The view is often defended that sciences should be built up on clear and sharply defined basal concepts. In actual fact no science, not even the most exact, begins with such definitions. The true beginning of scientific activity consists rather in describing phenomena and then in proceeding to group, classify and correlate them.
Sigmund FreudThe communal life of human beings had . . . a two-fold foundation: the compulsion to work, which was created by external necessity, and the power of love.
Sigmund FreudMen are strong so long as they represent a strong idea they become powerless when they oppose it.
Sigmund FreudWe may insist as often as we like that man's intellect is powerless in comparison to his instinctual life, and we may be right in this. Nevertheless, there is something peculiar about this weakness. The voice of the intellect is a soft one, but it will not rest until it has gained a hearing. Finally, after a countless succession of rebuffs, it succeeds.
Sigmund Freud