Negation (n.) as repudiation has no value as a judgement; it is only an emotion — like the child who calls the apple sour without tasting it.
Negation (n.) does not exist in dreams: 'no' is ignored, contraries fuse into a unity, and any element may stand for its wished-for opposite.
Negation (n.) does not exist in the unconscious: an association that agrees with the analyst's claim is the only yes the unconscious can give.
Negation (n.) is a higher-level substitute for repression; in the unconscious there is no negation, no doubt, no degrees of certainty — only contents.
Negation (n.) is a sign to read past: when a patient insists the woman in his dream is not his mother, the analyst drops the "not" and keeps the mother.
Negation (n.) is a way of taking note of the repressed: it lets a repressed idea into consciousness on the condition that it is denied, a partial lifting of repression.
Negation (n.) is repression's hallmark, a certificate of origin stamped on a thought, like "Made in Germany".
Negation (n.) gives thinking its freedom: with a single symbol, the mind can hold what repression forbids and get on with its work.