When making a decision of minor importance, I have always found it advantageous to consider all the pros and cons. In vital matters, however, such as the choice of a mate or a profession, the decision should come from the unconscious, from somewhere within ourselves. In the important decisions of personal life, we should be governed, I think, by the deep inner needs of our nature.

When the wayfarer whistles in the dark, he may be disavowing his timidity, but he does not see any the more clearly for doing so.

It might be said of psychoanalysis that if you give it your little finger it will soon have your whole hand.

Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.

Time spent with cats is never wasted.

The poor ego has a still harder time of it; it has to serve three harsh masters, and it has to do its best to reconcile the claims and demands of all three...The three tyrants are the external world, the superego, and the id.

The price of civilization is instinctual renunciation.