Quotes from Erich Fromm

Attenti a non ridurre l'igiene mentale alla semplice prevenzione dei sintomi. I sintomi, in quanto tali, sono per noi non nemici, ma amici; dov'è un sintomo, là è conflitto, e conflitto significa sempre che le forze vitali lottano ancora per l'integrazione e la felicità

God explains to Jonah that the essence of love is to "labor" for something and "to make something grow," that love and labor are inseparable. One loves that for which one labors, and one labors for that which one loves.

One can only understand the power of the fear to be different, the fear to be only a few steps away from the herd, if one understands the depths of the need not to be separated.

Knowing, then, begins with the shattering of illusions, with disillusionment (Ent-täuschung). Knowing means to penetrate through the surface, in order to arrive at the roots, and hence the causes; knowing means to "see" reality in its nakedness. Knowing does not mean to be in possession of the truth; it means to penetrate the surface and to strive critically and actively in order to approach truth ever more closely.

But any explanation which analyzes one sector to the exclusion of all others is unbalanced, and thus wrong. The socio-economic, spiritual and psychological explanations look at the same phenomena from different aspects, and the very task of a theoretical analysis is to see how these different aspects are interrelated, and how they interact.

If America and the Western world continue in their state of unconscious hopelessness, lack of faith and of fortitude, it is predictable that they will not be able to resist the temptation of the big bang by nuclear weapons, which would end all problems - overpopulation, boredom, and hunger - since it would do away with all life.

Only in the love of those who do not serve a purpose, love begins to unfold.

The task of critique is not to denounce the ideals, but to show their transformation into ideologies, and to challenge the ideology in the name of the betrayed ideal

As Simone Weil expressed it so beautifully:The same words can be commonplace or extraordinary according to the manner in which they are spoken. And this manner depends on the depth of the region in a man's being from which they proceed without the will being able to do anything. And by a marvelous agreement they reach the same region in him who hears them. Thus the hearer can discern, if he has any power of discernment, what is the value of the words.

the love for life, and not only the wish to remain alive

The human desire to experience union with others is rooted in the specific conditions of existence that characterize the human species and is one of the strongest motivators of human behavior.

Love is the child of freedom, never that of domination.

freedom is not less endangered if attacked in the name of anti-Fascism than in that of outright Fascism.

Significant changes in the psychological atmosphere accompanied the economic development of capitalism. A spirit of restlessness began to pervade life toward the end of the Middle Ages. The concept of time in the modern sense began to develop. Minutes became valuable [...]. Too many holidays began to appear as a misfortune. Time was so valuable that on felt one should never spend it for any purpose which was not useful. Work became increasingly a supreme value.

As with all semantic difficulties, the answer can only be arbitrary. What matters is that we know what kind of union we are talking about when we speak of love. Do we refer to love as the mature answer to the problem of existence, or do we speak of those immature forms of love which may be called symbiotic union?

Ancak, tam anlam?yla kendisi olmaya doÄŸru bir ad?m atmaya çal??an herkes, korkusuzluk yönünde yeni bir ad?m at?ld???nda, çok kesin bir güç ve sevinç duygusunun uyand???n? bilir. Yeni bir yaÅŸam evresinin baÅŸlam?? olduÄŸunu duyumsar. Goethe'nin dizelerindeki hakikati hissedebilir: Evimi bir hiçliÄŸin üzerine kurdum, bu yüzden bütün dünya benimdir.

Primary bonds once severed cannot be mended; once paradise is lost, man cannot return to it. There is only one possible, productive solution for the relationship of individualized man with the world: his active solidarity with all men and his spontaneous activity, love and work, which unite him again with the world, not by primary ties but as a free and independent individual.

De a létezés egzisztenciális módja mindig jelen van - ha elnyomva is. Egyetlenegy Saulból nem lesz Pál, hacsak már megtérése elÅ'tt nem volt az.

The courage of the authoritarian character is essentially a courage to suffer what fate or its personal representative or "leader" may have destined him for. To suffer without complaining is his highest virtue—not the courage of trying to end suffering or at least to diminish it. Not to change fate, but to submit to it, is the heroism of the authoritarian character.

The individual is freed from the bondage of economic and political ties. He also gains in positive freedom by the active and independent role which he has to play in the new system. But simultaneously he is freed from those ties which used to be lived in a closed world the center of which was man; the world has become limitless and at the same time threatening.

Davran??? yönlendiren itici güçleri bilirsek, yaln?zca ÅŸimdiki zamanda gerçekleÅŸtirilen davran??? anlamakla kalmay?z, bir kiÅŸinin deÄŸiÅŸtirilmiÅŸ koÅŸullar alt?nda nas?l davranabileceÄŸi konusunda da akla uygun varsay?mlarda bulunabiliriz.

One concept of activity, the modern one, refers to the use of energy for the achievement of external aims; the other concept of activity refers to the use of man's inherent powers, regardless of whether any external change is brought about.

El hombre no domina la naturaleza, sino que, fundándose sobre el conocimiento de unas cuantas leyes y secretos naturales, se ha erigido en la posición de dueño de aquellos otros seres que carecen de tal conocimiento.

Independence is not achieved simply by not obeying mother, father, state, and the like. Independence is not the same as disobedience. Independence is possible only if, and according to the degree to which, man actively grasps the world, is related to it, and thus becomes one with it. There is no independence and no freedom unless man arrives at the stage of complete inner activity and productivity.