Erich Fromm

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

— Erich Fromm

Only when man succeeds in developing his reason and love further than he has done so far, only when he can build…

— Erich Fromm

Freedom does not mean license.

— Erich Fromm

“It is hardly necessary to stress the fact that the ability to love as an act of giving depends on the character…

— Erich Fromm

The pace of science forces the pace of technique. Theoretical physics forces atomic energy on us; the successful production of the fission…

— Erich Fromm

Exploitation and manipulation produce boredom and triviality; they cripple man, and all factors that make man into a psychic cripple turn him…

— Erich Fromm

Well-being is possible to the degree to which one has overcome one's narcissism; to the degree to which one is open, responsive,…

— Erich Fromm

“The wealth of data to be found in social and political life. The belief that people do not want to make sacrifices…

— Erich Fromm

By equality, one once understood equality in the very same sense in which the Bible speaks of equality: that we are all…

— Erich Fromm

“Human beings had two basic orientations: HAVING and BEING HAVING: seeks to acquire, posses things even people BEING: focuses on the experience;…

— Erich Fromm

“Most people are not even aware of their need to conform. They live under the illusion that they follow their own ideas…

— Erich Fromm

Just as modern mass production requires the standardization of commodities, so the social process requires standardization of man, and this standardization is…

— Erich Fromm

To respect a person is not possible without knowing him; care and responsibility would be blind if they were not guided by…

— Erich Fromm

Love is an active power in man; a power which breaks through the walls which separate man from his fellow men, which…

— Erich Fromm

“Perhaps most trivial talk is a need to talk about oneself; hence, the never-ending subject of health and sickness, children, travel, successes,…

— Erich Fromm

Love is a power which produces love.

— Erich Fromm

“The assumption that the problem of love is the problem of an object , not the problem of a faculty . People…

— Erich Fromm

I think [Karl] Marx, Pope John XXIII or Rosa Luxemburg [had achieved the mode of existence].But it would be useless to look…

— Erich Fromm

We live in a world of things, and our only connection with them is that we know how to manipulate or to…

— Erich Fromm

“Fantazie a sny jsou začátkem mnoha skutků a nic by nebylo horší než je podceňovat a snícímu brát odvahu k nim. Jde…

— Erich Fromm

Man is the only animal who does not feel at home in nature, who can feel evicted from paradise, the only animal…

— Erich Fromm

Every society by its own practice of living and by the mode of relatedness, of feelings, and perceiving, develops a system of…

— Erich Fromm

Equality today means ‘sameness’, rather than ‘oneness’.

— Erich Fromm

“Society must be organized in such a way that man's social, loving nature is not separated from his social existence, but becomes…

— Erich Fromm

As long as anyone believes that his ideal and purpose is outside him, that it is above the clouds, in the past…

— Erich Fromm