Erich Fromm
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 towards one 'object' of love.
Erich FrommLove 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.
Erich FrommThe mother-child relationship is paradoxical and, in a sense, tragic. It requires the most intense love on the mother's side, yet this very love must help the child grow away from the mother, and to become fully independent.
Erich FrommThe successful revolutionary is a statesman, the unsuccessful one a criminal.
Erich FrommThe only truly affluent are those who do not want more than they have.
Erich FrommWhat most people in our culture mean by being lovable is essentially a mixture between being popular and having sex appeal.
Erich FrommThere is no meaning to life except the meaning man gives his life by unfolding of his powers.
Erich FrommAs long as anyone believes that his ideal and purpose is outside him, that it is above the clouds, in the past or in the future, he will go outside himself and seek fulfillment where it cannot be found. He will look for solutions and answers at every point except where they can be found--in himself.
Erich FrommNot he who has much is rich, but he who gives much.
Erich FrommIn love, the paradox occurs that two beings become one and yet remain two.
Erich FrommThe quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning. Uncertainty is the very condition to impel man to unfold his powers.
Erich FrommThere can be no real freedom without the freedom to fail.
Erich FrommThat man can destroy life is just as miraculous a feat as that he can create it, for life is the miracle, the inexplicable. In the act of destruction, man sets himself above life; he transcends himself as a creature.
Erich FrommLove 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.
Erich FrommWhile every human being has a capacity for love, realization is one of the most difficult achievements.
Erich FrommLove is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existance.
Erich FrommImmature love says "I love you because I need you. "Mature love says "I need you because I love you
Erich FrommThe history of man is a graveyard of great cultures that came to catastrophic ends because of their incapacity for planned, rational, voluntary reaction to challenge.
Erich FrommOnly the person who has faith in himself is able to be faithful to others.
Erich FrommLet your mind start a journey thru a strange new world. Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before. Let your soul take you where you long to be...Close your eyes let your spirit start to soar, and you'll live as you've never lived before.
Erich FrommSelfish persons are incapable of loving others, but they are not capable of loving themselves either.
Erich FrommSanity is only that which is within the frame of reference of conventional thought.
Erich FrommSleep is often the only occasion in which man cannot silence his conscience; we forget what we knew in our dream.
Erich FrommCreativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.
Erich FrommMother's love is peace. It need not be acquired, it need not be deserved.
Erich Fromm
