We offer you 30 quotes from the outstanding German philosopher and psychologist Erich Fromm. Quotes that give life , quotes that answer the most disturbing questions of man. His thoughts will not leave anyone indifferent.
1. The main life task of a person is to give life to himself , to become what he is potentially. The most important fruit of his efforts is his own personality.
2. We must not give explanations or accountability to anyone as long as our actions do not hurt or encroach on others. How many lives have been ruined by this need to "explain", which usually means that you are "understood", that is, justified. Let them judge by your actions , and by them - about your true intentions , but know that a free person should explain something only to himself - to his mind and consciousness - and to those few who have the right to demand an explanation.
3. If I love , I care , that is, I actively participate in the development and happiness of the other person , I am not a spectator.
4. The goal of a person is to be himself , and the condition for achieving this goal is to be a person for himself. Not self-denial , not self-love , but self-love; not a rejection of the individual, but the assertion of one's own human self: these are the true highest values of humanistic ethics.
5. There is no other meaning in life , except what kind of person gives it , revealing his strength , living fruitfully.
6. If a person can live not under compulsion , not automatically , but spontaneously , then he realizes himself as an active creative person and understands that life has only one meaning - life itself.
7. We are what we ourselves have inspired about ourselves and what others have inspired us about us.
8. Happiness is not some kind of God's gift , but an achievement that a person achieves with his inner fruitfulness.
9. Everything is important for a person , except for his own life and the art of living. He exists for anything but himself.
10. A sensitive person is unable to resist deep sadness over the inevitable tragedies of life. Both joy and sadness are inevitable experiences of a sensitive , full of life person.
11. The unfortunate fate of many people is a consequence of the choice they did not make. They are neither alive nor dead. Life turns out to be a burden , an invaluable occupation , and deeds are only a means of protection from the torments of being in the kingdom of shadows.
12. The concept of "being alive" is not a static concept , but a dynamic one. Existence is the same as the disclosure of the specific forces of the organism. The actualization of potential forces is an innate property of all organisms. Therefore, the disclosure of human potentials in accordance with the laws of his nature should be considered as the goal of human life.
13. Sympathy and experience assumes that I experience in myself what is experienced by another person , and therefore , , he and I are one. All knowledge about another person is valid insofar as it is based on my experience of what he is experiencing.
14. I am sure that no one can "save" his neighbor by making a choice for him. All that one person can help another is to reveal to him truthfully and with love , but without sentimentality and illusions , the existence of an alternative.
15. Life poses a paradoxical task for a person: on the one hand, to realize one's individuality , and on the other hand, to surpass it and come to experience universality. Only a comprehensive development of a person can rise above his Self.
16. If children's love comes from the principle: "I love because I love", then mature love comes from the principle: "I love because I love." Immature love cries out: "I love you because I need you!". Mature love reasons: "I need you because I love you."
17. Selfless obsession with each other is not proof of the power of love , but only evidence of the immensity of the loneliness that preceded it.
18. If a person experiences love on the principle of possession , then this means that he seeks to deprive the object of his “love” of freedom and keep him under control. Such love does not bestow life , but suppresses , destroys , chokes , kills it.
19. Most people are sure that love depends on the object , and not on one's own ability to love. They are even convinced that since they do not love anyone beloved " person , of their love. This is where the misconception manifests itself - installation on the object. This is similar to the state of a person who wants to paint , but instead of learning to paint , insists that he just has to find a worthy nature: when this happens , he will paint superbly , and it will happen by itself. But if I really love some person , I love all people , I love the world , I love life. If I can say to someone , I should be able to say “I love everything about you”, “I love the whole world thanks to you , I love myself in you”.
20. The character of the child is a cast from the character of the parents , it develops in response to their character.
21. If a person is able to fully love , then he loves himself; if he is only capable of loving others , he cannot love at all.
22. It is generally accepted that falling in love is already the pinnacle of love , while in reality it is the beginning and only the possibility of finding love. It is generally accepted that this is the result of the mysterious and attraction of two people to each other , some kind of event that happens by itself. Yes , loneliness and sexual desires make falling in love an easy affair , and there is nothing mysterious here , but this is the success that leaves as quickly as it came. One does not become loved by chance; your own ability to love arouses love in the same way that interest makes a person interesting.
23. A person who cannot create wants to destroy.
24. Oddly enough , but the ability to be alone is a condition for the ability to love.
25. As important as it is to avoid empty talk , it is just as important to avoid bad company. By "bad company" I mean not only vicious people - their company should be avoided because their influence is oppressive and pernicious. I also refer to the society of "zombies", whose soul is dead , although the body is alive; people with empty thoughts and words , people who do not talk , but chat , do not think , but express common opinions.
26. One must find oneself in a loved one , and not lose oneself in it.
27. If things could talk , then to the question "Who are you?" the typewriter would say, "I am a typewriter," the car would say, "I am a car," or more specifically, I am a Ford or a Buick or a Cadillac. If you ask a person who he is , he answers: “I am a manufacturer”, “I am an employee”, “I am a doctor” or “I am a married man” or “I am a father of two children”, and his answer will mean almost the same as the answer of the speaking thing would mean.
28. If other people do not understand our behavior - so what? Their desire that we do only as they understand is an attempt to dictate to us . If that means being "asocial" or "irrational" in their eyes , so be it. What offends them most is our freedom and our courage to be ourselves.
29. Our moral problem is man's indifference to himself.
30. Man is the center and goal of his life. The development of one's personality , the realization of all internal potential is the highest goal , which simply cannot change or depend on other supposedly higher goals.
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