At bottom God is nothing more than an exalted father.

I should like to raise the question whether the inevitable stunting of the sense of smell as a result of man's turning away from the earth, and the organic repression of the smell-pleasure produced by it, does not largely share in his predisposition to nervous diseases.

What is characteristic of illusions is that they are derived from human wishes.

Civilized society is perpetually menaced with disintegration through this primary hostility of men towards one another.

Religion is an attempt to get control over the sensory world, in which we are placed, by means of the wish-world which we have developed inside us as a result of biological and psychological necessites.

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

Neurotics complain of their illness, but they make the most of it, and when it comes to taking it away from them they will defend it like a lioness her young.