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
dream communication important
Both dreams and myths are important communications from ourselves to ourselves.
love-life men cogs
. . . freedom to creat and construct, to wonder and to venture. Such freedom requires that the individual be active and responsible, not a slave or a well-fed cog in the machine . . . It is not enough that men are not slaves; if social conditions further the existence of automatons, the result will not be love of life, but love of death.
growth desire purpose
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.
expression discipline missing
It is essential... that discipline should not be practised like a rule imposed on oneself from the outside, but that it becomes an expression of one's own will; that it is felt as pleasant, and that one slowly accustoms oneself to a kind of behaviour which one would eventually miss, if one stopped practising it.
responsibility independence identity
The member of a primitive clan might express his identity in the formula "I am we"; he cannot yet conceive of himself as an "individual," existing apart from his group.
integrity men self
Man, the more he gains freedom in the sense of emerging from the original oneness with man and nature and the more he becomes an "individual," has no choice but to unite himself with the world in the spontaneity of love and productive work or else to seek a kind of security by such ties with the world as destroy his freedom and the integrity of his individual self.
unmasking arguing form
It is time to cease to argue about God , and instead to unite in the unmasking of contemporary forms of idolatry.
school men machines
Education makes machines which act like men and produces men who act like machines.
hate men choices
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.
sanity frame-of-reference conventional
Sanity is only that which is within the frame of reference of conventional thought.
love-is produce
Love is a power which produces love.
businessman concrete aim
The customer is an object to be manipulated, not a concrete person whose aims the businessman is interested to satisfy.
hopeful way hopeless
There are many who feel consciously hopeful and unconsciously hopeless, and there are few for whom it is the other way around.
teaching simple important
While we teach knowledge, we are losing that teaching which is the most important one for human development: the teaching which can only be given by the simple presence of a mature, loving person.