We are a society of notoriously unhappy people: lonely, anxious, depressed, destructive, dependent - people who are glad when we have killed the time we are trying so hard to save.

I would say democracy once meant an organizational society and a state, in which the individual citizen is - feels - responsible, and acts responsibly, and participates in decision-making.

Intellectuals are hindered on the way to being, by their narcissism.

I 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.

To spare oneself from grief at all cost can be achieved only at the price of total detachment, which excludes the ability to experience happiness

The danger of the past was that men became slaves. The danger of the future is that man may become robots.

When blended with sexuality, the death instinct is transformed into more harmless impulses expressed in sadism or masochism.