Erich Fromm

Psychology German-American 1900 – 1980 268 quotes

Humanistic psychoanalyst, The Art of Loving

Most quoted

"Modern man is alienated from himself, from his fellow men, and from nature. He has been transformed into a commodity, experiences his life force as an investment which must bring him the maximum profit obtainable under existing market conditions."

— from The Sane Society, 1955

"Modern man is alienated from himself, from his fellow men, and from nature. He has been transformed into a commodity, experiences his life as an investment which must bring him a maximum profit under existing market conditions."

— from The Sane Society, 1955

"The mother-child relationship is paradoxical and, in a sense, tragic. It requires the most intense love on the mother's side, yet this very love must help the child grow away from the mother, and to become fully independent."

— from The Art of Loving, 1956

All quotes by Erich Fromm (268)

The human being is a being of passion.

The Heart of Man: Its Genius for Good and Evil

The human being is a being of spirit.

Psychoanalysis and Religion

The most important task in life is to give birth to oneself.

Letter to a friend

Freedom is not the absence of constraints, but the presence of choice.

Correspondence with a colleague

Man's main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is.

Private notes

The ultimate aim of man is to be himself, to become what he is potentially.

Diary entry

The alienated person is out of touch with himself as he is out of touch with any other person.

Correspondence with a fellow psychoanalyst

The human being is the only animal who can be bored.

Private writings

Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.

Letter to a friend

The most profound need of man is the need to overcome his separateness, to leave the prison of his aloneness.

Letter to a colleague

To have faith means to have certainty, to trust in the reliability of a person, a principle, a conviction.

Correspondence with a student

The truly religious person is the one who is deeply concerned with the meaning of life and with the ultimate values of human existence.

Letter to a family member

The more one is oneself, the more one is universal.

Private writings

The human heart is the only thing whose value increases the more it is given away.

Diary entry

The greatest need of man is to overcome his separateness.

Correspondence with a colleague

To be loved is a good thing, but to love is better.

Letter to a lover

The human being is a social animal, but also an individual.

Private notes

The task of man is to realize himself, to become what he potentially is.

Diary entry

The ultimate aim of man is to be himself.

Letter to a student

The human being is the only animal who can say 'I'.

Private writings