"In spite of the universalistic spirit of the monotheistic Western religions and of the progressive political concepts that are expressed in the idea "that all men are created equal," love for mankind has not become a common experience. Love for mankind is looked upon as an achievement which, at best, follows love for an individual or as an abstract concept to be realized only in the future. But love for man cannot be separated from love for one individual. To love one person productively means to be related to his human core, to him as representing mankind. Love for one individual, in so far as it is divorced from love for man, can refer only to the superficial and to the accidental; of necessity it remains shallow."
React to this quote
More by Erich Fromm
See allResonant Thoughts
"eciprocity is barter. I always understood that barter was the last effort of civilization that it was exactly that state of human exchange that separated civilization from savagery; and if reciprocity…"
"When I was in South Africa nothing was more inspiring, nothing more encouraging, to a Briton to find how the men who had either themselves come from its shore or were the descendants of those who had …"
Explore Further
Related Quotes
"I am interested in sculpture that manipulates the viewer into a specific relation with both space and time.…"
— Anish Kapoor"Since heaven's eternal year is thine."
— John Dryden"Since first that great Apostacy took place in the Hearts and Heads of those who began even in the Apostles …"
— Robert Barclay"For the time being, the ominous peril of the communist parties in the West lies in their stand on foreign a…"
— Ludwig von Mises"Roger Ebert's review of Sophie Scholl: The Final Days"
— Sophie Scholl"Our economy is very stable and we managed to develop even in the years of economic crisis. We managed to tr…"
— Ilham Aliyev
