Erich Fromm Quotes


That man can destroy life is just as miraculous a feat as that he can create it, for life is the miracle, the inexplicable. In the act of destruction, man sets himself above life; he transcends himself as a creature. Thus, the ultimate choice for a man, inasmuch as he is driven to transcend himself, is to create or to destroy, to love or to hate.


Citations

Fromm, Erich. The Sane Society. Rinehart & Company, 1955, p. 36.

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Erich Fromm
Erich Fromm
  • Born: March 23, 1900
  • Died: March 18, 1980
  • Nationality: American
  • Profession: Psychologist

Erich Seligmann Fromm was a German social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. He was a German Jew who fled the Nazi regime and settled in the US. He was one of the founders of The William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis and Psychology in New York City and was associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory.