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The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud

Book by Sigmund Freud · 18 quotes · Men, Humans, Ifs

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The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud Quotes

“The fateful question for the human species seems to me to be whether and to what extent their cultural development will succeed in mastering the disturbance of their communal life by the human instinct of aggression and self-destruction ... One thing only do I know for certain and that is that man's judgements of value follow directly from his wihes for happiness-that, accordingly, they are an attempt to support his illusions with arguments.”

KnowsMenHumansSelfSeemsCertainValuesCultureSupportOne ThingDevelopmentSucceedIllusionArgumentDestructionInstinctSpeciesJudgementAggressionSelf DestructionDisturbanceHuman Species
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“Civilization is a process in the service of Eros, whose purpose is to combine single human individuals, and after that families, then races, peoples and nations, into one great unity, the unity of mankind. Why this has to happen, we do not know; the work of Eros is precisely this.”

KnowsHumansHappensPurposeIndividualNationsProcessRaceMankindCivilizationUnityErosHuman Civilization
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“The adoption of the required attitude of mind towards ideas that seem to emerge "of their own free will" and the abandonment of the critical function that is normally in operation against them seem to be hard of achievement for some people. The "involuntary thoughts" are liable to release a most violent resistance, which seeks to prevent their emergence. If we may trust that great poet and philosopher Friedrich Schiller, however, poetic creation must demand an exactly similar attitude.”

PeopleIfsMindMayIdeasHardSeemsAttitudeCreationPoetDemandAchievementFunctionPhilosopherCriticalViolentResistanceCraftsReleaseOperationsFree WillPoeticAdoptionAbandonmentLiableEmergenceGreat PoetInvoluntary
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“Human life in common is only made possible when a majority comes together which is stronger than any separate individual and which remains united against all separate individuals. The power of this community is then set up as right in opposition to the power of the individual, which is condemned as brute force.”

LifeHumansMadeTogetherIndividualForceCommunityUnitedCommonStrongerRemainsMajorityHuman LifeOppositionBrutesBrute Force
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“Men have gained control over the forces of nature to such an extent that with their help they would have no difficulty exterminating one another to the last man. They know this, and hence comes a large part of their current unrest, their unhappiness and their mood of anxiety.”

KnowsMenHelpingLastsForceAnxietyDifficultyCurrentsMoodUnhappinessForces Of NatureUnrest
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“In general people experience their present naively, as it were, without being able to form an estimate of its contents; they have first to put themselves at a distance from it - the present, that is to say, must have become the past - before it can yield points of vantage from which to judge the future.”

PeopleFirstsAblePastFormJudgingFutureDistanceYield
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“One feels inclined to say that the intention that man should be 'happy' is not included in the plan of Creation.' . . . We are so made that we can derive intense enjoyment only from a contrast and very little from a state of things.”

MenFeelsShouldLittlesMadeStatesHappinessPlansCreationIntentionIntenseEnjoymentContrast
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“...perhaps the hopes I have confessed to are of an illusory nature, too. But I hold fast to one distinction. Apart from the fact that no penalty is imposed for not sharing them, my illusions are not, like religious ones, incapable of correction.”

FactsReligiousIllusionDistinctionPenaltiesIncapableCorrectionsIllusoryHold Fast
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“One... gets an impression that civilization is something which was imposed on a resisting majority by a minority which understood how to obtain possession of the means to power and coercion. It is, of course, natural to assume that these difficulties are not inherent in the nature of civilization itself but are determined by the imperfections of the cultural forms which have so far been developed.”

MeanFormCoursesNaturalCivilizationUnderstoodDifficultyMajorityAssumingPossessionDeterminedImpressionMinoritiesImperfectionInherentCoercionResisting
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