Erich Fromm Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old Erich Fromm quotes, Erich Fromm sayings, and Erich Fromm proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.'

Only the person who has faith in himself is able to be faithful to others. Erich Fromm
Happiness is a very proud word of our whole cultural heritage. Erich Fromm
Socialism is the abolition of human self-alienation, the return of man as a real human being. Erich Fromm
If a person loves only one other person, and is indifferent to his fellow men, his love is not love but a symbiotic attachment, or an enlarged egotism. Erich Fromm
Reason is man's instrument for arriving at the truth, intelligence is man's instrument for manipulating the world more successfully; the former is essentially human, the latter belongs to the animal part of man. Erich Fromm
In love the paradox occurs that two beings become one and yet remain two. Erich Fromm
Sanity is only that which is within the frame of reference of conventional thought. Erich Fromm
Fortitude is the capacity to say no when the world wants to hear yes. Erich Fromm
To spare oneself from grief at all cost can be achieved only at the price of total detachment. Erich Fromm
Nationalism is our form of incest, is our idolatry, is our insanity. Patriotism is its cult. Erich Fromm
The cruelty itself is motivated by something deeper: the wish to know the secret of things and of life. Erich Fromm
The danger of the past was that men became slaves. The danger of the future is that man may become robots. Erich Fromm
Authority is not a quality one person 'has', in the sense that he has property or physical qualities. Authority refers to an interpersonal relation in which one person looks upon another as somebody superior to him. Erich Fromm
True love is like a pair of socks: you gotta have two and they've gotta match. Erich Fromm
If a person loves only one other person, and is indifferent to his fellow men, his love is not love but a symbiotic attachment, or an enlarged egotism. Erich Fromm
We are not only less reasonable and less decent in our dreams... we are also more inteligent, wiser and capable of better judgment when we are asleep than when we are awake. Erich Fromm
To be concentrated means to live fully in the present. Erich Fromm
Both dreams and myths are important communications from ourselves to ourselves. If we do not understand the language in which they are written, we miss a great deal of what we know and tell ourselves in those hours when we are not busy manipulating the outside world. Erich Fromm
The ordinary man with extraordinary power is the chief danger for mankind not the fiend or the sadist. Erich Fromm
To die is poignantly bitter, but the idea of having to die without having lived is unbearable. Erich Fromm
That man can destroy life is just as miraculous a feat as that he can create it, for life is the miracle, the inexplicable. In the act of destruction, man sets himself above life; he transcends himself as a creature. 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. Erich Fromm
Nationalism is our form of incest, is our idolatry, is our insanity. Patriotism is its cult. Erich Fromm
Pleasure and thrill are conducive to sadness after the so-called peak has been reached; for the thrill has been experienced, but the vessel has not grown. Erich Fromm
Modern man's happiness consists in the thrill of looking at the shop windows, and in buying all that he can afford to buy, either for cash or on installments. Erich Fromm
As we ascend the social ladder, viciousness wears a thicker mask. Erich Fromm
Fairness means not to use fraud and trickery in the exchange of commodities and services and the exchange of feelings. Erich Fromm
Fairness means not to use fraud and trickery in the exchange of commodities and services and the exchange of feelings...Exploitation and manipulation produce boredom and triviality; they cripple man, and all factors that make man into a psychic cripple turn him also into a sadist or a destroyer. Erich Fromm
Let your mind start a journey thru a strange new world. Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before. Let your soul take you where you long to be...Close your eyes let your spirit start to soar, and you'll live as you've never lived before. Erich Fromm
Independent of others and in concert with others, your main task in life is to do what you can best do and become what you can potentially be. Erich Fromm
Man's biological weakness is the condition of human culture. Erich Fromm