“There is no meaning to life except the meaning man gives his life by the unfolding of his powers.”

— Erich Fromm

Source: Man for Himself: An Inquiry into the Psychology of Ethics

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Erich Fromm 119

German social psychologist and psychoanalyst 1900–1980

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“The very meaninglessness of life forces man to create his own meaning.”

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“Uncertainty is the very condition to impel man to unfold his powers.”

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“The neurotic believes that life has meaning, but that his life hasn't.”

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“The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity — even under the most difficult circumstances — to add a deeper meaning to his life.”

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Context: The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity — even under the most difficult circumstances — to add a deeper meaning to his life. It may remain brave, dignified and unselfish. Or in the bitter fight for self-preservation he may forget his human dignity and become no more than an animal. Here lies the chance for a man either to make use of or to forgo the opportunities of attaining the moral values that a difficult situation may afford him. And this decides whether he is worthy of his sufferings or not.

“Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.”

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“In general, the man who is readily disposed to sacrifice himself is one who does not know how else to give meaning to his life.
The profession of enthusiasm is the most sickening of all insincerities.”

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“Man is a goal-seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for goals.”

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“Christianity set itself the goal of fulfilling man’s unattainable desires, but for that very reason ignored his attainable desires. By promising man eternal life, it deprived him of temporal life, by teaching him to trust in God’s help it took away his trust in his own powers; by giving him faith in a better life in heaven, it destroyed his faith in a better life on earth and his striving to attain such a life. Christianity gave man what his imagination desires, but for that very reason failed to give him what he really and truly desires.”

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Lectures on the Essence of Religion http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/feuerbach/works/lectures/index.htm (1851)

“There is no meaning to life except the meaning man gives his life by the unfolding of his powers.”

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Erich Fromm 119

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