97 amazing quotes
by Sigmund Freud
of the Best Quotes
of Sigmund Freud.
Sigmund Freud was one
of the most important intellectual figures of the 20th century. Not only is he
considered to be the father of psychoanalysis, but his ideas completely changed
the paradigms of the interpretation of man in almost all areas. Whichever way
you look at him, he was a controversial figure. We’re going to present 97 of
his best quotes to help you understand his way of thinking.
Of course, although
none of these quotes escape the general realm of psychoanalysis, we’ve tried to
find some that go beyond the borders of this school of thought. So, you’ll find
ideas about life, death, humanity, happiness, and passion. Indeed, you’ll
discover the overall beliefs of this Austrian intellectual.
The best quotes of
Sigmund Freud
Opinions on Freud’s
contributions to the course of humanity are both varied and contradictory. Some
read his works as literature and philosophy, others as highly valid medical
treatises.
The quotes we have
chosen encompass many important topics linked to life itself.
1. “Being completely
honest with yourself is a good exercise”.
However, it’s not
always easy to execute. The honesty that we exercise toward ourselves requires
courage, commitment, and, of course, being honest with who we are, our
identities, and our desires.
2. “Most people don’t
really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility and most people
fear responsibility”.
This is one of Freud’s
quotes that you can find in his book, Civilization and Its Discontents (1930).
Freud dedicated several lines to freedom in this publication.
3. “Love and work are
the cornerstones of our humanity”.
And they were for
Freud himself, as he pointed out on several occasions in his life. Whether we
try to avoid them or not, the role that work and love play in our lives is
undeniable.
4. “He that has eyes
to see and ears to hear may convince himself that no mortal can keep a secret.
If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips; betrayal oozes out of
him from every pore”.
You’ll find these
words in Freud’s book, Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis. If you’ve ever
confided a really important secret, you’ll surely have thought about this.
5. “We are never so
defenseless against suffering as when we love”.
Another quote that
every reader will be able to corroborate. To love is to undress parts of
ourselves, which inevitably exposes us to suffering.
6. “Whoever loves
becomes humble. Those who love have, so to speak, pawned a part of their narcissism”.
At least, those who
truly love. Those who practice false love don’t usually practice humility.
7. “Men are more moral
than they think and much more immoral than they can imagine”.
One of Sigmund Freud’s
best-known quotes on the subject of morals.
8. “One feels inclined
to say that the intention that man should be ‘happy’ is not in the plan of
Creation”.
Nor is it in nature’s
plans. This doesn’t prevent us from wanting to include it in our life purposes.
9. “Men are strong as
long as they represent a strong idea. They become powerless when they oppose
it”.
The strength of a man
is measured in relation to the power of his ideas. This is materialized in all
his aspects, actions, and the exercise of his words.
10. “The more perfect
a person is on the outside, the more demons he has on the inside”.
This is the first of
our quotes from Freud about the unconscious. What lies within is greater than
what lies outside. But, sometimes, its presence can’t be seen with the naked
eye.
11. “What we call
happiness in the strictest sense comes from the (preferably sudden)
satisfaction of needs which have been damned up to a high degree”.
In short, to achieve
happiness we must satisfy the pleasures that we’ve repressed.
12. “Civilized society
is perpetually menaced with disintegration through this primary hostility of
men towards one another”.
One of Sigmund Freud’s
most cited quotes about war, the first of many we’ve collated here. In fact,
warmongering as a central characteristic of man is an idea shared by many
thinkers.
13. “Just as no one
can be forced into belief, so no one can be forced into unbelief “.
This also applies when
we try to force ourselves to abandon certain positions.
14. “The first
requirement of civilization is justice”.
It’s also one of the many
manifestations of a state.
15. “A religion, even
if it calls itself a religion of love, must be hard and unloving to those who
do not belong to it”.
It’s a manifestation
that’s corroborated in the most important belief organization systems.
16. “He who knows how
to wait need make no concessions”.
This is an idea from
Freud’s book, Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego (1921). It not only
applies to those who know how to wait but to those who are convinced of their
ideals.
17. “How bold one gets
when one is sure of being loved”.
Just as loving leaves
us defenseless in the face of suffering, as we already pointed out with our
other quotes from Sigmund Freud, it can also impregnate us with a boldness that
we can’t achieve by other means.
18. “One day, in
retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful”.
Although, when we’re
struggling, we don’t see it that way.
19. “We are what we
are because we have been what we have been…”
A central idea of
Sigmund Freud and the current of psychoanalysis.
20. “In the small
matters trust the mind. In the large ones, trust the heart”.
A thought we can
embrace as a philosophy of life when making decisions.
21. “Everyone owes
nature a death”.
Death comes to all
living beings. Although none of us know where or when it’ll be, we must be
prepared for it.
22. “Individual
liberty is not an asset of civilization. It was greatest before there was any
civilization…”
And, it’s something
that’s permanently obtained through our own actions. Freedom isn’t a right that
belongs to us, it’s one that we must conquer.
23. “Places are often
treated like people”.
Indeed, those that
have left a mark on us are remembered really fondly.
24. “Men are not
gentle creatures who want to be loved, who at the most can defend themselves if
they are attacked; they are, on the contrary, creatures among whose instinctual
endowments is to be reckoned a powerful share of aggressiveness”.
This is an idea also
found in other quotes from Freud.
25. “We are never so
vulnerable as when we love, and never so helplessly unhappy as when we have
lost our loved object or its love”.
One of the many ways
that love makes us vulnerable is that we’re exposed to its loss. The misery of
the loss of love, in any of its manifestations, is incomparable to any other.
26. “I have found
little that is ‘good’ about human beings on the whole. In my experience, most
of them are trash, no matter whether they publicly subscribe to this or that
ethical doctrine, or to none at all. That is something that you cannot say out
loud, or perhaps even think”.
On several occasions,
Freud pointed out that man doesn’t consist of goodness, honesty, intelligence,
and principles. There’s another side to the coin, one that’s often overlooked.
27. “Civilization began
the first time an angry person cast a word instead of a rock”.
That’s how everything
we see today began.
28. “A man should not
strive to eliminate his complexes, but to get into accord with them: they are
legitimately what directs his conduct in the world”.
Without this covenant,
none of us can travel too far before we run into obstacles.
29. “With words one
man can make another blessed or drive him to despair”.
Words have a more
important influence than you might think.
30. “Everyone has
wishes that he would not like to tell to others, that they do not want to admit
even to themselves”.
Consequently, we seek
to suppress them. But, they can’t be fully contained, so sooner or later they
end up coming to the surface. For example, through our dreams.
31. “Every man must
find out for himself in what particular fashion he can be saved”.This is a
battle that can’t be prolonged for long. It’s also one that we must face alone.
32. “Just as a
cautious businessman avoids investing all his capital in one concern, so wisdom
would probably admonish us also not to anticipate all our happiness from one
quarter alone”.
Another quote from
Freud that we simply had to include in our list.
33. “A father’s death
is the most important event, the most heartbreaking and poignant loss of a
man’s life”.
And, consequently, one
of the most difficult to overcome.
34. “Crystals reveal
their hidden structures only when broken”.
We often have to go to
extremes in order to appreciate what an object itself consists of. Some things
can’t be seen from the surface.
35. “History is just
new people making old mistakes”.
This is something that
happens because of our own ignorance. If we don’t know our past, we’re destined
to repeat it.
36. “Sleep is the
liberation of the spirit from the pressure of external nature, a detachment of
the soul from the chains of matter”.
One of Sigmund Freud’s
most cited quotes about dreams.
37. “Only the real,
rare, true scientific minds can endure doubt which is attached to all our
knowledge”.
No matter how hard we
try, we’ll never be able to alleviate doubt. But, it’s the incentive that
motivates us to keep going.
38. “The virtuous man
contents himself with dreaming that which the wicked man does in actual life”.
This is a curious way
of assessing what dreams are. Regardless of whether they’re exercised publicly
or privately, we can’t escape our vices.
39. “Knowledge is the
intellectual manipulation of carefully verified observations”.
It’s not just
information. Whoever mistakes knowledge for information navigates in the
opposite direction to that of wisdom.
40. “In the depths of
my heart I can’t help being convinced that my dear fellow men, with a few
exceptions, are worth nothing”.
This is an idea
connected to another quote we mentioned earlier. As you can see, the Austrian
psychologist’s opinion of humanity wasn’t too favorable.
41. “Humanity is in
the highest degree irrational, so that there is no prospect of influencing it
by reasonable arguments. Against prejudice one can do nothing”.
Prejudice and
irrationality have brought us to the cliff-edge.
42. “We can never give
up, we only exchange one thing for another”.
When we’ve repeatedly
failed, sometimes, the only viable option is to reconsider what we want to
achieve.
43. “Dreaming, in
short, is one of the devices we use to circumvent repression, one of the main
methods of what may be called indirect representation in the mind.”
Words that can be
found in Freud’s famous annotations regarding his famous case study of Dora.
44. “Homo homini
lupus. (man is wolf to man) Who, in the face of all his experience of life and
history, will have the courage to dispute this assertion?”
Man is the wolf of
mankind. An idea that goes beyond the level of language and, in reality,
materializes day by day.
45. “We live in very
remarkable times. We find with astonishment that progress has concluded an
alliance with barbarism”
This prompts us to
elucidate that, sooner or later, we’ll be swallowed up by it. After all, it
isn’t possible to agree with barbarism and hope to emerge unscathed.
46. “Dreams tell us
many an unpleasant biological truth about ourselves, and only very free minds
can thrive on such a diet”.
The interpretation of
dreams is one of the pillars of psychoanalysis. This is why many of Sigmund
Freud’s quotes refer to them.
47. “The voice of the
intellect is a soft one, but it does not rest until it has gained a hearing.
Ultimately, after endless rebuffs, it succeeds. This is one of the few points
in which one may be optimistic about the future of mankind”.
In fact, behind every
one of us lies the beacon of reason. It’s up to us whether we decide to turn it
on or not.
48. “A man who has
been the undisputed favorite of his mother keeps for life the feeling of a
conqueror, that confidence of success that frequently induces real success”.
Both the figure of the
father and the mother are central ideas within psychoanalysis.
49. “Flowers are
restful to look at. They do not have emotions and conflicts”.
Maybe this is why we
feel so joyful when looking at them.
50. “Religion is
comparable to a childhood neurosis”.
These words are found
in his book, The Future of an Illusion (1927).
51. “Smoking is
indispensable if one has nothing to kiss”.
Certainly, it’s a
substitute that transmits heat.
52. “The price we pay
for our advance in civilization is a loss of happiness through the heightening
of a sense of guilt”.
Feelings of guilt, via
the assimilation of the prejudices of society, are the reasons why we can’t
embrace happiness.
53. “Those who love
fairy tales do not like it when people speak of the innate tendencies in
mankind toward aggression, destruction, and, in addition, cruelty”.
This quote from Freud
concerns those who refuse to accept that certain unpleasant traits in mankind
exist.
54. “The motive forces
of phantasies are unsatisfied wishes, and every single phantasy is the
fulfillment of a wish, a correction of unsatisfying reality”.
Fantasies are
illusions as long as they don’t materialize in reality. They’re related to
desire and, in many cases, to happiness.
55. “When someone
abuses me I can defend myself, but against praise I am defenseless”.
Therefore, it’s
advisable not to be seduced by praise too much. It can affect both our ideas
and our thinking and negative criticism.
56. “Might we not say that
every child at play behaves like a creative writer, in that he creates a world
of his own or, rather, rearranges the things of his world in a way that pleases
him?”
A child’s imagination
allows them to create stories that are on par with any written by a seasoned
author.
57. “Many enemies,
much honor”.
Envy is one of the
most sinister manifestations of admiration. It’s natural to feel proud that we
have enemies who envy us.
58. “The very emphasis
of the commandment: Thou shalt not kill makes it certain that we are descended
from an endlessly long chain of generations of murderers…”
Another quote from
Freud that explores the real nature of man. You can explore his thinking
further in the Sigmund Freud Archives.
59. “What a
distressing contrast there is between the radiant intelligence of the child and
the feeble mentality of the average adult”.
This is something that
we can all corroborate on a daily basis.
60. “Humor is a means
of obtaining pleasure despite the distressing effects that interface with it”.
Freud wrote an entire
book on humor, called Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious (1905).
61. “Toward the person
who has died we adopt a special attitude: something like admiration for someone
who has accomplished a very difficult task”.
This is an attitude
that runs alongside feelings of loss.
62. “The profound
obscurity of the background of our ignorance is scarcely illuminated by a few
flashes of insight”.
Just like a beacon in
the darkness, as we mentioned earlier.
63. “Illusions commend
themselves to us because they save us pain and allow us to enjoy pleasure
instead. We must therefore accept it without complaint when they sometimes
collide with a bit of reality against which they are dashed to pieces”.
Indeed, sooner or
later, every illusion has a date with reality. It’s an inescapable appointment
and one that’ll determine if it survives or not.
64. “The behavior of a
human being in sexual matters is often a prototype for the whole of their other
modes of reaction in life”.
So, our sexual
behavior is just an extension of who we really are. Not a hidden side, or a
parallel one; but a complementary one.
65. “The only
unnatural sexual behavior is none at all”.
These words complement
the previous ones. Together, these two quotes are considered to be among
Freud’s best on the subject of sex.
66. “When a man is
freed of religion, he has a better chance to live a normal and wholesome life”.
It also gives us
greater freedom, according to Freud.
67. “There is little
that gives children greater pleasure than when a grown-up lets himself down to
their level, renounces his oppressive superiority and plays with them like an
equal”.
Moreover, there’s
nothing an adult likes more than doing so.
68. “Conservatism,
however, is too often a welcome excuse for lazy minds, loath to adapt
themselves to fast-changing conditions”.
The essence of a
conservative mind lies in rejecting all kinds of change, no matter its nature.
69. “He that has eyes
to see and ears to hear may convince himself that no mortal can keep a secret”.
We have to deal with
the consequences of anything we decide to share, but also those that we choose
to keep quiet about.
70. “No probability,
however seductive, can protect us from error; even if all parts of a problem
seem to fit together like the pieces of a jigsaw, one has to remember that the
probable need not necessarily be the truth, and the truth is not always
probable”.
Like doubt, error is
part of every search for knowledge and truth. To fear it is to fear what truth
is.
71. “If you want to
endure life, prepare for death”.
If we don’t, we’ll tie
ourselves down and prevent ourselves from enjoying life in all its glory.
72. “But the less a
man knows about the past and the present, the more insecure must prove to be
his judgment about the future”.
Therefore, the
opposite equation provides security. Making peace with who we are or who we’ve
been is one of the ways to make peace with who we’re going to be.
73. “That which we
can’t remember we will repeat.”
An idea that follows
along the same lines as Sigmund Freud’s other quotes about history.
74. “When making a
decision of minor importance, I have always found it advantageous to consider
all the pros and cons”.
This attitude is often
only usually only reserved for important decisions. But, just because a
decision is small, doesn’t mean its consequences should go unnoticed.
75. “Instinct of love
toward an object demands a mastery to obtain it, and if a person feels that
they can’t control the object, or feel threatened by it, they act negatively
toward it”.
This is frequently
manifested in the character of the human being.
76. “It is said that
all great men are bound to retain some infantile part”.
Even though they may
deny it or want to bury it. These words are found in Freud’s essay, Leonardo da Vinci and a Memory of his
Childhood (1910).
77. “When you don’t
have what you want, you must want what you have”.
A tip that can help us
avoid living permanently in states of delusion.
78. “Beauty has no
obvious use; nor is there any clear cultural necessity for it. Yet civilization
could not do without it”.
And no one can deny
the part it plays.
79. “He does not
believe that does not live according to his belief”.
To believe in
something yet not make it a philosophy of our lives means being hypocrites or
at least impostors. If we really want something, we must materialize it in our
daily lives, no matter how small or big the idea.
80. “But one thing
about human beings puzzles me the most is their conscious effort to be
connected with the object of their affection, even if it kills them slowly
within”.
Sometimes, we push the
need to satisfy our desires to the limits, even when it means exposing our own
integrity or security.
81. “The great
majority of people have a strong need for authority which they can admire, to
which they can submit and which dominates and sometimes even ill-treats them”.
Indeed, authority
always instills respect, one that’s not afraid to subordinate.
82. “The meager
satisfaction that man can extract from reality leaves him starving”.
This is why we tend to
resort to illusion. The floodgates of idealism are nothing more than an escape
from reality.
83. “Words were
originally magic, and the word retains much of its old magical power even
today”.
As stated in other of Freud’s
quotes, the power of words never goes unnoticed.
84. “It is a
predisposition of human nature to consider an unpleasant idea untrue, and then
it is easy to find arguments against it”.
For example, rejecting
ideas about the negative aspects of humanity. However, we don’t only consist of
goodness. And, although this thesis may be rejected as unpleasant, it’s
generally accepted to be true.
85. “The commandment
‘Love thy neighbor as thyself’ is the strongest defense against human
aggressiveness…The commandment is impossible to fulfill”.
Because we always seek
our own well-being.
86. “Who lacks sex
speaks about sex, hungry talks about food, a person who has no money – money,
and our oligarchs and bankers talk about morality”.
A quote from Freud
about politics that we had to include on our list.
87. “A love that does
not discriminate seems to me to forfeit a part of its own value, by doing an
injustice to its object; and secondly, not all men are worthy of love”.
This quote is another
of Freud’s many examples of an unpleasant truth.
88. “Love in itself,
in the form of longing and deprivation lowers the self-regard”.
Neither the longing
for or the deprivation of love, allows it to be consumed.
89. “No one believes
in their own death. In the unconscious, everyone is convinced of his own
immortality”.
Assimilating the idea
isn’t done spontaneously. It’s something that, in reality, we must actively do.
90. “To endure life
remains, when all is said, the first duty of all living beings. Illusion can
have no value if it makes this more difficult for us”.
Therein lies the
importance of assimilating idealistic postulates extremely carefully. Because,
sometimes, they can make life more difficult than it is.
91. “The more the
fruits of knowledge become accessible to men, the more widespread is the
decline of religious beliefs.”
An idea of Freud that
he pointed out in several of his works.
92. “Happiness is the
belated fulfillment of a prehistoric wish. For this reason wealth brings so
little happiness. Money was not a childhood wish”.
We have to find those
objects from the past that really made us happy and employ them in the present.
93. “The individual
does actually carry on a double existence: one designed to serve his own
purposes and the other as a link in a chain in which he serves against or, at
any rate, without his own volition”.
Therefore, it’s
inevitable that a conflict will arise. A perfect balance isn’t possible, so
sooner or later we have to choose which we want.
94. “Opposition is not
necessarily enmity”.
People with opposite
ideas don’t have to be enemies.
95. “Intolerance of
groups is often, strangely enough, exhibited more strongly against small
differences than against fundamental ones”.
Words that connect
with the previous ones. They’re also particularly relevant in society today.
96. “A series of
reproaches against other people leads one to suspect the existence of a string
of self-reproaches with the same content”.
An idea that we’re all
familiar with. Sometimes, we criticize what we don’t want to accept inside
ourselves.
97. “I never want to
belong to any club that would have someone like me as a member”.
We end our list of
Sigmund Freud quotes with this quote that’s occasionally attributed to Groucho
Marx.
With this last
reflection, we bid farewell to our selection of quotes from the father of
psychoanalysis. However, if you’re interested in studying Freud’s ideas in
greater detail, we suggest you read some of his works cited in our
article.Freud: A Life Full of Fascinating Passions and Eccentricities
Sigmund Freud was the
father of psychoanalysis. However, we give you some other fascinating details
about him and his life. Read more »
The post 97 of the
Best Quotes of Sigmund Freud appeared first on Exploring your mind…
0 Comments