#Erich Fromm love quotes

[philosophors]

“Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence.”

— Erich Fromm

[metanoias-substack]

Modern capitalism needs men who cooperate smoothly and in large numbers; who want to consume more and more; and whose tastes are standardized and can be easily influenced and anticipated. It needs men who feel free and independent, not subject to any authority or principle or conscience — yet willing to be commanded, to do what is expected of them, to fit into the social machine without friction; who can be guided without force, led without leaders, prompted without aim — except the one to make good, to be on the move, to function, to go ahead.

What is the outcome? Modern man is alienated from himself, from his fellow men, and from nature. He has been transformed into a commodity, experiences his life forces as an investment which must bring him the maximum profit obtainable under existing market conditions. Human relations are those of alienated automatons, each basing his security on staying close to the herd, and not being different in thought, feeling or action. While everybody tries to be as close as possible to the rest, everybody remains utterly alone, pervaded by the deep sense of insecurity, anxiety and guilt which always results when human separateness cannot be overcome.

Our civilization offers many palliatives which help people to be consciously unaware of this aloneness: first of all the strict routine of bureaucratized, mechanical work, which helps people to remain unaware of their most fundamental human desires, of the longing for transcendence and unity. Inasmuch the routine alone does not succeed in this, man overcomes his unconscious despair by the routine of amusement, the passive consumption of sounds and sights offered by the amusement industry; furthermore by the satisfaction of buying ever new things, and soon exchanging them for others.

Modern man is actually close to the picture Huxley describes in his Brave New World: well fed, well clad, satisfied sexually, yet without self, without any except the most superficial contact with his fellow man […].

Man's happiness today consists in "having fun". Having fun lies in the satisfaction of consuming and "taking in" commodities, sights, food, drinks, cigarettes, people, lectures, books, movies — all are consumed, swallowed. The world is one great object for our appetite, a big apple, a big bottle, a big breast; we are the sucklers, the eternally expectant ones, the hopeful ones — and the eternally disappointed ones. Our character is geared to exchange and to receive, to barter and to consume; everything, spiritual as well as material objects, becomes an object of exchange and of consumption.

— Erich Fromm, The Art of Loving (1956)

[animula-vagula-blandula]

-L'arte di amare, Erich Fromm

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Our society is run by a managerial bureaucracy, by professional politicians; people are motivated by mass suggestion, their aim is producing more and consuming more, as purposes in themselves. All activities are subordinated to economic goals, means have become ends; man is an automaton – well fed, well clad, but without any ultimate concern for that which is his peculiarly human quality and function. If man is to be able to love, he must be put in his supreme place. The economic machine must serve him, rather than he serve it. He must be enabled to share experience, to share work, rather than, at best, share in profits. Society must be organized in such a way that man’s social, loving nature is not separated from his social existence, but becomes one with it. If it is true, as I have tried to show, that love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence, then any society which excludes, relatively, the development of love, must in the long run perish of its own contradiction with the basic necessities of human nature. Indeed, to speak of love is not “preaching,” for the simple reason that it means to speak of the ultimate and real need in every human being. That this need has been obscured does not mean that it does not exist. To analyze the nature of love is to discover its general absence today and to criticize the social conditions which are responsible for this absence. To have faith in the possibility of love as a social and not only exceptional-individual phenomenon, is a rational faith based on the insight into the very nature of man.

—Erich Fromm, The Art of Loving: An Inquiry into the Nature of Love ch iv (1956)

[Thank you Robert Scott Horton]

[loostinyoureyes-blog]

“All humanity is in need of help and depends on one another. Human solidarity is the necessary condition for the unfolding of any one individual.”

— Erich Fromm, “The Art of Loving”

[symphonyoflovenet]

Immature love says: “I love you because I need you.” Mature love says: “I need you because I love you.”

Erich Fromm, The Art of Loving

[thepursuitofunderstanding]

There is hardly any activity, any enterprise, which is started with such tremendous hopes and expectations, and yet, which fails so regularly, as love.

Erich Fromm

[nightlyquotes]

An illusion shared by everyone becomes a reality.

Erich Fromm

[justwatchmyeyes]

Die Gier ist immer das Ergebnis einer inneren Leere.

Erich Fromm

[claer]

from the art of loving by erich fromm

[living-with-bipolar]

Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence.

Erich Fromm

[hoyatype]

Love, experienced thus, is a constant challenge; it is not a resting place, but a moving, growing, working together; even whether there is harmony or conflict, joy or sadness, is secondary to the fundamental fact that two people experience themselves from the essence of their existence, that they are one with each other by being one with themselves, rather than by fleeing from themselves.

erich fromm, the art of loving

i am reflecting quite deliberately on what it means to love, and my feeling that true love cannot exist without the capacity for self-respect…without believing firmly in your own agency and responsibility for your own life…without a sincere effort at being individually self-actualised so you can meet someone else from a position not of desperate dependence or cruel domination, but from an earnest desire for interdependence.

so it’s quite interesting to finally read fromm now and see how he’s written about this. early on, fromm writes that his book

…wants to convince the reader that all his attempts for love are bound to fail, unless he tried most actively to develop his total personality…; that satisfaction in individual love cannot be attained without the capacity to love one’s neighbour, without true humility, courage, faith, and discipline. In a culture in which these qualities are rare, the attainment of the capacity to love must remain a rare achievement. Or—anyone can ask himself how many truly loving persons he has known.

the book is very much a product of its time, though; and there’s a weird little line about how the ‘homosexual deviation’ can never truly attain union and love…

[phillenz]

Love is possible only if two persons communicate with each other from the center of their existence, hence, if each one of them experiences himself from the center of his existence. Only in this 'central experience' is human reality, only here is aliveness, only here is the basis for love.

~ Erich Fromm, The Art of Loving (1956)

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Take for instance a man driven to incessant work by a sense of deep insecurity and loneliness; or another one driven by ambition, or greed for money. In all these cases the person is the slave of a passion, and his activity is in reality a "passivity" because he is driven; he is the sufferer, not the "actor." On the other hand a man sitting quiet and contemplating, with no purpose or aim except that of experiencing himself and his oneness with the world, is considered to be "passive", because he is not "doing" anything. In reality, this attitude of concentrated meditation is the highest activity there is, an activity of the soul, which is possible only under the condition of inner freedom and independence.

 ~Erich Fromm

(Book: The Art of Loving)   ::  [Philo Thoughts]

[gabg]

"El arte de amar"

Porque pensar al amor como un arte es pensar al enamorado como un artista; alguien que construye una obra, la cuida, vuelve sobre sus pasos y se corrige, se mejora e intenta dar lo mejor de sí para que el fruto de su trabajo sea algo noble y bello.

-Erich Fromm

[betterlifeinoverall-rethabilep]

Autumn To Spring Lifestyle

Immature Love Says: “I Love You Because I Need You.“ Mature Love Says: “I Need You Because I Love You.“ Erich Fromm Like, Share And Follow Please don’t forget to comment