lose one's mind

Idioms and Phrases

Also, lose one's reason . Go crazy, lose one's sanity, as in I thought she'd lost her mind when she said she was going ice-fishing , or That assignment is enough to make me lose my reason . The first expression dates from the late 1500s; the second employs reason in the sense of “unimpaired mental faculties,” a usage dating from the late 1300s. Also see under go out of one's mind ; have all one's buttons .

Example Sentences

He paraphrased the United Negro College Fund’s tagline, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste,” as “What a waste it is to lose one’s mind.”

From Los Angeles Times

Former Vice President Dan Quayle’s mangling of a United Negro College Fund advertising slogan, “What a waste it is to lose one’s mind,” has, perhaps mercifully, been dropped.

From Seattle Times

This morsel from another man who might consider staying out of the sun on golf courses aptly describes our current stubborn and misguided leader: “What a waste it is to lose one’s mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is.”

From Washington Times

A mind is a terrible thing to waste," he lost himself in a self-indicting verbal fog: "What a waste it is to lose one's mind or not to have a mind.

From Time Magazine Archive

She leaned her head down on her father's shoulder and thought how sad it must be to lose one's mind.

From Project Gutenberg