Natural world Quote by Ernest Becker

“What does it mean to be a self-conscious animal? The idea is ludicrous, if it is not monstrous. It means to know that one…

— Ernest Becker

“the characteristics the modern mind prides itself on are precisely those of madness.”

— Ernest Becker

“When we are young we are often puzzled by the fact that each person we admire seems to have a different version of what…

— Ernest Becker

Relationship is thus always slavery of a kind, which leaves a residue of guilt.

— Ernest Becker

“neurosis as a problem of character and have seen that it can be approached in two ways: as a problem of too much narrowness…

— Ernest Becker

When we understand that man is the only animal who must create meaning, who must open a wedge into neutral nature, we already understand…

— Ernest Becker

What is the ideal for mental health, then? A lived, compelling illusion that does not lie about life, death, and reality; one honest enough…

— Ernest Becker

“This is one of the reasons for bigotry and censorship of all kinds over personal morality: people fear that the standard morality will be…

— Ernest Becker

“Civilized" society is a hopeful belief and protest that science, money and goods make man count for more than any other animal. In this…

— Ernest Becker

We might say that psychoanalysis revealed to us the complex penalties of denying the truth of man's condition, what we might call the costs…

— Ernest Becker

“Understanding this, Rank could take a great step beyond Freud. Freud thought that modern man’s moral dependence on another was a result of the…

— Ernest Becker

“The world of human aspiration is largely fictitious and if we do not understand this we understand nothing about man.”

— Ernest Becker