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Modern man lives under the illusion that he knows what he wants, while he actually wants what he is supposed to want.
Erich Fromm
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Erich Fromm
Age: 79 †
Born: 1900
Born: March 23
Died: 1980
Died: March 18
Philosopher
Psychoanalyst
Psychologist
Sociologist
University Teacher
Writer
Frankfurt/Main
Modern
Actually
Lives
Men
Miscellaneous
Illusion
Supposed
Wants
More quotes by Erich Fromm
Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem which he has to solve.
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There is only one reality: the act of feeling ourselves in the process of making choices.
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That is not quite enough to make one happy, if one spends eight hours a day in something which in itself has no meaning and interest, except that one gains money from it.
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To love somebody is not just a strong feeling - it is a decision, it is a judgment, it is a promise.
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Most people see the problem of love primarily as that of being loved, rather than that of loving, of one's capacity to love. Hence the problem to them is how to be loved, how to be lovable.
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Love is often nothing but a favorable exchange between two people who get the most of what they can expect, considering their value on the personality market.
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All genuine ideals have one thing in common: they express the desire for something which is not yet accomplished but which is desirable for the purpose of the growth and happiness of the individual.
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What is for me socialism is exactly the opposite of a bureaucratically-managed culture.
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I think our danger is that we talk one thing, and we feel and act another thing.
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I believe that man is the product of natural evolution that is born from the conflict of being a prisoner and separated from nature, and from the need to find unity and harmony with it.
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The only truly affluent are those who do not want more than they have.
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Is love an art? Then it requires knowledge and effort. Love is not a spontaneous feeling, a thing that you fall into, but is something that requires thought, knowledge, care, giving, and respect. And it is something that is rare and difficult to find in capitalism, which commodifies human activity.
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Man absolutely cannot live by himself.
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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.
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Optimism is an alienated form of faith, pessimism an alienated form of despair.
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There is no meaning to life except the meaning man gives his life by the unfolding of his powers.
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Freedom does not mean license.
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For [Sigmund ] Freud, the manifest dream, that is that which we remember after waking,is like a code message, that can be interpreted, provided the right key is avail-able, for example the method of free association.
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Man can be conditioned to behave in almost every desired way but only almost.
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The whole life of the individual is nothing but the process of giving birth to himself indeed, we should be fully born when we die.
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