Erich Fromm

German sociologist and psychoanalyst (1900–1980)

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Lived 1900–1980, aged 80Germany

Germany AcademicsAcademic

Wikipedia
71 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1900–1980
Aged 80
Awards
3
recognised works

Summary

Updated 2026-06-21

He asked why modern freedom makes people anxious instead of happy — and built a career dismantling the idea that wealth and choice automatically lead to fulfillment.

Biography

About

Erich Seligmann Fromm was born March 23, 1900, a German Jew who trained as a psychoanalyst and sociologist before the Nazi rise forced him out. He fled to the United States and co-founded The William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis and Psychology in New York City, joining the intellectual orbit of the Frankfurt School of critical theory. His work fused psychoanalysis with humanistic philosophy and democratic socialist thought, examining the psychological costs of capitalism and mass society. He spent decades writing and teaching, probing the gap between what people have a…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Erich Fromm

Erich Fromm

said1976

If I am what I have and if what I have is lost, who then am I?

— "To Have or to Be?" Ch. 6 (1976)

Erich Fromm

said1968

Man is born as a freak of nature, being within nature and yet transcending it. He has to find principles of action and decision-making which replace the principles of instincts.

— The Revolution of Hope: Toward a Humanized Technology (1968), p. 61

Erich Fromm

said1966

Among most Christians the Old Testament is little read in comparison to the New Testament. Furthermore, much of what is read is often distorted by prejudice.

— You Shall Be as Gods: A Radical Interpretation of the Old Testament and Its Tradition (1966) "Introduction"

Erich Fromm

said5 Jan 1964

Both dreams and myths are important communications from ourselves to ourselves.

— As quoted in The New York Times (5 January 1964)

Erich Fromm

said19 May 1959

It is often said that the Arabs fled, that they left the country voluntarily, and that they therefore bear the responsibility for losing their property and their land.

— Jewish Newsletter [New York] (19 May 1959); quoted in Prophets in Babylon (1980) by Marion Woolfson, p. 13

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