Erich Fromm Quotes

Personal liberty is not personal license.

Freedom is the right to choose the habits that bind you.

Freedom is one of the principal goals of human endeavor, but the best use man can make of his freedom is to place limitations upon it.

Liberty begets license.

Liberty trains for liberty. Responsibility is the first step in responsibility.

The disciplined are free.

Only by taking responsibility for oneself, to the greatest extent possible, can one ever be free, and only a free person can make responsible choices - between right and wrong, saving and spending, giving or taking.

Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right to do what we ought.

My grandfather was a man, when he talked about freedom, his attitude was really interesting. His view was that you had obligations or you had responsibilities, and when you fulfilled those obligations or responsibilities, that then gave you the liberty to do other things.

Liberty has restraints but no frontiers.

Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.

Liberty exists in proportion to wholesome restraint.

If you are living in a free society then use the freedom. What good is freedom if you do not use it.

Freedom is not the liberty do anything whatsoever. It is the freedom to do good

Freedom is good when the person can use it appropriately. Otherwise it is a disaster.

A well-governed appetite is the greater part of liberty.

All of us should do what we want and have to do. We can only limit ourselves.

A personal code of conduct that you follow is far better than a social code of conduct that you are forced to follow.

I still totally believe in individual rights and individual responsibility and in choosing to do good.

Why do they always teach us that it's easy and evil to do what we want and that we need discipline to restrain ourselves? It's the hardest thing in the world--to do what we want. And it takes the greatest kind of courage. I mean, what we really want.

It's easier to be a grownup than to be a kid. When you're a kid, you lie constantly and people are always calling you on it. And when you're a grownup, you lie constantly and people rarely do. Children are constantly being caught. Adults rarely so. Being an adult, you also get a free pass, which means you have to actively be a good person because nobody's around to tell you to do that. Even evil kids will be good when adults are watching. But once you're an adult, no one is. As a grownup, you've got an agency over your own life, which hopefully you use for the greater good and not evil.

We must understand that the highest form of freedom carries with it the greatest measure of discipline.

Freedom is the will to be responsible for ourselves.

Responsibility is the price every man must pay for freedom.

The truly free person in society is a disciplined person.