--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Freud is the father of psychoanalysis. It…" description: "\"Freud is the father of psychoanalysis. It has no mother.\" — Germaine Greer" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/433/germaine-greer-1521_freud_freud-is-the-father-of-psychoanalysis-it_2280892.png" --- # Freud is the father of psychoanalysis. It has no mother. ![“Freud is the father of psychoanalysis. It has no mother.” quote by Germaine Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/433/germaine-greer-1521_freud_freud-is-the-father-of-psychoanalysis-it_2280892.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/433/germaine-greer-1521_freud_freud-is-the-father-of-psychoanalysis-it_2280892.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/433/germaine-greer-1521_freud_freud-is-the-father-of-psychoanalysis-it_2280892.png) > “Freud is the father of psychoanalysis. It has no mother.” [Germaine Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germaine-greer/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The statement humorously suggests that psychoanalysis was created by Freud without a collaborative or nurturing influence, emphasizing his singular role. **In simple terms:** Freud created psychoanalysis alone. Key Takeaway Recognize the impact of dominant ideas. Themes psychology history gender Mood ironic critical Type historical analytical When to use this quote - academic discourse - mental health practice - gender studies Key Concepts pioneering individualism Questions to Reflect On - How does attributing a "father" shape our view of intellectual history? - What roles did women play in early psychoanalysis? A Different Perspective Some argue others contributed to early psychoanalytic theory. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Father Psychoanalysis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/father-psychoanalysis-350508/) [Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freud/) [Freud Father](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freud-father-1201516/) [Mother](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mother/) [Parenting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/parenting/) [Psychoanalysis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychoanalysis/) [Psychoanalysis Mother](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychoanalysis-mother-1201517/) ## Related quotes > [Freud is the father of psychoanalysis. It had no mother.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germaine-greer/freud-is-the-father-of-psychoanalysis-it-had-no-mother/) [Germaine Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germaine-greer/) > [“Sigmund Freud, the father of Psychoanalysis, in Beyond the pleasure principle”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lee-vickers/sigmund-freud-the-father-of-psychoanalysis-in-beyond-the-pleasure/) [Lee Vickers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lee-vickers/) > [“if psychoanalysis was late-19th-century secular Judaism's way of constructing spiritual meaning in a post-religious world and retail is the late 20th century's way of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-rakoff/if-psychoanalysis-was-late-19th-century-secular-judaism-s-way-of/) [David Rakoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-rakoff/) > [“his understanding of transference in the therapeutic relationship and the presumed value of dreams as sources of insight into unconscious desires. He is commonly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/his-understanding-of-transference-in-the-therapeutic-relationship-and/) [Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/) > [“Sigmund Freud, the father of psychiatry and an atheist, theorized that one’s attitude toward one’s father largely shaped one’s attitude toward God.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-prager/sigmund-freud-the-father-of-psychiatry-and-an-atheist-theorized-that/) [Dennis Prager](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-prager/) > [If psychoanalysis was late 19th century secular Judaism’s way of finding spiritual meaning in a post-religious world, and retail is the late 20th century’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-rakoff/if-psychoanalysis-was-late-19th-century-secular-judaism-s-way-of-2/) [David Rakoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-rakoff/) > [Psychoanalysis is the confession without absolution.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germaine-greer/psychoanalysis-is-the-confession-without-absolution/) [Germaine Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germaine-greer/) > [Day after day I read Freud, thinking myself to be very enlightened and scientific when, as a matter of fact, I was about as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/day-after-day-i-read-freud-thinking-myself-to-be-very-enlightened-and/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [Psychoanalysis is for hysterical pathological cases, not for silly rich American women who should be learning how to darn socks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/psychoanalysis-is-for-hysterical-pathological-cases-not-for-silly/) [Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/) > [“what is new in his theories is not true, and what is true in his theories is not new.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-eysenck/what-is-new-in-his-theories-is-not-true-and-what-is-true-in-his/) [Hans Eysenck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-eysenck/) > [Psychoanalysis wants to heal with words and speaking, but sometimes with speaking, you realize nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alejandro-jodorowsky/psychoanalysis-wants-to-heal-with-words-and-speaking-but-sometimes/) [Alejandro Jodorowsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alejandro-jodorowsky/) > [“Psychoanalysis is confession without absolution.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-k-chesterton/psychoanalysis-is-confession-without-absolution/) [G.K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-k-chesterton/) > [Psychoanalysis is a technique we practice at our cost; psychoanalysis degrades our risks, our dangers, our depths; it strips us of our impurities, of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-m-cioran/psychoanalysis-is-a-technique-we-practice-at-our-cost-psychoanalysis/) [Emile M. Cioran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-m-cioran/) > [I thought foolishly that Freudian psychoanalysis was deeper and more intensive than other, more directive forms of therapy, so I was trained in it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-ellis/i-thought-foolishly-that-freudian-psychoanalysis-was-deeper-and-more/) [Albert Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-ellis/) > [In the 1950s and early 1960s, psychoanalysis swept through the intellectual community, and it was the dominant mode of thinking about the mind. People…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-kandel/in-the-1950s-and-early-1960s-psychoanalysis-swept-through-the/) [Eric Kandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-kandel/) ## More by Germaine Greer > [You're only young once, but you can be immature forever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germaine-greer/you-re-only-young-once-but-you-can-be-immature-forever/) [Germaine Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germaine-greer/) > [Is it too much to ask that women be spared the daily struggle for superhuman beauty in order to offer it to the caresses…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germaine-greer/is-it-too-much-to-ask-that-women-be-spared-the-daily-struggle-for/) [Germaine Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germaine-greer/) > [“Female castration results in concentration of her feelings upon her male companion, and her impotence in confrontations with her own kind. Because all her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germaine-greer/female-castration-results-in-concentration-of-her-feelings-upon-her/) [Germaine Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germaine-greer/) > [Women have been charged with deviousness and duplicity since the dawn of civilization so they have never been able to pretend that their masks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germaine-greer/women-have-been-charged-with-deviousness-and-duplicity-since-the-dawn/) [Germaine Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germaine-greer/) > [“Psychologists cannot fix the world so they fix women.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germaine-greer/psychologists-cannot-fix-the-world-so-they-fix-women/) [Germaine Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germaine-greer/) > [Bras are a ludicrous invention; but if you make bralessness a rule, you're just subjecting yourself to yet another repression.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germaine-greer/bras-are-a-ludicrous-invention-but-if-you-make-bralessness-a-rule-you/) [Germaine Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germaine-greer/) > [The essence of pleasure is spontaneity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germaine-greer/the-essence-of-pleasure-is-spontaneity/) [Germaine Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germaine-greer/) > [If a person loves only one other person, and is indifferent to his fellow men, his love is not love but a symbiotic attachment,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germaine-greer/if-a-person-loves-only-one-other-person-and-is-indifferent-to-his/) [Germaine Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germaine-greer/) > [Gillard is as likeable as Rudd is charmless. She is self-deprecating; he is ludicrously vainglorious. She is a mistress of understatement; he is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germaine-greer/gillard-is-as-likeable-as-rudd-is-charmless-she-is-self-deprecating/) [Germaine Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germaine-greer/) > [“Liberty is terrifying but it is also exhilarating.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germaine-greer/liberty-is-terrifying-but-it-is-also-exhilarating/) [Germaine Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germaine-greer/) > [It is often falsely assumed, even by feminists, that sexuality is the enemy of the female who really wants to develop these aspects of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germaine-greer/it-is-often-falsely-assumed-even-by-feminists-that-sexuality-is-the/) [Germaine Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germaine-greer/) > [Women who were housewives, who were pretty miserable ... felt inspired by her book and their life changed. They didn't become megastars, but they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germaine-greer/women-who-were-housewives-who-were-pretty-miserable-felt-inspired-by/) [Germaine Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germaine-greer/) > [It is in our interests to let the police and their employers go on believing that the Underground is a conspiracy, because it increases…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germaine-greer/it-is-in-our-interests-to-let-the-police-and-their-employers-go-on/) [Germaine Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germaine-greer/) > [Rescuing women from their burden of unwarranted guilt is going to require 'educational practices and socializing agents' even more effective than the ones that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germaine-greer/rescuing-women-from-their-burden-of-unwarranted-guilt-is-going-to/) [Germaine Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germaine-greer/) > [Men have still not realized that letting women do so much of the work for so little reward makes a man in the house…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germaine-greer/men-have-still-not-realized-that-letting-women-do-so-much-of-the-work/) [Germaine Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germaine-greer/) [Explore all 232 Germaine Greer quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germaine-greer/) ## More Freud quotes > [“Woe to you, my Princess, when I come. I will kiss you quite red and feed you till you are plump. And if you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/woe-to-you-my-princess-when-i-come-i-will-kiss-you-quite-red-and-feed/) [Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/) > [You don't have to be Sigmund Freud to surmise that war has a perverse appeal for the human race, nor is the attraction limited…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-willis/you-don-t-have-to-be-sigmund-freud-to-surmise-that-war-has-a-perverse/) [Ellen Willis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-willis/) > [“It’s so easy to lose faith and become lost in all of the politics of the world. That’s why we need the arts. To…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kamand-kojouri/it-s-so-easy-to-lose-faith-and-become-lost-in-all-of-the-politics-of/) [Kamand Kojouri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kamand-kojouri/) > [In the 1950s and early 1960s, psychoanalysis swept through the intellectual community, and it was the dominant mode of thinking about the mind. People…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-kandel/in-the-1950s-and-early-1960s-psychoanalysis-swept-through-the/) [Eric Kandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-kandel/) > [Freud pointed out, in his Problem of Lay Analysis, that it is extremely unlikely that a young man who would throw the best years…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-goodman/freud-pointed-out-in-his-problem-of-lay-analysis-that-it-is-extremely/) [Paul Goodman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-goodman/) > [“I may now add that civilization is a process in the service of Eros, whose purpose is to combine single human individuals, and after…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/i-may-now-add-that-civilization-is-a-process-in-the-service-of-eros/) [Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/) > [“By what psychoanalyst friends tell me, in the field of the emotional subconscious, the emotional resistances to be overcome are no longer the ones…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/massimo-piattelli-palmarini/by-what-psychoanalyst-friends-tell-me-in-the-field-of-the-emotional/) [Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/massimo-piattelli-palmarini/) > [The people who had the most impact on me when I was young were Freud and Darwin, but growing up I also had my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-hefner/the-people-who-had-the-most-impact-on-me-when-i-was-young-were-freud/) [Hugh Hefner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-hefner/) > [My conversations with my wife tend to revolve around who's picking up the kids. Although for years I was aware of some sort of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-morrissey/my-conversations-with-my-wife-tend-to-revolve-around-who-s-picking-up/) [David Morrissey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-morrissey/) > [And these two elements are at odds with one another because Freud is utterly adversary to almost all the ways of structuring the human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chaim-potok/and-these-two-elements-are-at-odds-with-one-another-because-freud-is/) [Chaim Potok](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chaim-potok/) > [“What troubled Jung most was Freud’s tendency to reduce any expression of spirituality—in a cultural or philosophical sense—to something smaller. Freud sniffed out sex…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-valentine-lachman/what-troubled-jung-most-was-freud-s-tendency-to-reduce-any-expression/) [Gary Valentine Lachman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-valentine-lachman/) > [“Freud, again using his conclusions about men’s moral attitudes and functioning as a baseline, had decided that women lack a strong superego and hence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-a-mitchell/freud-again-using-his-conclusions-about-men-s-moral-attitudes-and/) [Stephen A. Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-a-mitchell/) > [Marx and Freud are the two great destroyers of Christian civilization, the first replacing the gospel of love by the gospel of hate, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/marx-and-freud-are-the-two-great-destroyers-of-christian-civilization/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [I thought foolishly that Freudian psychoanalysis was deeper and more intensive than other, more directive forms of therapy, so I was trained in it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-ellis/i-thought-foolishly-that-freudian-psychoanalysis-was-deeper-and-more/) [Albert Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-ellis/) > [“Freud answers by suggesting that the harshness that can be shown by the superego is a result of the channelling of part of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-sandler/freud-answers-by-suggesting-that-the-harshness-that-can-be-shown-by/) [Joseph Sandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-sandler/) [Browse all 384 Freud quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freud/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Freud is the father of psychoanalysis. It has no mother.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Germaine Greer" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germaine-greer/freud-is-the-father-of-psychoanalysis-it-has-no-mother/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Freud" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germaine-greer/freud-is-the-father-of-psychoanalysis-it-has-no-mother/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/433/germaine-greer-1521_freud_freud-is-the-father-of-psychoanalysis-it_2280892.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/433/germaine-greer-1521_freud_freud-is-the-father-of-psychoanalysis-it_2280892.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/433/germaine-greer-1521_freud_freud-is-the-father-of-psychoanalysis-it_2280892.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Freud is the father of psychoanalysis. It has no mother.” — Germaine Greer", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Germaine Greer", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germaine-greer/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Freud is the father of psychoanalysis....", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germaine-greer/freud-is-the-father-of-psychoanalysis-it-has-no-mother/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germaine-greer/freud-is-the-father-of-psychoanalysis-it-has-no-mother/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```