If you take a salesman, who sells a useless commodity, he feels like a fraud. — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
In the sleeping state, instead, one is much more oneself, even if society never ceases to intervene. — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
Death is never sweet, not even if it is suffered for the highest ideal. — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
The right to express our thoughts means something only if we are able to have thoughts of our own — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
If it is a virtue to love my neighbor as a human being, it must be a virtue - and not a… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
Today, we talk a lot about equality, but I think what most people mean by it is sameness - that everybody is… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
The average American is not concerned with his society. He talks about it, but you know if one speaks of being concerned,… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
Religion and nationalism, as well as any custom and any belief however absurd and degrading, if it only connects the individual with… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
The only concern which I have today is that we have a policy, a foreign policy, which enables us to avoid a… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
If the Russians claim they are Socialist, this is just, I would say, a lie. They have no socialism at all. They… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
If there is no evidence that sport lowers aggression, at the same time it should be said that there is also no… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
Neurosis can be understood best as the battle between tendencies within an individual; deep character analysis leads, if successful, to the progressive… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
If we love our fellow humans, we cannot limit our insight and our love only to others as individuals...We have to be… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
The spirit of a production-centered, commodity-greedy society is such that only the non-conformist can defend himself sufficiently against it. Those who are… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
I believe that the unity of man as opposed to other living things derives from the fact that man is the conscious… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
If our supreme value is the development of the Western tradition - of a man for whom the highest thing in life… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
Man's main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important product of… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
We are confronted with the possibility of a war of such destruction that the whole existence of our nation and of the… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
Organized religion is in substance a mystification, a means of hiding the wickedness of the social system. If the Christian principles of… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
Optimism is an alienated form of faith, pessimism an alienated form of despair. If one truly responds to man and his future,… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
We try to evade the question of existence with property, prestige, power, possession, production, fun, and, ultimately, by trying to forget that… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
Man is the only animal who does not feel at home in nature, who can feel evicted from paradise, the only animal… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
If one admits that the influence of the outside world is essentially beneficial, the lack of such influence during sleep would tend… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
Can one have love? If we could, love would need to be a thing, a substance that one can have, own, possess.… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
If an individual is able to love productively, he loves himself, too; if he can love only others, he cannot love at… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
I think if you ask what people really mean by happiness today, it is the experience of unlimited consumption - the kind… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
To respect a person is not possible without knowing him; care and responsibility would be blind if they were not guided by… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
Happiness does not exclude sadness - if a person responds to life, he's sometimes happy and sometimes sad. What matters is he… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
Love is not easy. All great religions postulate love as one of the greatest accomplishments. If it were that easy, or as… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
Mother's love is bliss, is peace, it need not be acquired, it need not be deserved. If it is there, it is… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
I believe that the experience of love is the most human and humanizing act that it is given to man to enjoy… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
That is not quite enough to make one happy, if one spends eight hours a day in something which in itself has… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
If you do not smile, you are judged lacking in a 'pleasing personality' - and you need to have a pleasing personality… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
It is true that one has to think first and then to act - but it's also true that if one has… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
If the handbag could think, it would have a terrific inferiority feeling, because, not having been bought, it would feel useless. — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
Productive work, love and thought are possible only if a person can be, when necessary, quiet and alone. To be able to… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
Love is the productive form of relatedness to others and to oneself. It implies responsibility, care, respect. If it isn't productive and… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
I believe that if an individual is not on the path to transcending his society and seeing in what way it furthers… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
I want to mention that Marx shares something, if you don't mind the comparison, with the Old Testament: many people talk about… — Erich Fromm Copy Share Image
The capacity to be puzzled is the premise of all creation, be it in art or in science. — Erich Fromm Copy Share
Only when man succeeds in developing his reason and love further than he has done so far, only when he can build a world… — Erich Fromm Copy Share
“It is hardly necessary to stress the fact that the ability to love as an act of giving depends on the character development of… — Erich Fromm Copy Share
The pace of science forces the pace of technique. Theoretical physics forces atomic energy on us; the successful production of the fission bomb forces… — Erich Fromm Copy Share
Exploitation and manipulation produce boredom and triviality; they cripple man, and all factors that make man into a psychic cripple turn him also into… — Erich Fromm Copy Share
Well-being is possible to the degree to which one has overcome one's narcissism; to the degree to which one is open, responsive, sensitive, awake,… — Erich Fromm Copy Share
“The wealth of data to be found in social and political life. The belief that people do not want to make sacrifices is notoriously… — Erich Fromm Copy Share
By equality, one once understood equality in the very same sense in which the Bible speaks of equality: that we are all equal, inasmuch… — Erich Fromm Copy Share
“Human beings had two basic orientations: HAVING and BEING HAVING: seeks to acquire, posses things even people BEING: focuses on the experience; exchanging, engaging,… — Erich Fromm Copy Share
“Most people are not even aware of their need to conform. They live under the illusion that they follow their own ideas and inclinations,… — Erich Fromm Copy Share
Just as modern mass production requires the standardization of commodities, so the social process requires standardization of man, and this standardization is called equality. — Erich Fromm Copy Share
To respect a person is not possible without knowing him; care and responsibility would be blind if they were not guided by knowledge. — Erich Fromm Copy Share
Love is an active power in man; a power which breaks through the walls which separate man from his fellow men, which unite him… — Erich Fromm Copy Share
“Perhaps most trivial talk is a need to talk about oneself; hence, the never-ending subject of health and sickness, children, travel, successes, what one… — Erich Fromm Copy Share
