To love somebody is not just a strong feeling - it is a decision, it is a judgment, it is a promise. Erich Fromm More Quotes by Erich Fromm More Quotes From Erich Fromm The most important influence on a child is the character of its parents, rather than this or that single event. Erich Fromm parent character children When the theory of evolution destroyed the picture of God as the supreme Creator, confidence in God as the all-powerful Father of man fell with it, although many were able to combine a belief in God with the acceptance of the Darwinian theory. Erich Fromm powerful acceptance father I need you because I love you. Erich Fromm disappointment love romantic I love in you everybody, I love through you the world, I love in you also myself. Erich Fromm art-of-loving world Man can only know the nagation, never the position of ultimate reality. Erich Fromm position men reality Man's biological weakness is the condition of human culture. Erich Fromm weakness men culture It is naively assumed that the fact that the majority of people share certain ideas and feelings proves the validity of these ideas and feelings. Nothing could be further from the truth. Consensual validation as such has no bearing on reason or mental health. Erich Fromm validation people ideas Can freedom become a burden, too heavy for man to bear, something he tries to escape from?..Is there not also, perhaps, besides an innate desire for freedom, an instinctive wish for submission? Erich Fromm wish desire men People seek a new orientation, a new philosophy, one which is centered on the priorities of life-physically and spiritually-and not on the priorities of death. Erich Fromm life-and-death philosophy people Fairness means not to use fraud and trickery in the exchange of commodities and services and the exchange of feelings. Erich Fromm use feelings mean Knowing means to penetrate through the surface, in order to arrive at the roots, and hence the causes; knowing means to "see" reality in its nakedness. Knowing does not mean to be in the possession of the truth; it means to penetrate the surface and to strive critically and actively in order to approach truth ever more closely. Erich Fromm order mean reality Man today is fascinated by the possibility of buying, more, better, and especially, new things. He is consumption hungry... To buy the latest gadget, the latest model of anything that is on the market, is the dream of everybody, in comparison to which the real pleasure in use is quite secondary. Modern man, if the dared to be articulate about his concept of heaven, would describe a vision which would look like the biggest department store in the world. Erich Fromm real dream men Infantile love follows the principle: "I love because I am loved." Mature love follows the principle: "I am loved because I love." Immature love says: "I love you because I need you." Mature love says: "I need you because I love you. Erich Fromm immature maturity love In the first World War British propaganda had to invent the stories of German soldiers bayoneting Belgian babies, because there were too few real atrocities to feed the hatred against the enemy. Erich Fromm real baby war Man is born as a freak of nature, being within nature and yet transcending it. He has to find principles of action and decision-making which replace the principles of instincts. Erich Fromm principles decision men 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 psychics men mean Society must be organized in such a way that mans social, loving nature is not separated from his social existence, but becomes one with it. Erich Fromm loving-nature society way Having lost religious faith and the humanistic values bound up with it, he [man] concentrated on technical and material values and lost the capacity for deep emotional experiences, for the joy and sadness that accompany them. Erich Fromm sadness religious men It is essential... that discipline should not be practised like a rule imposed on oneself from the outside, but that it becomes an expression of one's own will; that it is felt as pleasant, and that one slowly accustoms oneself to a kind of behaviour which one would eventually miss, if one stopped practising it. Erich Fromm discipline expression missing Women are equal because they are not different any more. Erich Fromm equal women different
