We are so made that we can derive intense enjoyment only from a contrast and very little from a state of things.

What we call happiness in the strictest sense comes from the (preferably sudden) satisfaction of needs which have been dammed up to a high degree.

The whole life of instinct serves the one end of bringing about death.

We may say that hysteria is a caricature of an artistic creation, a compulsion neurosis a caricature of a religion, and a paranoiac delusion a caricature of a philosophic system.

It might be said of psychoanalysis that if you give it your little finger it will soon have your whole hand.

Look into the depths of your own soul and learn first to know yourself, then you will understand why this illness was bound to come upon you and perhaps you will thenceforth avoid falling ill.

The idea of life having a purpose stands and falls with the religious system.

Life as we find it is too hard for us; it entails too much pain, too many disappointments, impossible tasks. We cannot do without palliative remedies.

Human life in common is only made possible when a majority comes together which is stronger than any separate individual and which remains united against all separate individuals.

It is always possible to bind together a considerable number of people in love, so long as there are other people left over to receive the manifestations of their aggressiveness.