Erich Fromm

The mother-child relationship is paradoxical and, in a sense, tragic. It requires the most intense love on the mother's side, yet this very love must help the child grow away from the mother, and to become fully independent. ”

Love is union with somebody, or something, outside oneself, under the condition of retaining the separateness and integrity of one's own self. ”

If a person loves only one other person and is indifferent to all others, his love is not love but a symbiotic attachment, or an enlarged egotism. ”

Immature love says: 'I love you because I need you.' Mature love says 'I need you because I love you.' ”

In love the paradox occurs that two beings become one and yet remain two. ”

Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence. ”

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

Man's main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important product of his effort is his own personality. ”

Most people die before they are fully born. Creativeness means to be born before one dies. ”

Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem which he has to solve. ”