Artvita › Erich Fromm

Erich Fromm (1900–1980)

Fromm trained as a psychoanalyst in Weimar Germany, fled the Nazis, and spent the rest of his life trying to understand why people run from freedom. His books sold millions. The Art of Loving argues that love is a skill, not an accident. Escape from Freedom explains why democracies produce authoritarians. Man for Himself insists that ethics and psychology are the same conversation. He wrote clearly, without jargon, for anyone willing to think honestly about how they live.

Concepts

agency, alienation, authenticity, conformity, escape, freedom, loneliness, love, meaning, oppression

Quotes (10)

“Modern man, freed from the bonds of pre-individualistic society, which simult...” — Escape from Freedom (1941)
“The person who gives up his individual self and becomes an automaton, identic...” — Escape from Freedom (1941)
“Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence.” — The Art of Loving (1956)
“The deepest need of man is the need to overcome his separateness, to leave th...” — The Art of Loving (1956)
“The awareness of human separation, without reunion by love, is the source of ...” — The Art of Loving (1956)
“Love is an activity, not a passive affect; it is a standing in, not a falling...” — The Art of Loving (1956)
“Immature love says: I love you because I need you. Mature love says: I need y...” — The Art of Loving (1956)
“If I am what I have and if what I have is lost, who then am I?” — To Have or to Be? (1976)
“The lust for power is not rooted in strength but in weakness. It is the expre...” — Escape from Freedom (1941)
“The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning. Uncertainty is the ver...” — Man for Himself (1947)