Repress it and it grabs you from behind.

What it means

Pushing an urge down does not defeat it. It just attacks when you are not looking. The better way is to see it clearly and tell yourself: this is in me, but it is not me.

The source

"Repress it and it grabs you from behind." Carl Jung said it in Two Essays (1928), I, ch. V 'The Personal Unconscious and the Super-personal or Collective Unconscious'. Translated by H. G. and C. F. Baynes, 1928.

"The only person who escapes the gruesome law of enantiodromia is the man who knows how to separate himself from the unconscious, not by repressing it, for then it merely lays hold of him from behind, but by making clear to himself that it is something different from himself."

H. G. and C. F. Baynes, 1928, Two Essays (1928), I, ch. V 'The Personal Unconscious and the Super-personal or Collective Unconscious'. Text read at archive.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 "Repress it and it grabs you from behind." mean?

Pushing an urge down does not defeat it. It just attacks when you are not looking. The better way is to see it clearly and tell yourself: this is in me, but it is not me.

Who said "Repress it and it grabs you from behind."?

Carl Jung (1875–1961). Source: Two Essays (1928), I, ch. V 'The Personal Unconscious and the Super-personal or Collective Unconscious'.

What is the original wording?

The only person who escapes the gruesome law of enantiodromia is the man who knows how to separate himself from the unconscious, not by repressing it, for then it merely lays hold of him from behind, but by making clear to himself that it is something different from himself (H. G. and C. F. Baynes, 1928). Translated by H. G. and C. F. Baynes, 1928.

Is "Repress it and it grabs you from behind." on a shirt?

Yes. We print it to order on our tees in 7 illustrated looks, from $44, with free US shipping.

"Repress it and it grabs you from behind." (Carl Jung, Two Essays (1928), I, ch. V 'The Personal Unconscious and the Super-personal or Collective Unconscious', trans. H. G. and C. F. Baynes, 1928). https://spartansurfers.com/quotes/repress-it-and-it-grabs-you-from-behind