Quotessence
Home / Books / The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness

The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness

Book by Erich Fromm · 24 quotes · Men, Ifs, Humans

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenIfsHumansIndividualCharacterCriticalDespairExistentialFormHomeLove LifeOptimismPassionPathologyPessimismPropagandaPsychoanalysisTheoryWarWorld

The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness Quotes

“Optimism is an alienated form of faith, pessimism an alienated form of despair. If one truly responds to man and his future, ie , concernedly and "responsibly." one can respond only by faith or by despair. Rational faith as well as rational despair are based on the most thorough, critical knowledge of all the factors that are relevant for the survival of man.”

IfsMenWellsFormDespairSurvivalOptimismCriticalRationalFactorsPessimismRelevantThorough
Book:The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness
Create image

“Man is the only animal who does not feel at home in nature, who can feel evicted from paradise, the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem that he has to solve and from which he cannot escape. He cannot go back to the prehuman state of harmony with nature, and he does not know where he will arrive if he goes forward. Man's existential contradiction results in a state of constant disequilibrium. This disequilibrium distinguishes him from the animal, which lives, as it were, in harmony with nature.”

IfsKnowsMenFeelsDoeStatesProblemHomeAnimalResultsExistenceHarmonyConstantSolveParadiseContradictionExistentialDisequilibrium
Book:The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness
Create image

“The "pathology of normalcy" rarely deteriorates to graver forms of mental illness because society produces the antidote against such deterioration. When pathological processes become socially patterned, they lose their individual character. On the contrary, the sick individual finds himself at home with all other similarly sick individuals. The whole culture is geared to this kind of pathology and arranged the means to give satisfactions which fit the pathology. The result is that the average individual does not experience the separateness and isolation the fully schizophrenic person feels. He feels at ease among those who suffer from the same deformation, in fact, it is the fully sane person who feels isolated in the insane society - and he may suffer so much from the incapacity to communicate that it is he who may become psychotic.”

IndividualSocietyInsanitySanityIndividualismOriginalityAlienationPathology
Book:The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness
Create image

“Man cannot live as nothing but an object, as dice thrown out of a cup; he suffers severely when he is reduced to the level of a feeding or propagating machine, even if he has all the security he wants. Man seeks for drama and excitement; when he cannot get satisfaction on a higher level, he creates for himself the drama of destruction. [...] The human passions transform man from a mere thing into a hero, into a being that in spite of tremendous handicaps tries to make sense of life.”

PsychologyDramaPsychoanalysisPassions
Book:The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness
Create image