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.'

While every human being has a capacity for love, its realization is one of the most difficult achievements. Erich Fromm
A relatively primitive village in which there are still real feasts, common artistic shared expressions, and no literacy at all is more advanced culturally and more healthy mentally than our educated, newspaper-reading radio-listening culture. Erich Fromm
Love is union with somebody, or something, outside oneself, under the condition of retaining the separateness and integrity of one's own self. Erich Fromm
Erotic love begins with separateness, and ends in oneness. Motherly love begins with oneness, and leads to separateness. Erich Fromm
I would say our social relationships are relatively shallow. We are actually afraid to be intimate, with people - many people even with their wives and husbands. Erich Fromm
The psychic task which a person can and must set for himself is not to feel secure, but to be able to tolerate insecurity. Erich Fromm
Human history began with an act of disobedience and it is not unlikely that it will be terminated by an act of obedience. Erich Fromm
We all dream; we do not understand our dreams, yet we act as if nothing strange goes on in our sleep minds, strange at least by comparison with the logical, purposeful doings of our minds when we are awake. Erich Fromm
Mother's love is peace. It need not be acquired, it need not be deserved. Erich Fromm
The mother-child relationship is paradoxical and, in a sense, tragic. It requires the most intense love on the mother's side, yet this very love must help the child grow away from the mother, and to become fully independent. Erich Fromm
The task of the moral philosopher-thinker is to support and strengthen the voice of human conscience, to recognize what is good or what is bad for people, whether they are good or bad for society in a period of evolution. May be a "voice crying in the wilderness", but only if that voice remains lively and uncompromising, it is possible to transform the desert into fertile land. Erich Fromm
Just as modern mass production requires the standardization of commodities, so the social process requires standardization of man, and this standardization is called equality. Erich Fromm
As we ascend the social ladder, viciousness wears athicker mask. Erich Fromm
Whoever insists on safety and security as primary conditions of life cannot have faith; whoever shuts himself off in a system of defense, where distance and possession are his means of security, makes himself a prisoner. Erich Fromm
Not he who has much is rich, but he who gives much. Erich Fromm
Love means to commit oneself without guarantee, to give oneself completely in the hope that our love will produce love in the loved person. Love is an act of faith, and whoever is of little faith is also of little love. Erich Fromm
Love is an act of faith and whoever is of little faith is also of title love. Erich Fromm
Love means to commit oneself without guarantee, to give oneself completely in the hope that our love will produce love in the loved person. Love is an act of faith, and whoever is of little faith is also of little love. Erich Fromm
Immature love says 'I love you because I need you.' Mature love says 'I need you because I love you.' Erich Fromm
The psychic task which a person can and must set for himself is not to feel secure but to be able to tolerate insecurity. Erich Fromm
Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties. Erich Fromm
To hope means to be ready at every moment for that which is not yet born, and yet not become desperate if there is no birth in our lifetime. Erich Fromm
The scars left from the child's defeat in the fight against irrational authority are to be found at the bottom of every neurosis. Erich Fromm
Man's main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important product of his effort is his own personality Erich Fromm
Let your mind start a journey through 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
To be loved because of one's merit, because one deserves it, always leaves doubt; maybe I did not please the person whom I want to love me, maybe this, or that - there is always a fear that love could disappear. Erich Fromm
Who will tell whether one happy moment of love or the joy of breathing or walking on a bright morning and smelling the fresh air, is not worth all the suffering and effort which life implies. Erich Fromm
The duty to be alive is the same as the duty to become oneself, to develop into the individual one potentially is. Erich Fromm
Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction. Erich Fromm
Love means to commit oneself without guarantee, to give oneself completely in the hope that our love will produce love in the loved person. Love is an act of faith, and whoever is of little faith is also of little love. Erich Fromm