A brass balance scale holds several small wooden blocks opposite a single gray block.

Original artwork, not a still

Sigmund Freud

Sadism is all right in its place, but it should be directed to proper ends.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The assertion judges sadism by the ends to which it is directed. Its conditional approval is the passage’s disturbing moral claim, not a justification for harming someone or a verified clinical statement. The existing attribution remains unverified.

Context reviewed

Share this quote