Erich Fromm
Erich Fromm
Erich Seligmann Frommwas a German social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. He was associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPsychologist
Date of Birth23 March 1900
CountryUnited States of America
life love-is important
The spirit of a production-centered, commodity-greedy society is such that only the non-conformist can defend himself sufficiently against it. Those who are seriously concerned with love as the only rational answer to the problem of human existence must, then, arrive at the conclusion that important and radical changes in our social structure are necessary, if love is to become a social and not a highly individualistic, marginal phenomenon.
optimism despair pessimism
Optimism is an alienated form of faith, pessimism an alienated form of despair.
equality men history
Just as modern mass production requires the standardization of commodities, so the social process requires standardization of man, and this standardization is called equality.
able individual ifs
If an individual is able to love productively, he loves himself, too; if he can love only others, he cannot love at all.
respect equality men
Men are born equal but they are also born different.
peace productive-work able
Productive work, love and thought are possible only if a person can be, when necessary, quiet and alone. To be able to listen to oneself is the necessary condition for relating oneself to others.
attitude self-esteem alternatives
Love of others and love of ourselves are not alternatives. On the contrary, an attitude of love towards themselves will be found in all those who are capable of loving others.
bores-you boredom would-be
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.
lonely people unhappy
We are a society of notoriously unhappy people: lonely, anxious, depressed, destructive, dependent - people who are glad when we have killed the time we are trying so hard to save.
loneliness boredom greed
Greedhas no satiation point, since its consummation does not fill the inner emptiness, boredom, loneliness, and depression it is meant to overcome.
order
You have to stop in order to change direction.
insecure men thinking
Free man is by necessity insecure, thinking man by necessity uncertain.
stronger outcomes life-is
The more the drive toward life is thwarted, the stronger is the drive toward destruction; the more life is realized, the less is the strength of destructiveness. Destructiveness is the outcome of unlived life.
life outcomes destructiveness
Destructiveness is the outcome of an unlived life.