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Modern man is alienated from himself, from his fellow men, and from nature. He has been transformed into a commodity, experiences his life forces as an investment which must bring him the maximum profit obtainable under existing market conditions.

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
Conditions
Transformed
Bring
Fellow
Modern
Fellows
Obtainable
Force
Forces
Alienated
Nature
Investment
Consumerism
Must
Profit
Maximum
Men
Experiences
Commodity
Life
Market
Existing

More quotes by Erich Fromm

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To be concentrated means to live fully in the present.
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In the nineteenth century the problem was that God is dead. In the twentieth century the problem is that man is dead.
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We have a religious renaissance today in America, as many people say. I would say this religious renaissance, ninety percent of it is the greatest danger true religious experience has ever been confronted with.
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In the sleeping state, instead, one is much more oneself, even if society never ceases to intervene.
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Giving is the highest expression of potency. In the very act of giving, I experience my strength, my wealth, my power. This experience of heightened vitality and potency fills me with joy. I experience myself as overflowing, spending, alive, hence as joyous.
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Freedom does not mean license.
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I think American man unconsciously hates his work very often, because he feels trapped by it... imprisoned by it... because he feels that he is spending most of his energy for something which has no meaning in itself.
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Society must be organized in such a way that mans social, loving nature is not separated from his social existence, but becomes one with it.
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A dream is a microscope through which we look at the hidden occurrences in our soul.
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Respect is not fear and awe it...[is]the ability to see a person as he is, to be aware of his unique individuality. Respect, thus, implies the absence of exploitation. I want the loved person to grow and unfold for his own sake, and in his own ways, and not for the purpose of serving me.
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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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Once they are through the process of education, most people lose the capacity of wondering, of being surprised. They feel they ought to know everything, and hence that it is a sign of ignorance to be surprised or puzzled by anything.
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It is true that one has to think first and then to act - but it's also true that if one has no possibility of acting, one's thinking kind of becomes empty and stupid.
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The most important misunderstanding seems to me to lie in a confusion between the human necessities which I consider part of human nature, and the human necessities as they appear as drives, needs, passions, etc., in any given historical period.
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Man may be defined as the animal that can say ''I,'' that can be aware of himself as a separate entity.
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Critical and radical thought will only bear fruit when it is blended with the most precious quality man is endowed with - the love of life
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To spare oneself from grief at all cost can be achieved only at the price of total detachment, which excludes the ability to experience happiness
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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.
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Education is helping the child realise his potentialities.
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Only when man succeeds in developing his reason and love further than he has done so far, only when he can build a world based on human solidarity and justice, only when he can feel rooted in the experience of universal brotherliness, will he have tr
Erich Fromm