Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotes by Erich Fromm (German Social Philosopher)

Erich Fromm (1900–80) was a German-born American psychoanalyst, social philosopher, and author. He applied psychoanalysis to the study of peoples and cultures with an emphasis on the importance of interpersonal relationships in an impersonal, industrialized society.

Born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Fromm was educated at the universities of Frankfurt, Heidelberg, and Munich, and the Berlin Institute of Psychoanalysis. He immigrated to America in 1934, and, after maintaining numerous university assignments, became a professor at New York in 1962. He later expanded his views to integrate some of the principles of Zen Buddhism.

Fromm emphasized social, economic, and cultural factors on human behavior. He wrote extensively—for both the academic and the general reader—on topics ranging from sociology, anthropology, and ethics to religion, politics, and mythology. His works include Escape from Freedom (1941,) Man for Himself (1947,) Psychoanalysis and Religion (1951,) The Sane Society (1955,) Sigmund Freud’s Mission (1959,) and The Heart of Man (1964.)

Among Fromm’s other books are The Art of Loving (1956,) May Man Prevail? (1961; with D. T. Suzuki and Richard Dimartino,) Beyond the Chains of Illusion (1962,) The Revolution of Hope (1968,) and The Crisis of Psychoanalysis (1970.)

Fromm’s later work included The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness (1973,) which developed his examination of human aggression.

More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Erich Fromm

Free man is by necessity insecure; thinking man by necessity uncertain.
—Erich Fromm
Topics: Realistic Expectations, Doubt, Acceptance, Uncertainty

The ordinary man with extraordinary power is the chief danger for mankind—not the fiend or the sadist.
—Erich Fromm
Topics: Power

You have to stop in order to change direction.
—Erich Fromm

Who will tell whether one happy moment of love or the joy of breathing or walking on a bright morning and smelling the fresh air, is not worth all the suffering and effort which life implies.
—Erich Fromm
Topics: Life, Adversity

Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.
—Erich Fromm
Topics: Uncertainty, Creativity

Religion and nationalism, as well as any custom and any belief however absurd and degrading, if it only connects the individual with others, are refuges from what man most dreads: isolation.
—Erich Fromm
Topics: Nationalism

What most people in our culture mean by being lovable is essentially a mixture between being popular and having sex appeal.
—Erich Fromm
Topics: Popularity

There is only one meaning of life, the act of living itself.
—Erich Fromm
Topics: Goals, Simple Living, Simplicity, Aspirations

The only truly affluent are those who do not want more than they have.
—Erich Fromm
Topics: Wealth

That man can destroy life is just as miraculous a feat as that he can create it, for life is the miracle, the inexplicable. In the act of destruction, man sets himself above life; he transcends himself as a creature. Thus, the ultimate choice for a man, inasmuch as he is driven to transcend himself, is to create or to destroy, to love or to hate.
—Erich Fromm

I am convinced that boredom is one of the greatest tortures. If I were to imagine Hell, it would be the place where you were continually bored.
—Erich Fromm
Topics: Boredom

Integrity simply means a willingness not to violate one’s identity.
—Erich Fromm
Topics: Identity, Being Ourselves

Love is often nothing but a favorable exchange between two people who get the most of what they can expect, considering their value on the personality market.
—Erich Fromm
Topics: Love

Mother’s love is peace. It need not be acquired, it need not be deserved.
—Erich Fromm
Topics: Mothers, Motherhood

Authority is not a quality one person “has,” in the sense that he has property or physical qualities. Authority refers to an interpersonal relation in which one person looks upon another as somebody superior to him.
—Erich Fromm
Topics: Authority, Control

In the sphere of material things, giving means being rich. Not he who has much is rich, but he who gives much.
—Erich Fromm
Topics: Sacrifice, Giving, Charity, Wealth

Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.
—Erich Fromm
Topics: Gratitude, Defects, Appreciation, Greed, Blessings

Human history begins with man’s act of disobedience which is at the very same time the beginning of his freedom and development of his reason.
—Erich Fromm
Topics: Reason

The paradoxical and tragic situation of man is that his conscience is weakest when he needs it most.
—Erich Fromm
Topics: Conscience

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
Topics: Equality

Love is an act of faith.
—Erich Fromm
Topics: Romance

Reason is man’s instrument for arriving at the truth, intelligence is man’s instrument for manipulating the world more successfully; the former is essentially human, the latter belongs to the animal part of man.
—Erich Fromm
Topics: Intelligence, Reason, Intellectuals

The successful revolutionary is a statesman, the unsuccessful one a criminal.
—Erich Fromm
Topics: Revolution, Revolutionaries, Revolutions

The kind of relatedness to the world may be noble or trivial, but even being related to the basest kind of pattern is immensely preferable to being alone.
—Erich Fromm
Topics: Attachment

Integrity simple means not violating one’s own identity.
—Erich Fromm
Topics: Identity, Integrity

The danger of the past was that men became slaves. The danger of the future is that men may become robots. True enough, robots do not rebel. But given man’s nature, robots cannot live and remain sane, they become Golems,” they will destroy their world and themselves because they cannot stand any longer the boredom of a meaningless life.”
—Erich Fromm
Topics: Future, The Future

Modern man thinks he loses something—time—when he does not do things quickly. Yet he does not know what to do with the time he gains—except kill it.
—Erich Fromm
Topics: Value of Time, Time Management, Time

Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem which he has to solve.
—Erich Fromm
Topics: Existence, Problems

All genuine ideals have one thing in common: they express the desire for something which is not yet accomplished but which is desirable for the purpose of the growth and happiness of the individual.
—Erich Fromm
Topics: Ideals

Let your mind start a journey thru a strange new world. Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before. Let your soul take you where you long to be…Close your eyes let your spirit start to soar, and you’ll live as you’ve never lived before.
—Erich Fromm

Wondering Whom to Read Next?

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *