He who does not accept and respect those who want to reject life

The words of Thomas Szasz—“He who does not accept and respect those who want to reject life does not truly accept and respect life itself.”—speak like a blade cutting into the deepest paradox of existence. They remind us that to honor life is not only to rejoice in its beauty, but also to acknowledge its burdens, its despair, and the freedom of those who choose to lay it down. Szasz, a fierce critic of psychiatry’s authority over the soul, speaks here of a truth that many fear: that to respect the sanctity of life, one must also respect the autonomy of those who no longer wish to endure it.

From the ancients comes the same struggle. The Stoics, such as Seneca, wrote that life is a gift, but not a chain. If the weight of existence grew unbearable, the door was always open, and to pass through it was not cowardice but choice. To them, the true dignity of life lay in freedom—the freedom to embrace it or to set it aside. Szasz walks in this lineage, declaring that if we cling to life by force while denying others this freedom, then our supposed reverence for life is hollow. For how can one claim to respect what one will not allow to be chosen?

Consider the tale of Socrates, condemned by Athens to drink hemlock. He might have fled into exile, yet he accepted death with calmness, teaching that to live dishonorably was worse than to die with integrity. His acceptance of death was not a rejection of life’s worth, but an affirmation of life’s dignity. Szasz’s words echo this spirit: the refusal to allow others their choice, even when it leads to death, is to diminish the very dignity of the life we claim to protect.

The meaning of this quote also speaks to the deep complexity of compassion. It is easy to honor the joyous, the successful, the flourishing. It is harder to honor the suffering, the despairing, the broken who turn away from life. Yet true acceptance of life must include them too. To respect life only when it shines is to respect it shallowly; to respect it even in its darkness is to see it whole. Szasz challenges us to expand our compassion beyond comfort, to embrace even those who, in their sorrow, choose departure.

But his words are not merely about death; they are about freedom. For Szasz, the ultimate respect for life is respect for autonomy. If a person’s right to live means anything, so too must their right to decide when and how life is no longer bearable. To deny this is to turn life from a gift into a prison. Thus, his teaching is both radical and profound: true reverence for life requires us to honor the sovereignty of each soul, even when it chooses what we cannot bear to imagine.

The lesson for us is clear: do not turn away from the suffering of others, nor seek to erase their agency in the name of preservation. To truly love life, we must love it in all its forms—joyful, tragic, fleeting, and eternal. This does not mean encouraging despair, but it does mean respecting those who walk that path, offering compassion without judgment, and remembering that dignity is the highest form of respect.

Practical action lies open before us: listen deeply to those in despair, without rushing to silence or control them. Advocate for systems of care that honor autonomy while offering compassion. Reflect on your own relationship with life and death, so that your respect for life is not sentimental, but whole and unshakable. And above all, resist the temptation to impose your will upon the choices of others, for in doing so you may strip life of the very dignity that gives it meaning.

So let the words of Thomas Szasz be carried forward as a hard but luminous teaching: to accept life fully is to accept freedom, even the freedom to reject it. Only then do we truly honor the sacredness of existence—not as a chain that binds, but as a gift that can be embraced or relinquished. This is the fullness of respect, and without it, our reverence for life remains incomplete.