Immature love says: 'I love you because I need you.' Mature love says 'I need you because I love you.'
Erich FrommThe sick individual finds himself at home with all other similarly sick individuals. The whole culture is geared to this kind of pathology.
Erich FrommTo love somebody is not just a strong feeling - it is a decision, it is a judgment, it is a promise.
Erich FrommI would say, compared with the 19th century, compared with most previous history, this is as good or better a society than any which man has ever made. But that doesn't mean it is such a good one.
Erich FrommThe only way of full knowledge lies in the act of love; this act transcends thought, it transcends words. It is the daring plunge into the experience of union. To love somebody is not just a strong feeling-it is a decision, it is a judgment, it is a promise.
Erich FrommOur contemporary Western society, in spite of its material, intellectual and political progress, is increasingly less conducive to mental health, and tends to undermine the inner security, happiness, reason and the capacity for love in the individual; it tends to turn him into an automaton who pays for his human failure with increasing mental sickness, and with despair hidden under a frantic drive for work and so called pleasure.
Erich Fromm