50 Sociopath Quotes that are Worth Sharing

By Norbert Juma

Master quote curator and editor on a mission to inspire

Published January 20, 2023

Sociopath quotes are associated with a specific human behavior or mental condition known as sociopathy.

Usually, sociopaths don’t respect feelings or relationships.

You might have come across a sociopath, but it’s hard to identify the different traits of such a person.

To understand sociopath quotes, one needs to understand what sociopathy is and what are its traits or signs.

To help you, we have also briefly discussed sociopathy.

What is sociopathy?

Scientifically known as the ‘Antisocial Personality Disorder,’ Sociopathy is a mental health condition.

This is a mental state where a person finds it difficult to engage with others under prevailing social norms.

This condition can be chronic when other mental illnesses, such as depression, panic attacks, bipolar disorder, etc., disturb a person’s mental health.

Common sociopathy signs and traits

Here are the most common signs you might see in a person with Antisocial Personality Disorder.

Lack of emotions and feelings toward others
Lack of understanding of what is right or wrong
Inability to recognize different emotions
Signs of callous and arrogance
Risk-taking and impulsive behavior
Like deceiving others
Habit of telling lies
Violation of other people’s rights

What are the core causes of sociopathy?

Usually, there are two types of Sociopathy: one is known as the learned condition, and the other is a condition by birth.

In most cases, a sociopath doesn’t behave episodically.

These chronic conditions include a typical way in which a person interacts or socializes with others.

There are various cases where sociopath is seen as an adaptive behavior or way of life.

This usually involves cases where a person is born in a particular environment that promotes sociopathic behaviors.

In other cases, you might also see the signs mentioned above and traits in people with chemical dependency.

These are the typical situations where psychiatrists must be careful when diagnosing a person with sociopathy.

It means doctors and psychiatrists must look deeply into a person’s personality and analyze whether the behavioral pattern is temporary or permanent.

Top 10 sociopath quotes

Here are the top 10 sociopath quotes you would enjoy reading.

1. “Sociopaths are not usually physically violent.” — Martha Stout

2. “A sociopath will do anything to win. Anything.” — Denzel Washington

3. “I’m a high-functioning sociopath, do your research.” — Benedict Cumberbatch

4. “Anybody who claims to be excited for April Fools’ Day is probably a sociopath.” — John Oliver

5. “The inability to experience regret is one of the characteristics of sociopaths.” — Kathryn Schulz

6. “I think the people running climate change denial campaigns are sociopaths.” — Lucy Lawless

7. “You’d think a sociopath assassin wouldn’t have a fan following, but he does.” — Laurell K. Hamilton

8. “Life itself was hard enough without monosynaptic sociopaths preying on folks.” — Michael A. Stackpole

9. “Dogs seem more photogenic than cats. In photos most cats look like sociopaths.” — Demetri Martin

10. “Walter had never liked cats. They’d seemed to him the sociopaths of the pet world.” — Jonathan Franzen

These sociopath quotes talk about the importance of social norms and how a sociopath ignores them.

11. “I came to accept in myself a long time ago that I really do like writing articulate sociopaths.” — Matt Nix

12. “There’s an Iago and a Romeo within all of us. There is that lover, and there is that sociopath.” — Tom Hiddleston

13. “Sociopaths love power. They love winning. If you take loving kindness out of the human brain, there’s not much left except the will to win.” — Martha Stout

14. “Sociopath is a word that has sort of become shorthand for psychopath and there’s a distinct difference, it’s interesting if you look it up.” — Cillian Murphy

15. “Sociopaths are more complicated psychopaths; the difference between a sociopath and a psychopath is a sociopath is incredibly charming.” — Patrick Heusinger

Sociopath quotes about what they are like

16. “There’s a book called “The Sociopath Next Door.” I thought most sociopaths were violent. In fact, they aren’t. But almost all sociopaths want to win, no matter what.” — Denzel Washington

17. “The best indicator of a sociopath serial bully is not a clinical diagnosis but the trail of devastation and destruction of lives and livelihoods surrounding this individual throughout their life.” — Tim Field

18. “The truth is you don’t need some external demon to take control of you to turn you into a raging, money-obsessed sociopath, you only need to let loose the demons you already have inside of you.” — Jay-Z

19. “A sociopath can imitate emotions, where a psychopath really doesn’t have that capacity. They can’t fool people into thinking anything and they’re usually lacking major empathy for anybody besides themselves.” — Patrick Heusinger

20. “Creative people like to think in unconventional ways, dislike rules, are easily bored, are independent, like to experiment, and enjoy being their own bosses. Basically, the same traits found in most criminals and sociopaths.” — Duncan Long

Sociopath quotes that are engaging

Once going through these sociopath quotes, you would find them engaging and attractive.

21. “I’m not a psychopath, I’m a fully functioning sociopath. Do your research.” — Arthur Conan Doyle

22. “Road rage is the expression of the amateur sociopath in all of us, cured by running into a professional.” — Robert Breault

23. “I do think that with any kind of infidelity, on some level – unless you’re dealing with a sociopath – there’s always a reason.” — Jessica Capshaw

24. “For every man that ever walked the Earth, except maybe the sociopaths, when it comes to talking to pretty girls… it’s just stark terror.” — Chuck Lorre

25. “I went through the usual stages: imp, rascal, scalawag, whippersnapper. And, of course, after that it’s just a small step to full-blown sociopath.” — George Carlin

Sociopath quotes that provide perspective

26. “The sociopaths – that’s the real problem. The whole street demeanor is about pretending to be a sociopath as well so that the real ones can’t find you.” — Mat Johnson

27. “I’m not a sociopath or a freak (although I don’t suppose people who are sociopaths or freaks self-identify as such); I just don’t enjoy being with people.” — Peter Cameron

28. “When we were doing ‘The Sopranos’, I used to love that about it. There were rules, Mafia codes you had to go by, but the code is ridiculous. It’s a code among sociopaths.” — David Chase

29. “There are certainly statistics which show that most people who become sociopaths, who become homicidal, who become child- abusers, have had a history of incredible suffering.” — Connie Zweig

30. “To learn to be charming is fairly easy – you can teach somebody to be charming and to learn human emotions – or to learn the behaviors that go with human emotions. A sociopath, a smart one, will study the way we emote, and will learn how to do that quite effectively.” — Martha Stout

Sociopath quotes for Instagram

These sociopath quotes are suitable for sharing via social media platforms, including Instagram.

31. “I was often getting hired to play sociopaths and psychopaths and stuff, which is really funny.” — Brady Corbet

32. “I don’t think that genius goes hand in hand with being socially inept or being a sociopath or being a misanthrope.” — Hanya Yanagihara

33. “I went into very deep research as to what exactly that meant and how sociopaths function psychologically and within the world.” — Patrick Heusinger

34. “Off-stage, I just get to leave it, and nobody thinks I’m like that. This is what prevents me from being a psychopath and a sociopath, my time on stage.” — Susan Messing

35. “I’ve actually written a fair number of kids movies, and I’ll insert these kid-friendly articulate sociopaths who are usually yelling at the children for their own benefit.” — Matt Nix

More sociopath quotes to consider

36. “Last guy I was interested in turned out to be an incestuous necrophiliac,” she said. “So no, not currently dating, and definitely not doing any more shopping in the ‘sociopath’ category” — Mira Grant

37. “I guess the verdict is in – I am not a sociopath. It’s not effective or productive not to be nice. It would undermine the goals I want to achieve on any given day.” — Whitney Cummings

38. “Sociopaths are not afraid of very much, except for physical harm and dying – really primitive, basic kinds of fears. The problem with being alone for a sociopath is boredom.” — Martha Stout

39. “There’s always somebody in your life you know that just, somehow, you know, they’re just that borderline sociopath that just wants what they want and doesn’t care about relationships. Everybody has several of those people in their life.” — Maynard James Keenan

40. “I can’t help feeling a little bit competitive and a little bit disappointed in myself that I’m already so far behind. After all, Yulikova thinks Barron has a real future with the Bureau. She told me so. I told her that sociopaths are relentlessly charming. I think she figured I was joking.” — Holly Black

Some other impressive sociopath quotes

Below are some other sociopath quotes you might find interesting.

41. “Being sociopath is not what most people would consider to be winning.” — Martha Stout

42. “Anger, as long as it is controlled anger, is no obstacle to efficiency. Self-control is one thing the sociopath does not usually possess. Use yours to his undoing.” — Jeff Cooper

43. “Biologically we’re all the same. We all get sad, we all get happy, and we all die. Anyone who pretends that that’s not the case is either a sociopath or utterly delusional.” — Moby

44. “I did the David Cronenberg film, A History of Violence, with Viggo Mortensen and I played a real sociopath. For the next seven years, I played the psycho-of-the-week.” — Greg Bryk

45. “The power paradox is that we gain power by advancing the welfare of other people and yet when we feel powerful, it turns us into impulsive sociopaths and we lose those very skills.” — Dacher Keltner

Funny or thought-provoking sociopath quotes

46. “I would much rather read a book about Ty Cobb, who was quite possibly a sociopath. It makes for more interesting copy. Some of the most memorable characters in literature were villains.” — Jonathan Weeks

47. “I hate alcoholics and AA (alcoholics anonymous). If you can’t drink responsibly, don’t drink at all. Don’t go to meetings, whine about your character flaws and blame the fact that you are a sociopath on booze.” — Roseanne Barr

48. “Cats are the lap-dancers of the animal world. Soon as you stop shelling out, they move on, find another lap. They’re furry little sociopaths. Pretty and slick — in love with themselves. When’s the last time you saw a seeing-eye cat?” — Andrew Vachss

49. “Homo sapiens Yuck You contemporary fools laugh at religious and political lies spewed by sociopaths, lies that tether you forever to poverty and mediocrity. Yet, when your ears come upon the truth, the facts of life, you hide your faces and cry, not able.” — Bobby Miller

50. “And your excuse?‘ I asked. ’I’m a sociopath; I don’t have to be nice,‘ Nicky said. I gave him a look.’ You’re mad at him. I can feel it; which means I really don’t have to be nice to him.’ ‘I thought you were friends.’ ‘What part of sociopath didn’t you understand?’ he asked.” — Laurell K. Hamilton