This transmissibility of taboo is a reflection of the tendency, on which we have already remarked, for the unconscious instinct in the neurosis to shift constantly along associative paths on to new objects.

It is impossible to overlook the extent to which civilization is built upon a renunciation of instinct.

I consider it a good rule for letter-writing to leave unmentioned what the recipient already knows, and instead tell him something new.

Concerning the factors of silence, solitude and darkness, we can only say that they are actually elements in the production of the infantile anxiety from which the majority of human beings have never become quite free.

Our fascination with gold is related to the fantasies of early childhood.

I have found little that is 'good' about human beings on the whole. In my experience most of them are trash, no matter whether they publicly subscribe to this or that ethical doctrine or to none at all. That is something that you cannot say aloud, or perhaps even think.

Dreams are constructed from the residue of yesterday.