So in every individual the two trends, one towards personal happiness and the other unity with the rest of humanity, must contend with each other.

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

In some place in my soul, in a very hidden corner, I am a fanatical Jew. I am very much astonished to discover myself as such in spite of all efforts to be unprejudiced and impartial. What can I do against it at my age?

When we attempt to imagine death, we perceive ourselves as spectators.

No neurotic harbors thoughts of suicide which are not murderous impulses against others redirected upon himself.

We are never so defensless against suffering as when we love.

I take up the standpoint that the tendency to aggression is an innate, independent, instinctual disposition in man, and I come back now to the statement that it constitutes the most powerful obstacle to culture.