Quotes from Erich Fromm

People should not consider so much what they are to do as what they are. … Thus take care that your emphasis is laid on being good and not on the number or kind of things to be done. Emphasize rather the fundamentals on which your work rests.

The school aims to give each student a certain amount of "cultural property," and at the end of their schooling certifies the students as having at least the minimum amount.

Man transfers his own passions and qualities to the idol. The more he impoverishes himself, the greater and stronger becomes the idol.

Fantazie a sny jsou za?átkem mnoha skutk? a nic by nebylo horÅ¡í než je podce?ovat a snícímu brát odvahu k nim. Jde o to, jaký druh fantazií máme - zda nás vedou vpÃ…â"¢ed, anebo zda nás drží v Ã…â"¢etÄ›zech neproduktivnosti.

There are thousands of Himmlers living among us.

There is only one way—taught by the Buddha, by Jesus, by the Stoics, by Master Eckhart—to truly overcome the fear of dying, and that way is by not hanging onto life, not experiencing life as a possession. The fear of dying is not truly what it seems to be: the fear of stopping living. Death does not concern us, Epicurus said, "since while we are, death is not yet here; but when death is here we are no more" (Diogenes

Our problem is to discover a principle of differentiation and yet relationship lucid enough to justify and to purify both scientific and philosophical knowledge by accepting their mutual independence.

From birth to death, from Monday to Monday, from morning to evening—all activities are routinized, and prefabricated. How should a man caught in this net of routine not forget that he is a man, a unique individual, one who is given only this one chance of living, with hopes and disappointments, with sorrow and fear, with the longing for love and the dread of the nothing and of separateness?

Religion and nationalism, as well as any custom and any belief however absurd and degrading, if it only connects the individual with others, are reduced from what man dreads: isolation

Notóriusan boldogtalan emberek társadalma a miénk: magányosak, félelmektÅ'l gyötörtek, depressziósak, rombolók, függÅ'k vagyunk - olyan emberek, akik boldogok, ha sikerül agyonütniük azt az idÅ't, amelyet szüntelenül meg akarnak spórolni.

Unless he belonged somewhere, unless his life had some meaning and direction, he would feel like a particle of dust and be overcome by his individual insignificance.

PiÅŸmanl?k, özür dilemekten daha öte bir ÅŸeydir. güçlü bir duygudur. PiÅŸman olan bir kimse, kendisinden ve yapt??? ÅŸeyden utan?r. Gerçek piÅŸmanl?k ve onunla birlikte varolan utanma duygusu, daha önce yap?lm?? olan yanl??l?klar?n (suçlar?n) tekrarlanmamas?n? saÄŸlayan yegane insani duygudur. (Hayat? Sevmek)

Opposition is a category of man's mind, not in itself an element of reality.

that 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.9

Any person who becomes aware even for a moment, of the fundamental, essential aloneness of himself as an individual, must feel insecure.

ÇoÄŸu insan Kafka'n?n ihtiyar?na benzer. Umut ederler ama yüreklerinin sesini, itkisini dinleme ve ona göre davranma yetisinden yoksundurlar; bürokratlar onlara yeÅŸil ???k yakmad??? sürece beklerler de beklerler.

Ä°nanç, kesin olmay???n kesinliÄŸidir. Ä°nsan?n kendi görüÅŸ ve kavray???n?n doÄŸru ve kesin olduÄŸuna inanmakt?r; gerçekliÄŸin ortaya koyaca?? nihai sonuca inanmak deÄŸildir.

This holds true for the whole of a doctrine or of a theoretical system as well as for a single concept, like love, justice, equality, sacrifice. Each such concept and each doctrine has an emotional matrix and this matrix is rooted in the character structure of the individual.

La norma judeo-cristiana de amor fraternal es totalmente diferente de la ética de la equidad. Significa amar al prójimo, es decir, sentirse responsable por él y uno con él, mientras que la ética equitativa significa no sentirse responsable y unido, sino distante y separado; significa respetar los derechos del prójimo, pero no amarlo.

If two people who have been strangers, as all of us are, suddenly let the wall between them break down, and feel close, feel one, this moment of oneness is one of the most exhilarating, most exciting experiences in life. It is all the more wonderful and miraculous for persons who have been shut off, isolated, without love.

Masochista má - i když nevÄ›domé - pÃ…â"¢ání nehody, nemoci, ponížení. U masochistické perverze - kdy je toto pÃ…â"¢ání sexuálnÄ› zabarveno a pro osobu ménÄ› nebezpe?né - je toto masochistické pÃ…â"¢ání dokonce vÄ›domé.

Umut, inanç'a eÅŸlik eden ruh halidir. Umutluluk hali olmaks?z?n inanç ayakta duramaz, dayan?ks?z kal?r. Umut yaln?z ve yaln?z inanç temeli üzerinde durabilir.

The limits of the growth of individuation and self are set partly by individual conditions, but essentially by social conditions

Das 'falsche Bewusstsein', das heißt ein entstelltes Bild der Wirklichkeit, schwächt den Menschen. Mit der Wirklichkeit in Kontakt zu kommen, sich ein richtiges Bild von ihr zu machen, stärkt ihn.