Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Shame should not come from the act itself but from performing it poorly.
In plain terms
You should only feel bad if you do it wrong.
What can you take from it?
Focus on skill rather than morality in private acts.

Where it applies

  • psychological analysis
  • personal reflection
  • sexual health

Putting it to work

  • discussing sexual norms
  • analyzing personal shame

Questions to consider

  • What actions do you feel ashamed of regardless of quality?
  • Is competence more important than intent?

Another view

It ignores moral or religious views that condemn the act entirely.

More from Sigmund Freud

  1. The moment a man begins to question the meaning and value of life, he is sick.

    Permalink to quote #51
  2. The only unnatural sexual behavior is none at all.

    Permalink to quote #53
  3. The great question that has never been answered, and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is '…

    Permalink to quote #50

Related quotes

  1. I do not in the least underestimate bisexuality. . . I expect it to provide all further enlightenment.

    Sigmund FreudSigmund Freud quote #3
  2. Sex is the mathematical urge repressed.

    Sigmund FreudSigmund Freud quote #46
  3. It is sexual energy which governs the structure of human feeling and thinking.

    Wilhelm ReichWilhelm Reich quote #2