Erich Fromm Quotes

The capacity to be puzzled is the premise of all creation, be it in art or in science.

But a map is not enough as a guide for action; we also need a goal that tells us where to go. Animal...

They have their big, ever-changing egos, but none has a self, a core, a sense of identity.

The supremacy of cerebral, manipulative thinking goes together with an atrophy of emotional life.

Those who unconsciously despair yet put on the mask of optimism are not necessarily wise. But those ...

If the religious system does not correspond to the prevalent social character, if it conflicts with ...

The deepest yearning of human beings seems to be a constellation in which the two poles (motherlines...

We are a society of notoriously unhappy people: lonely, anxious, depressed, destructive, dependent —...

The danger of the past was that men became slaves. The danger of the future is that men may become r...

What kind of men, then, does our society need? What is the "social character" suited to twentieth ce...

The fact that millions of people share the same vices does not make these vices virtues, the fact th...

The whole life of the individual is nothing but the process of giving birth to himself; indeed, we s...

Why should anyone be so grateful for acceptance unless he doubts that he is acceptable, and why shou...

We... have created a greater material wealth than any other society in the history of the human race...

Man can attempt to become one with the world by submission to a person, to a group, to an institutio...

Both the mentally healthy and the neurotic are driven by the need to find an answer [to the problem ...

We consume, as we produce, without any concrete relatedness to the objects with which we deal; We li...

That millions of people share the same forms of mental pathology does not make these people sane.

It is the task of the "science of man" to arrive eventually at a correct description of what deserve...

Each new step into his new human existence is frightening. It always means to give up a secure state...

Most of us hoped to be able to trust. When we were little we did not yet know the human invention of...

If man were infinitely malleable, there would have been nor revolutions; there would have been no ch...

What holds true for the individual holds true for a society. It is never static; if it does not grow...

There were always men who looked beyond the dimensions of their own society- and while they may have...

Love is possible only if two persons communicate with each other from the center of their existence,...

Love is a power which produces love.

The faculty to think objectively is reason; the emotional attitude behind reason is that of humility...

The deepest need of man, then, is the need to overcome his separateness, to leave the prison of his ...

To have faith requires courage, the ability to take a risk, the readiness even to accept pain and di...

The sexual act without love never bridges the gap between two human beings, except momentarily..

People think that to love is simple, but that to find the right object to love - or to be loved by -...

What a person considers the minimal necessities depends as much on his character as it depends on hi...

While we teach knowledge, we are losing that teaching which is the most important one for human deve...

Love is the active concern for the life and the growth of that which we love. Where this active conc...

The problem of knowing man is parallel to the religious problem of knowing God. In conventional West...

The polarity between the male and female principles exists also within each man and each woman. Just...

The sexual act without love never bridges the gap between two human beings, except momentarily.

This experience of being loved by mother is a passive one. There is nothing I have to do in order to...

When a person feels that he has not been able to make sense of his own life, he tries to make sense ...

To love somebody is not just a strong feeling—it is a decision, it is a judgment, it is a promise. I...

The only way in which the world can be grasped ultimately lies, not in thought, but in the act, in t...

Modern man has transformed himself into a commodity; he experiences his life energy as an investment...

To be concentrated means to live fully in the present, in the here and now, and not to think of the ...

Equality today means "sameness" rather than "oneness".

The only way in which the world can be grasped ultimately lies, not in thought, but in the act, in t...

The child starts out by being attached to his mother as "the ground of all being." He feels helpless...

Erotic love, if it is love, has one premise. That I love from the essence of my being—and experience...

Only in the love of those who do not serve a purpose, love begins to unfold.

In the sphere of human relations, faith is an indispensable quality of any significant friendship or...

Infantile love follows the principle: "I love because I am loved." Mature love follows the principle...

Psychology as a science has its limitations, and, as the logical consequence of theology is mysticis...

In addition to conformity as a way to relieve the anxiety springing from separateness, another facto...

Unconditional love corresponds to one of the deepest longings, not only of the child, but of every h...

Man is gifted with reason; he is life being aware of itself; he has awareness of himself, of his fel...

Love is a decision, it is a judgment, it is a promise. If love were only a feeling, there would be n...

Modern man thinks he loses something - time - when he does not do things quickly. Yet he does not kn...

Love is not primarily a relationship to a specific person; it is an attitude, an orientation of char...

Love is not primarily a relationship to a specific person; it is an attitude, an orientation of char...

Love, experienced thus, is a constant challenge; it is not a resting place, but moving, growing, wor...

If other people do not understand our behavior—so what? Their request that we must only do what they...

The "pathology of normalcy" rarely deteriorates to graver forms of mental illness because society pr...

There is nothing inhuman, evil, or irrational which does not give some comfort, provided it is share...

Capitalism puts things (capital) higher than life (labor). Power follows from possession, not from a...

The supreme principle of socialism is that man takes precedence over things, life over property, and...

If faith cannot be reconciled with rational thinking, it has to be eliminated as an anachronistic re...

The task of the moral philosopher-thinker is to support and strengthen the voice of human conscience...

One is not loved accidentally; one’s own power to love produces love - just as being interested make...

There is perhaps no phenomenon which contains so much destructive feeling as 'moral indignation,' wh...

What the psychological analysis of doctrines can show is the subjective motivations which make a per...

since men are equal and thus have the same wish for happiness, and since there is not enough wealth ...

Once the primary bonds which gave security to the individual are severed, once the individual faces ...

Although there are certain needs, such as hunger, thirst, sex, which are common to man, those drives...

An individual may be alone in a physical sense for many years and yet he may be related to ideas, va...

They were more free, but they were more alone.

The field of human relations in Freud’s sense is similar to the market—it is an exchange of satisfac...

Today we take for granted that we are we. Yet the doubt about ourselves still exists, or has even gr...

Progress in social psychology is necessary to counteract the dangers which arise from the progress i...

In studying the psychological significance of a religious or political doctrine, we must first bear ...

What the psychological analysis of doctrines can show is the subjective motivations which make a per...

The doubt itself will not disappear as long as man does not overcome his isolation and as long as hi...

Life has ceased to be lived in a closed world the center of which was man; the world has become limi...

People do not see that the main question is not : "Am I loved?" which is to a large extent the quest...

A society whose members are helpless need idols.

Man does not suffer so much from poverty today as he suffers from the fact that he has become a cog ...

What the psychological analysis of doctrines can show is the subjective motivations which make a per...

To transcend nature, to be alienated from nature and from another human being, finds man naked, asha...

The analysis of the psychological motivations behind certain doctrines or ideas can never be a subst...

the key problem of psychology is that of the specific kind of relatedness of the individual towards ...

Ethical principles stand above the existence of the nation and that by adhering to these principles ...

To feel completely alone and isolated leads to mental disintegration just as physical starvation lea...

If the meaning of life has become doubtful, if one's relations to others and to oneself do not offer...

Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without...

The right to express out thoughts, however, means something only if we are able to have thoughts of ...

The more man gains freedom in the sense of emerging from the original oneness with man and nature an...

The development of man's intellectual capacities has far outstripped the development of his emotions...

Man's nature, his passions, and anxieties are a cultural product; as a matter of fact, man himself i...

Human nature, though being the product of historical evolution, has certain inherent mechanisms and ...

The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning. Uncertainty is the very condition to impel ma...

Immature love says: 'I love you because I need you.' Mature love says 'I need you because I love you...

Immature loves says ' I love because I need you. Mature love says I need you because I love you.

It is naively assumed that the fact that the majority of people share certain ideas and feelings pro...