shepard

I told a journalist that Dave seemed quite psychopathic (I didn't know a thing about psychopaths but I assumed that that was the sort of thing they might do). ~ Jon Ronson

He might not even be the guy she thinks he is,' Martin says. 'He might be a psychopath.'

'All the psychopaths are on the internet now,' I say.

'Why?'

'More potential for victims, I guess.'

'No, why wouldn't George want to meet him? If she really is so sure about who he is?'

'Scared,' I say. 'She's shy.'

'She doesn't seem shy. She seems hostile and aggressive.'

'It's a cover,' I say, working something out about my sister as I say it.

'Good cover,' Martin says, but I think he's worked it out too because some of the anger's gone out of his voice. ~ Cath Crowley

Psychopaths are actually, really, really, really rare in our culture, are people who don't ... Or in society, in the world. They're people who don't feel guilt. They're people who don't feel fear. I think that most of us feel those things. There's a kind of ... They're almost like superheroes. Not to glorify them, but you know what I mean? ~ Annie Parisse

One nurse thought I was "brave." I think she was talking about my steely-eyed, grin-and-bear-it kind of attitude. There were no tears, no complaints from me - a total lack of affect. In a victim, it is courage and thus admirable; in a predator, it is a lack of humanity and instills fear. ~ M.E. Thomas

I think a lot of psychopaths are just geniuses who drove so fast that they lost control. ~ Criss Jami

Psychopaths are odd and rare and unique by themself... if they were writers, I bet in one that they will be the best... ~ Deyth Banger

Let's be clear: all professions look bad in the movies. And there's a good reason for this. Movies don't portray career paths, they conscript interesting lifestyles to serve a plot. So lawyers are all unscrupulous and doctors are all uncaring. Psychiatrists are all crazy, and politicians are all corrupt. All cops are psychopaths, and all businessmen are crooks. Even moviemakers come off badly: directors are megalomaniacs, actors are spoiled brats. Since all occupations are portrayed negatively, why expect scientists to be treated differently? ~ Michael Crichton

I know you're busy dating actresses and psychopaths. ~ Christopher Moore

Bernie Ebbers and Ken Lay were caricatures - they were easy to spot. They were almost psychopaths. But it's much harder to spot problems at companies like Royal Dutch [Shell]. ~ Charlie Munger

I'm not blaming you-or her. Neither of you asked for what he did-there's no such thing as asking for it. That's a fucking lie argued by psychopaths and dumbasses. Okay? ~ Tammara Webber

Psychos are in uniform circulation in society. ~ Pawan Mishra

Cleckley reported that psychopaths never experience grief, honesty, deep joy, or genuine despair. From my own experience, I would add to Cleckley's observations that the psychopath never ruminates on anything.

Rumination is a process that often contributes to depression and in extreme forms to obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The process of rumination is often associated with some anxiety or subjective feeling of concern or worry, and this can help precipitate change in the individual in order to reduce the anxiety.

The psychopath experiences none of this.

Indeed, if you ask a psychopath if he has ever worried about whether he left the house with the stove on (a common problem among those with obsessive-compulsive disorder), he will look at you like you are an alien, in stunned disbelief. ~ Kent A. Kiehl

If you do not have a close friendship with your children, I will.--Child Molester warning all parents from the book Type 1 Sociopath ~ P.A. Speers

This isn't about convincing you whether or not there is a God. I believe God and the Universe exists. If you don't believe there is a greater force, then surely you believe that something inside of us and is in the driver's seat. In other words, something is driving us towards figuring out how to master happiness, peace, love, and understanding psychopaths, murderers and Taylor Swift fans. ~ Sadiqua Hamdan

All power structures, by their very nature, eventually get taken over by psychopaths. Almost all governments in the world have been taken over by gifted psychopaths who have a great command of human psychology and use normal people to their advantage. This race of pathological deviants can't feel compassion, they have no conscience. They have an insatiable need for power - and they rule the world. ~ Douglas Preston

Dr. Robert Hare (author of Without Conscience: The Disturbing World Of The Psychopaths Among Us) ~ Mick Strawser

A psychopath's diet consisted of domination, power, and control. ~ Keri Lake

Psychopaths view any social exchange as a 'feeding opportunity,' a contest or a test of wills in which there can be only one winner. Their motives are to manipulate and take, ruthlessly and without remorse. ~ Robert D. Hare

Here are a few of the sources I used, and I heartily recommend them: Simon Baron-Cohen, The Science of Evil; Judith Beck, Cognitive Behavior Therapy; Louis Cozolino, The Making of a Therapist; Kevin Dutton, The Wisdom of Psychopaths; James Fallon, The Psychopath Inside; Peter and Ginger Ross Breggin, Talking Back to Prozac; Robert D. ~ Lisa Scottoline

To a happy war!' laughter echoed with all the insane glee of an army of psychopaths. ~ Stuart Hill

I couldn't see where the collection of Burger King figurines fit in, but I supposed there was no reason why psychopaths shouldn't have unrelated hobbies. ~ Jon Ronson

Even psychopaths have emotions. Then again, maybe not. ~ Richard Ramirez

Indifference to me, is the epitome of all evil. ~ Elie Wiesel

Not all psychopaths are in prison - some are in the boardroom. ~ Robert D. Hare

Half of what creates psychopaths is genetic, but the other half is conditioning. ~ James Norton

It's a pretty big shock to realise that the only people you can identify with are psychopathic killers. ~ Dan Wells

Psychopaths know intellectually what is immoral they just don't have a feeling of immorality about it. ~ Barbara Oakley

To be sure, if psychopaths do recognize that actions that are harmful are proscribed, this raises a question about why psychopaths and control criminals provide different explanations for why it is wrong to hit or pull someone's hair. Psychopaths offered conventional-type justifications (e.g., "it's not the done thing" [the subjects were British]), whereas the nonpsychopathic criminals offered justifications based on the victim's welfare. ~ Shaun Nichols

Psychopaths play on the fact that most of us are trusting and forgiving people. The warning signs are always there; it's just difficult to see them because once we trust someone, the friendship becomes a blinder. - The Psychopath Next Door. ~ Mercy Cortez

He blamed psychopaths for the brutal excesses of capitalism itself, that the system at its cruelest was a manifestation of a few people's anomalous amygdalae. ~ Jon Ronson

Another difference between psychopaths and other inmates is that psychopaths don't get distressed by being in prison. Most inmates get depressed when they get inside, and they find prison to be a stressful experience. A hallmark feature of psychopaths' disorder is that they don't get bothered by much of anything. They don't ruminate and they don't get depressed. ~ Kent A. Kiehl

Measurement and categorization are, of course, fundamental to any scientific endeavor, but the implications of being able to identify psychopaths are as much practical as academic. To put it simply, if we can't spot them, we are doomed to be their victims, both as individuals and as a society. ~ Robert D. Hare

You know the best example of sincerity? The absolute gold standard?
Who?
Angus pointed to the door, outside which Cyril was waiting patiently. A dog. Have you ever met an insincere dog - a dog who hides his true feelings?
Domenica looked thoughtful.
And cats?
Dreadfully insincere, said Angus. Psychopaths- every one of them. Show me a cat, Domenica, and I'll show you a psychopath. Textbook examples. ~ Alexander McCall Smith

I have no doubt there are magician psychopaths, and magician serial killers. I doubt Brakebills admissions is very good at screening for those. ~ Lev Grossman

I've always maintained that if I wasn't studying psychopaths in prison, I'd do so at the stock exchange," he enthused. "Without doubt, there's a greater proportion of psychopathic big hitters in the corporate world than there is in the general population. You'll find them in any organization where your position and status afford you power and control over others, and the chance of material gain. ~ Kevin Dutton

Psychopaths don't act like Hannibal Lecter or Norman Bates. They come off like Hugh Grant, in his most adorable role. ~ Dave Cullen

It was ending too soon, the way everything did, everything except Ebola viruses and really bad people like psychopaths. Those things never ended. ~ Lev Grossman

I must speak the truth, even at the risk of being ostracized by my fellow scribblers. In fact, anticipating their rage, I have already applied for a place in the Canada Council's witness-protection program. This because, much as it pains me to turn on my kind, I fear the time has come to admit that far too many celebrated writers were outrageous liars, philanderers, drunks, druggies, unsuitable babysitters, plagiarists, psychopaths, parasites, cowards, indifferent dads or moms and bad credit risks. ~ Mordecai Richler

I remembered those psychologists who said psychopaths made the world go around. They meant it: society was, they claimed, an expression of that particular sort of madness. ~ Jon Ronson

The ones who are insane enough to think that they can rule the world are always the ones who do. ~ Stefan Molyneux

To kill for fun is the job of the psychopaths! And what is a matador, apart from being a mentally ill person? ~ Mehmet Murat Ildan

A decent government with an effective, but not gratuitously violent, police force and a fair court system are essential. This deters and incapacitates psychopaths, bullies and hotheads - and if it earns the confidence of the people, they don't have to become violent in self-defence. ~ Steven Pinker

Sex murders were usually the work of psychopaths and with that psychology was an innate ability to lie, to act, to feign surprise and horror when it was needed. Psychopaths were great liars. ~ Michael Connelly