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Link	Quote	Stars	Tags	Author
d800d79	If we analyze religious or political doctrines with regard to their psychological significance we must differentiate between two problems. We can study the character structure of the individual who creates a new doctrine and try to understand which traits in his personality are responsible for the particular direction of his thinking. [...] The other problem is to study the psychological motives, not of the creator of a doctrine, but of the..		psychology	Erich Fromm
9be8fe3	Not that people think that love is not important. They are starved for it; they watch endless numbers of films about happy and unhappy love stories, they listen to hundreds of trashy songs about love--yet hardly anyone thinks that there is anything that needs to be learned about love. This			Erich Fromm
f722b9d	A third way of attaining union lies in creative activity, be it that of the artist, or of the artisan. In any kind of creative work the creating person unites himself with his material, which represents the world outside.			Erich Fromm
d62eeec	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.			Erich Fromm
6d2ec82	Hitler reacted primarily in a sadistic fashion toward people, but masochistically toward fate, history, the "higher power" of nature."			Erich Fromm
6a545c9	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.			Erich Fromm
e77f86c	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.			Erich Fromm
449020b	Paradise is lost for good, the individual stands alone and faces the world--a stranger thrown into a limitless and threatening world. The new freedom is bound to create a deep feeling of insecurity, powerlessness, doubt, aloneness, and anxiety. These feelings must be alleviated if the individual is to function successfully.			Erich Fromm
e24fe4a	The sexual act without love never bridges the gap between two human beings, except momentarily..		psychology	Erich Fromm
b328dcc	To be sure, thinking without a knowledge of facts remains empty and fictitious; but "information" alone can be just as much of an obstacle to thinking as the lack of it."			Erich Fromm
190ef27	Love is the active concern for the life and the growth of that which we love. Where this active concern is lacking, there is no love.		relationships	Erich Fromm
8bacd03	Know thyself" is one of the fundamental commands that aim at human strength and happiness."			Erich Fromm
9cd6976	When man is born, the human race as well as the individual, he is thrown out of a situation which was definite, as definite as the instincts, into a situation which is indefinite, uncertain and open. There is certainty only about the past--and about the future only as far as that it is death.			Erich Fromm
f597a4d	It was the irrational doubt which springs from the isolation and powerlessness of an individual whose attitude toward the world is one of anxiety and hatred. This irrational doubt can never be cured by rational answers; it can only disappear if the individual becomes and integral part of a meaningful world.			Erich Fromm
704f6ae	Buddhist concept of mindfulness means precisely a way of being in which one is fully concentrated on everything one is doing at any given moment, whether it is planting a seed or cleaning a room or eating. Or as a Zen master has said: "When I sleep I sleep, when I eat I eat ..." 10."			Erich Fromm
89a8aa1	When a person feels that he has not been able to make sense of his own life, he tries to make sense of it in terms of the life of his children. But one is bound to fail within oneself and for the children. The former because the problem of existence can be solved by each one only for himself, and not by proxy; the latter because one lacks in the very qualities which one needs to guide the children in their own search for an answer.		psychology	Erich Fromm
2482192	One of the most obvious explanations is that the leaders undertake many actions that make it possible for them to pretend they are doing something effective to avoid a catastrophe: endless conferences, resolutions, disarmament talks, all give the impression that the problems are recognized and something is being done to resolve them.			Erich Fromm
475790b	liudi chuvstvuiut sebia liubiashchimi, esli oni <> kem-to. oni takzhe nazyvaiut liubov'iu svoiu zavisimost' i svoe sobstvennichestvo.			Erich Fromm
ebee679	Come potrebbe un uomo prigioniero nella ragnatela della routine ricordarsi che e un uomo, un individuo ben distinto, uno al quale e concessa un'unica occasione di vivere, con speranze e delusioni, dolori e timori, col desiderio di amare e il terrore della solitudine e del nulla?			Erich Fromm
5679b3e	Senza amore, l'umanita non sopravvivrebbe un solo giorno.			Erich Fromm
b36597c	I knew that we counted little in comparison with the universe, I knew that we were nothing; but to be so immeasurably nothing seems in some way both to overwhelm and at the same time to reassure. Those figures, those dimensions beyond the range of human thought, are utterly overpowering. Is there anything whatsoever to which we can cling? Amid that chaos of illusions into which we are cast headlong, there is one thing that stands out as tru..			Erich Fromm
bcb17a1	The child starts out by being attached to his mother as "the ground of all being." He feels helpless and needs the all-enveloping love of mother. He then turns to father as the new center of his affections, father being a guiding principle for thought and action; in this stage he is motivated by the need to acquire father's praise, and to avoid his displeasure. In the stage of full maturity he has freed himself from the person of mother and..		psychology	Erich Fromm
2ec13f0	Ancak, tam anlamiyla kendisi olmaya dogru bir adim atmaya calisan herkes, korkusuzluk yonunde yeni bir adim atildiginda, cok kesin bir guc ve sevinc duygusunun uyandigini bilir. Yeni bir yasam evresinin baslamis oldugunu duyumsar. Goethe'nin dizelerindeki hakikati hissedebilir: "Evimi bir hicligin uzerine kurdum, bu yuzden butun dunya benimdir."		science	Erich Fromm
039521e	Davranisi yonlendiren itici gucleri bilirsek, yalnizca simdiki zamanda gerceklestirilen davranisi anlamakla kalmayiz, bir kisinin degistirilmis kosullar altinda nasil davranabilecegi konusunda da akla uygun varsayimlarda bulunabiliriz.		science	Erich Fromm
7dfe35b	Umut kendi icinde celiskilidir (paradoksaldir). Ne edilgin bekleyistir, ne de gerceklesmesi olanaksiz kosullarin gercekci olmayan bir sekilde zorlanmasidir. Atlama ani geldiginde sicrayacak olan comelik bir kaplana benzer umut. Ne yorgun reformculuk umudun bir anlatimidir ne de sozumona koktenci seruvencilik. Umut etmek demek, henuz dogmamis sey icin her an hazir olmak, ama dogumun, bizim yasam surecimiz icinde gerceklesmemesi halinde umars..		science	Erich Fromm
a306094	Erotic love, if it is love, has one premise. That I love from the essence of my being--and experience the other person in the essence of his or her being. In essence, all human beings are identical. We are all part of One; we are One.		psychology	Erich Fromm
a7854f0	It is hardly necessary to stress the fact that the ability to love as an act of giving depends on the character development of the person. It presupposes the attainment of a predominantly productive orientation; in this orientation the person has overcome dependency, narcissistic omnipotence, the wish to exploit others, or to hoard, and has acquired faith in his own human powers, courage to rely on his powers in the attainment of his goals...			Erich Fromm
2a5a232	The only way in which the world can be grasped ultimately lies, not in thought, but in the act, in the experience of oneness. Thus paradoxical logic leads to the conclusion that the love of God is neither the knowledge of God in thought, nor the thought of one's love of God, but the act of experiencing the oneness with God.		psychology	Erich Fromm
6ef2c7e	Psychology as a science has its limitations, and, as the logical consequence of theology is mysticism, so the ultimate consequence of psychology is love.		psychology	Erich Fromm
35f9a44	La menzogna puo legare a un partito, ma solo la verita in ultima analisi porta alla liberazione dell'uomo. Troppi tuttavia sono colore che hanno paura della liberta e preferiscono l'illusione.			Erich Fromm
54f117c	The experience of separateness arouses anxiety;			Erich Fromm
3c8c30b	Gravity is the root of lightness; stillness the ruler of movement." (Mueller, op. cit., p. 69.)"			Erich Fromm
b48e628	The polarity between the male and female principles exists also within each man and each woman. Just as physiologically man and woman each have hormones of the opposite sex, they are bisexual also in the psychological sense. They carry in themselves the principle of receiving and of penetrating, of matter and of spirit. Man--and woman--finds union within himself only in the union of his female and his male polarity. This polarity is the bas..		psychology	Erich Fromm
d1b60b6	As long as we can think of other alternatives, we are not lost; as long as we can consult together and plan together, we can hope. But, indeed, the shadows are lengthening; the voices of insanity are becoming louder. We are in reach of achieving a state of humanity which corresponds to the vision of our great teachers; yet we are in danger of the destruction of all civilization, or of robotization. A small tribe was told thousands of years ..			Erich Fromm
1daf4d1	The experience of separateness arouses anxiety; it is, indeed, the source of all anxiety. Being separate means being cut off, without any capacity to use my human powers. Hence to be separate means to be helpless, unable to grasp the world--things and people--actively; it means that the world can invade me without my ability to react.			Erich Fromm
65c37ea	Solo l'amore disinteressato e un sentimento maturo, completo.			Erich Fromm
b7af3de	Amore fraterno. La forma piu fondamentale d'amore, e l'amore fraterno. Con questo intendo senso di responsabilita, premure, rispetto, comprensione per il prossimo; esso e caratterizzato dall'assenza di esclusivita.			Erich Fromm
11286c5	Se amassi veramente una persona, amerei il mondo, amerei la vita. Se posso dire a un altro "ti amo", devo essere in grado di dire, "amo tutti in te, amo il mondo attraverso te, amo in te anche me stesso"."			Erich Fromm
ece88a6	But in many individuals in whom separateness is not relieved in other ways, the search for the sexual orgasm assumes a function which makes it not very different from alcoholism and drug addiction. It becomes a desperate attempt to escape the anxiety engendered by separateness, and it results in an ever-increasing sense of separateness, since the sexual act without love never bridges the gap between two human beings, except momentarily. All			Erich Fromm
aa7747d	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.			Erich Fromm
4dc372d	Let your deeds be judged, and from your deeds your real intentions, but know that a free person owes an explanation only to himself--to his reason and his conscience--and to the few who may have a justified claim for explanation.			Erich Fromm
b86dc46	uzhe na rannei stadii vospitaniia rebenka uchat proiavliat' chuvstva, kotorye vovse ne iavliaiutsia ego chuvstvami. Ego uchat liubit' liudei (obiazatel'no vsekh), uchat byt' nekritichno druzheliubnym, ulybat'sia i t. d. Esli v protsesse vospitaniia v detstve chelovek "obloman" ne do kontsa, to vposledstvii sotsial'noe davlenie, kak pravilo, dovershaet delo. Esli vy ne ulybaetes', to pro vas govoriat, chto vy "ne ochen' priiatnyi chelovek", ..			Erich Fromm
407f4e5	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 increasi..		psychology	Erich Fromm
445cd66	Love is not primarily a relationship to a specific person; it is an attitude, an orientation of character which determines the relatedness of a person to the world as a whole, not toward one "object" of love. If a person loves only one other person and is indifferent to the rest of his fellow men, his love is not love but a symbiotic attachment, or an enlarged egotism."		psychology	Erich Fromm

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