# Quote — Carl Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections

> I know every numbskull will babble on about "black man," "maneater," "chance," and "retrospective interpretation," in order to banish something terribly inconvenient that might sully the familiar picture of childhood innocence. Ah, these good, efficient, healthy-minded people, they always remind me of those optimistic tadpoles who bask in a puddle in the sun, in the shallowest of waters, crowding together and amiably wriggling their tails, totally unaware that the next morning the puddle will have dried up and left them stranded.

- Author: [Carl Jung](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-jung.md)
- Book: [Memories, Dreams, Reflections](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-jung/memories-dreams-reflections.md)
- Page: 14
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Jung#Memories,_Dreams,_Reflections_(1963)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-jung/memories-dreams-reflections/i-know-every

## More from this book

> For lack of empirical data I have neither knowledge nor understanding of such forms of being, which are commonly called spiritual. ...Nevertheless, we have good reason to suppose that behind this veil there exists the uncomprehended absolute object which affects and influences us—and to suppose it even, or particularly, in the case of psychic phenomena about which no verifiable statements can be made.

p. 351 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-jung/memories-dreams-reflections/for-lack-of-empirical.md)

> The pendulum of the mind oscillates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong. The numinosum is dangerous because it lures men to extremes, so that a modest truth is regarded as the truth and a minor mistake is equated with fatal error.

p. 154 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-jung/memories-dreams-reflections/the-pendulum-of-the.md)

> As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.

p. 326 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-jung/memories-dreams-reflections/as-far-as-we-can.md)