Jordan Peterson
Clinical psychologist and cultural commentator
Most quoted
"Order is not enough. You can't just be stable, and secure, and well-regulated. There has to be something else. Chaos is not enough. You can't just be creative, and dynamic, and exploratory, or you'll be dead, or in pieces. The proper place is the boundary between order and chaos."
— from 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
"You are not your own property. You are, in part, the property of your community, and your culture, and your ancestors, and your children. And you have a responsibility to them all. And if you shirk that responsibility, you're going to pay a price. And so are they."
— from 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, 2018
"The individual must conduct his or her life in a manner that requires the rejection of immediate gratification, of natural and perverse desires alike, and the sacrifice of hedonic pleasure itself to the greater goal of spiritual enlightenment."
— from Maps of Meaning, 1999
All quotes by Jordan Peterson (362)
The nuclear family is the bedrock of society.
The problem with equality of outcome is that it requires tyranny to enforce.
The idea that there's no such thing as objective truth is a dangerous and destructive idea.
The world is not a playground. It's a place of serious endeavor.
The idea that you can escape suffering is a delusion.
The most important thing you can do is to take responsibility for your own life.
The alternative to chaos is not order, but tyranny.
The pursuit of happiness is a shallow and ultimately unsatisfying goal.
The greatest act of courage is to speak the truth when everyone else is lying.
The idea that you can be anything you want to be is a dangerous lie.
The world is a harsh place, and you need to be tough to survive in it.
The idea that all problems are social constructs is a dangerous delusion.
The most important thing you can do for your children is to teach them to be competent.
The idea that you can change human nature is a utopian fantasy.
The greatest danger is not that we fail, but that we never try.
The world is not fair, and you need to accept that.
The idea that you can have a perfect society is a dangerous delusion.
The most important thing you can do is to find meaning in your life.
The idea that you can escape responsibility is a dangerous delusion.
To suffer terribly and to know yourself as the cause: that is Hell.
Contemporaries of Jordan Peterson
Other Psychologys born within 50 years of Jordan Peterson (1962).