--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If you take a salesman, who sells a…" description: "\"If you take a salesman, who sells a useless commodity, he feels like a fraud.\" — Erich Fromm" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ade/erich-fromm-367_commodity_if-you-take-a-salesman-who-sells-a-usele_275606.jpg" --- # If you take a salesman, who sells a useless commodity, he… ![“If you take a salesman, who sells a useless commodity, he feels like a fraud.” quote by Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ade/erich-fromm-367_commodity_if-you-take-a-salesman-who-sells-a-usele_275606.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ade/erich-fromm-367_commodity_if-you-take-a-salesman-who-sells-a-usele_275606.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ade/erich-fromm-367_commodity_if-you-take-a-salesman-who-sells-a-usele_275606.jpg) > “If you take a salesman, who sells a useless commodity, he feels like a fraud.” [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Selling something worthless makes the seller feel dishonest and undermines self‑respect. **In simple terms:** Selling worthless goods feels like fraud. Key Takeaway Align your work with genuine value. Themes ethics self‑esteem authenticity Mood thoughtful serious Type philosophical reflective When to use this quote - sales careers - entrepreneurship - personal branding Key Concepts moral integrity value creation Questions to Reflect On - What values guide your professional choices? - Can you transform a useless product into something meaningful? A Different Perspective If the market demands the product, ethical dilemmas arise. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Commodity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/commodity/) [Commodity Feels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/commodity-feels-2685227/) [Customer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/customer/) [Feels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feels/) [Fraud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fraud/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Like Fraud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/like-fraud-801728/) [Salesman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/salesman/) [Salesman Sells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/salesman-sells-2685226/) [Sells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sells/) [Sells Useless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sells-useless-2685225/) [Useless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/useless/) ## Related quotes > [The amateur salesman sells products; the professional sells solutions to needs and problems.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-covey/the-amateur-salesman-sells-products-the-professional-sells-solutions/) [Stephen Covey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-covey/) > [I think the reason I was able to get the jobs I did is because I worked for some very strong, self-possessed filmmakers who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-gordon-levitt/i-think-the-reason-i-was-able-to-get-the-jobs-i-did-is-because-i/) [Joseph Gordon-Levitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-gordon-levitt/) > [Impostor syndrome, or feeling like a fraud at work, at home, or anywhere else in your life, will probably affect you at some point.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caroline-ghosn/impostor-syndrome-or-feeling-like-a-fraud-at-work-at-home-or-anywhere/) [Caroline Ghosn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caroline-ghosn/) > [I did a cover of the James Bond theme, and I felt like such a fraud, because the original is so good.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/moby/i-did-a-cover-of-the-james-bond-theme-and-i-felt-like-such-a-fraud/) [Moby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/moby/) > [I feel like a fraud... My name is not even actually Ashton. Ashton is my middle name.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashton-kutcher/i-feel-like-a-fraud-my-name-is-not-even-actually-ashton-ashton-is-my/) [Ashton Kutcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ashton-kutcher/) > [I don't like the sleaziness, the corruption. I don't like the fraud that college basketball has become.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dick-vitale/i-don-t-like-the-sleaziness-the-corruption-i-don-t-like-the-fraud/) [Dick Vitale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dick-vitale/) > [I always felt like a fraud.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zoey-tur/i-always-felt-like-a-fraud/) [Zoey Tur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zoey-tur/) > [I do feel like a fraud a lot of the time because I've never been interested in people who say 'I'm a writer', 'I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-flanagan/i-do-feel-like-a-fraud-a-lot-of-the-time-because-i-ve-never-been/) [Richard Flanagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-flanagan/) > [John McCain... looks like a fraud to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/young-jeezy/john-mccain-looks-like-a-fraud-to-me/) [Young Jeezy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/young-jeezy/) > [No one can write like Vallejo and not sound like a fraud. 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They live under the illusion that they follow their own ideas and inclinations,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/most-people-are-not-even-aware-of-their-need-to-conform-they-live/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [Just as modern mass production requires the standardization of commodities, so the social process requires standardization of man, and this standardization is called equality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/just-as-modern-mass-production-requires-the-standardization-of/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [To respect a person is not possible without knowing him; care and responsibility would be blind if they were not guided by knowledge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/to-respect-a-person-is-not-possible-without-knowing-him-care-and/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [Love is an active power in man; a power which breaks through the walls which separate man from his fellow men, which unite him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/love-is-an-active-power-in-man-a-power-which-breaks-through-the-walls/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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, what one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/perhaps-most-trivial-talk-is-a-need-to-talk-about-oneself-hence-the/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) [Explore all 558 Erich Fromm quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) ## More Commodity quotes > [We do not claim that punning is legitimate wit. Wit consists in combination of ideas, punning in combination of words only. 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It is the repository of the inner divine,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sue-monk-kidd/i-eventually-found-that-the-soul-is-more-than-an-immortal-commodity/) [Sue Monk Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sue-monk-kidd/) > [Exploitation and manipulation produce boredom and triviality; they cripple man, and all factors that make man into a psychic cripple turn him also into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/exploitation-and-manipulation-produce-boredom-and-triviality-they/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [It is an anomaly that information, the one thing most necessary to our survival as choosers of our own way, should be a commodity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-j-liebling/it-is-an-anomaly-that-information-the-one-thing-most-necessary-to-our/) [A. J. 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