“The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind.”
The Interpretation of Dreams (1900), from The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, translated by James Strachey.
At any rate the interpretation of dreams is the via regia to a knowledge of the unconscious in the psychic life.
Alternate translation by Abraham Arden Brill, p. 483 http://books.google.com/books?id=OSYJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA483#v=onepage&q&f=false. Freud did use the Latin phrase via regia in the original as opposed to translating it into the German of the surrounding text.
"Royal road" or via regia is an allusion to a statement attributed to Euclid.
1900s
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Sigmund Freud 147
Austrian neurologist known as the founding father of psycho… 1856–1939Related quotes
“There is no royal road to geometry.”
Non est regia ad Geometriam via.
μὴ εἶναι βασιλικὴν ἀτραπὸν ἐπί γεωμετρίαν, Non est regia [inquit Euclides] ad Geometriam via
Reply given when the ruler Ptolemy I Soter asked Euclid if there was a shorter road to learning geometry than through Euclid's Elements.The "Royal Road" was the road built across Anatolia and Persia by Darius I which allowed rapid communication and troop movement, but use of ἀτραπός (rather than ὁδός) conveys the connotation of "short cut".
The Greek is from Proclus (412–485 AD) in Commentary on the First Book of Euclid's Elements, the Latin translation is by Francesco Barozzi, 1560) the English translation follows Glenn R. Morrow (1970), p. 57 http://books.google.com/books?id=JZEHj2fEmqAC&q=royal#v=snippet&q=royal&f=false.
Attributed
“There is no royal road to learning; no short cut to the acquirement of any art.”
Source: Barchester Towers (1857), Ch. 20; this derives from an expression attributed to Euclid.
Principle attributed to Popper by Ryszard Kapiscinski in New York Times obituary, 1995.
Misattributed
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/01/magazine/lives-well-lived-karl-popper-the-philosopher-as-giantslayer.html
Source: Treatise Concerning Eternal and Immutable Morality (1731), Ch. 1, sct. 1
"Self-Culture", an address in Boston (September 1838)
Context: The path to perfection is difficult to men in every lot; there is no royal road for rich or poor. But difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict. And how much has it already overcome! Under what burdens of oppression has it made its way for ages What mountains of difficulty has it cleared! And with all this experience, shall we say that the progress of the mass of men is to be despaired of; that the chains of bodily necessity are too strong and ponderous to be broken by the mind; that servile, unimproving drudgery is the unalterable condition of the multitude of the human race?
Source: Modern Man in Search of a Soul (1933), p. 14
Context: Every interpretation is hypothetical, for it is a mere attempt to read an unfamiliar text. An obscure dream, taken by itself, can rarely be interpreted with any certainty, so that I attach little importance to the interpretation of single dreams. With a series of dreams we can have more confidence in our interpretations, for the later dreams correct the mistakes we have made m handling those that went before. We are also better able, in a dream series, to recognize the important contents and basic themes.