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The most important factor for the development of the individual is the structure and the values of the society into which he was born.

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
Values
Individual
Born
Important
Factor
Factors
Structure
Development
Society

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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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I think we got off the track, as many societies do, who follow successfully one aim, and yet are not capable of seeing at what point the pursuit of this aim prevents them from following a more total aim. That is to say, they get into a blind alley.
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To die is poignantly bitter, but the idea of having to die without having lived is unbearable.
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[Sigmund ] Freud did not under-stand that the dream is a highly creative act, written in the universal language of symbolism, and only secondarily does censorship distort those parts that the subject refuses to accept even in sleep.
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The only concern which I have today is that we have a policy, a foreign policy, which enables us to avoid a catastrophe which, if one understands it properly, is indescribable.
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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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When blended with sexuality, the death instinct is transformed into more harmless impulses expressed in sadism or masochism.
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A new question has arisen in modern man's mind, the question, namely, whether life is worth living...No sensible answer can be given to the question...because the question does not make any sense.
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The state of sleep is a state of freedom in which man is not occupied with the manipulation of the outside world.
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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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People do not see that the main question is not : Am I loved? which is to a large extent the question : Am I approved of? Am I protected? Am I admired? The main question is: Can I love?
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Every society by its own practice of living and by the mode of relatedness, of feelings, and perceiving, develops a system of categories which determines the forms of awareness.
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Love is a power which produces love.
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If I am attached to another person because I cannot stand on my own two feet, he or she may be a life saver, but the relationship is not one of love.
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Not he who has much is rich, but he who gives much.
Erich Fromm
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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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Exploitation and manipulation produce boredom and triviality they cripple man, and all factors that make man into a psychic cripple turn him also into a sadist or a destroyer.
Erich Fromm
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Jewish legend says that the world rests on 36 just men: only thirty six, but their moral strength is immense.
Erich Fromm
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The need for the creation of collective art and ritual on a nonclerical basis is at least as important as literacy and higher education.
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Thus, the ultimate choice for a man, inasmuch as he is driven to transcend himself, is to create or to destroy, to love or to hate.
Erich Fromm