Erich Fromm

True love is like a pair of socks: you gotta have two and they’ve gotta match.

Erich Fromm

While every human being has a capacity for love, its realization is one of the most difficult achievements.

Erich Fromm

You have to stop in order to change direction.

Erich Fromm

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.

Erich Fromm

As 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 Fromm

Authority is not a quality one person ‘has’, in the sense that he has property or physical qualities. Authority refers to an interpersonal relation in which one person looks upon another as somebody superior to him.

Erich Fromm

Boredom is nothing but the experience of a paralysis of our productive powers and the sense of unaliveness. Among the evils of life, there are few which are as painful as boredom, and consequently every attempt is made to avoid it.

Erich Fromm

Care and responsibility are constituent elements of love, but without respect for and knowledge of the beloved person, love deteriorates into domination and possessiveness.

Erich Fromm

Death is never sweet, not even if it is suffered for the highest ideal.

Erich Fromm

Destructiveness is the outcome of an unlived life.

Erich Fromm