Erich Fromm Needs Quotations

Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.

All men are in need of help and depend on one another. Human solidarity is the necessary condition for the unfolding of any one individual.

The paradoxical and tragic situation of man is that his conscience is weakest when he needs it most.

If you do not smile, you are judged lacking in a 'pleasing personality' - and you need to have a pleasing personality if you want to sell your services, whether as a waitress, a salesman, or a physician.

The need for the creation of collective art and ritual on a nonclerical basis is at least as important as literacy and higher education.

On the whole, our modern ritual is impoverished and does not fulfill man's need for collective art and ritual.

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 ... what is the outcome? Modern man is alienated from himself, from his fellow man and from nature.

The deepest need of the human being is to overcome our separateness, to leave the prison of our loneliness.