Quotes by Erich Fromm

The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning. Uncertainty is the very condition to impel man to unfold his powers.

Only the person who has faith in himself is able to be faithful to others.

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.

There is only one meaning of life: the act of living itself.

Giving is the highest expression of potency.

Man absolutely cannot live by himself.

If it is a virtue to love my neighbor as a human being it must be a virtue - and not a vice - to love myself since I am a human being too.

Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence.

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.

Immature love says I love you because I need you. Mature love says I need you because I love you.

Modern man thinks he loses something-time-when he does not do things quickly. Yet he does not know what to do with the time he gains- except kill it.

The mother-child relationship is paradoxical and in a sense tragic. It requires the most intense love on the mothers side yet this very love must help the child grow away from the mother and to become fully independent.

Free man is by necessity insecure thinking man is by necessity uncertain.

I think if you ask people what their concept of heaven is they would say if they are honest that it is a big department store with new things every week - all the money to buy them and maybe a little more than the neighbours.

Integrity simply means a willingness not to violate ones identity.

There is only one meaning of life the act of living itself.

Human beings had two basic orientations: HAVING and BEINGHAVING: seeks to acquire, posses things even peopleBEING: focuses on the experience; exchanging, engaging, sharing with other people

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.

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.

Immature love says: I love you because I need you. Mature love says I need you because I love you.