A nation changes only when one person's attitude changes first.
Carl Jung, Collected Papers (1917), ch. XIV, Foreword to the new edition
A nation changes only when one person's attitude changes first.
Carl Jung, Collected Papers (1917), ch. XIV, Foreword to the new edition
What it means
Big problems feel like they need big laws. Jung, writing in the middle of the First World War, says change always starts smaller: in one person who sees differently. Start with yours.
The source
"A nation changes only when one person's attitude changes first." Carl Jung said it in Collected Papers (1917), ch. XIV, Foreword to the new edition. Translated by Constance E. Long, 1917.
"A metamorphosis in the attitude of the individual is the only possible beginning of a transformation in the psychology of the nation."Constance E. Long, 1917, Collected Papers (1917), ch. XIV, Foreword to the new edition. Text read at gutenberg.org.
Who said it
Carl Jung (1875–1961). Swiss psychiatrist who broke with Freud and founded analytical psychology. He mapped the persona, the shadow, the collective unconscious and the lifelong work of becoming yourself, which he called individuation. Our lines come only from his writings published before 1931, in our own translations from the German or in English translations of the time.
Questions
- What does "A nation changes only when one person's attitude changes first." mean?
- Big problems feel like they need big laws. Jung, writing in the middle of the First World War, says change always starts smaller: in one person who sees differently. Start with yours.
- Who said "A nation changes only when one person's attitude changes first."?
- Carl Jung (1875–1961). Source: Collected Papers (1917), ch. XIV, Foreword to the new edition.
- What is the original wording?
- A metamorphosis in the attitude of the individual is the only possible beginning of a transformation in the psychology of the nation (Constance E. Long, 1917). Translated by Constance E. Long, 1917.
- Is "A nation changes only when one person's attitude changes first." on a shirt?
- Yes. We print it to order on our tees in 7 illustrated looks, from $44, with free US shipping.
Cite this line
"A nation changes only when one person's attitude changes first." (Carl Jung, Collected Papers (1917), ch. XIV, Foreword to the new edition, trans. Constance E. Long, 1917). https://spartansurfers.com/quotes/a-nation-changes-only-when-one-persons-attitude
Filed under Quotes about character.
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More from Carl Jung
- Your worst enemy lives inside your own chest.Two Essays (1928), I, ch. III 'The Other Point of View: The Will to Power'
- Only what is truly yourself has the power to heal.Two Essays (1928), II, Part I, ch. IV 'The Attempt to Free the Individuality from the Collective Psyche'
- Trade yourself for a mask and you will pay for it.Two Essays (1928), II, Part II, ch. II 'Anima and Animus'
- You and your job are two different things.Two Essays (1928), II, Part II, ch. II 'Anima and Animus'
- The persona is only a mask. At bottom, it is not real.Two Essays (1928), II, Part I, ch. III 'The Persona as a Part of the Collective Psyche'
- Some people come to believe they are their public face.Two Essays (1928), II, Part II, ch. II 'Anima and Animus'