“Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem which he has to solve and from which he cannot escape.”

Source: Man for Himself (1947), Ch. 3 "Human Nature and Character

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Erich Fromm119

German social psychologist and psychoanalyst 1900–1980

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Context: Every man has his own circle composed of trees, animals, men, ideas, and he is in duty bound to save this circle. He, and no one else. If he does not save it, he cannot be saved.
These are the labors each man is given and is in duty bound to complete before he dies. He may not otherwise be saved. For his own soul is scattered and enslaved in these things about him, in trees, in animals, in men, in ideas, and it is his own soul he saves by completing these labors.