70 Sigmund Freud Quotes From The Master Of Psychoanalysis (2021)

A man who pushed boundaries and social norms, as well as legendary neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, allow these Sigmund Freud quotes to get you thinking outside of the box.

Sigmund Freud left a lasting mark on psychology and culture. Although most of his ideas have fallen out of favor in psychology, he certainly changed the way people think about the human mind and behavior.

The legendary neurologist was born in the Austrian town of Freiberg on May 6, 1856. He qualified as a doctor of medicine in 1881, after which he worked and gained respect as a physician.

Freud developed therapeutic techniques such as the use of free association, redefined sexual desire as the primary motivational energy of human life, interpreted dreams as sources of insight into unconscious desires, and created the theory of transference in the therapeutic relationship.

Sigmund Freud died in England on September 23, 1939 following a long and painful battle with oral cancer. He left behind a legacy that has transcended science, with his ideas permeating deep into popular culture.

Below is our collection of inspirational, wise, and thought-provoking Sigmund Freud quotes, collected from a variety of sources over the years.

Also check out these Viktor Frankl quotes from the famous neurologist and psychologist.

Sigmund Freud Quotes From The Master Of Psychoanalysis

1. “One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.” – Sigmund Freud

2. “Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength.” – Sigmund Freud

3. “Analogies, it is true, decide nothing, but they can make one feel more at home.” – Sigmund Freud

4. “Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways.” – Sigmund Freud

5. “Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure that you are not, in fact, just surrounded by unpleasant people.” – Sigmund Freud
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6. “Just as no one can be forced into belief, so no one can be forced into unbelief.” – Sigmund Freud

7. “Flowers are restful to look at. They have neither emotions nor conflicts.” – Sigmund Freud

8. “The only person with whom you have to compare yourself is you in the past.” – Sigmund Freud

9. “A man should not strive to eliminate his complexes but to get into accord with them: they are legitimately what directs his conduct in the world.” – Sigmund Freud

10. “Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise.” – Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud quotes to get you thinking outside the box

11. “There is a powerful force within us, an unilluminated part of the mind – separate from the conscious mind that is constantly at work molding our thought, feelings, and actions.” – Sigmund Freud

12. “From error to error, one discovers the entire truth.” – Sigmund Freud

13. “When making a decision of minor importance, I have always found it advantageous to consider all the pros and cons.” – Sigmund Freud

14. “Dreams are often most profound when they seem the most crazy.” – Sigmund Freud

15. “Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.” – Sigmund Freud

16. “When one does not have what one wants, one must want what one has.” – Sigmund Freud

17. “I suppose that romantic love was invented as a brilliant means of seduction.” – Sigmund Freud

18. “If you don’t like a person it’s because they remind you of something you don’t like about yourself.” – Sigmund Freud

19. “We choose not randomly each other. We meet only those who already exist in our subconscious.” – Sigmund Freud

20. “The liberty of the individual is no gift of civilization. It was greatest before there was any civilization.” – Sigmund Freud

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Sigmund Freud quotes that will change the way you think

21. “Human life should not be considered as the proper material for wild experiments.” – Sigmund Freud

22. “I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father’s protection.” – Sigmund Freud

23. “Psychoanalysis is in essence a cure through love.” – Sigmund Freud

24. “Words and magic were in the beginning one and the same thing, and even today words retain much of their magical power.” – Sigmund Freud

25. “We are never so defenseless against suffering as when we love.”– Sigmund Freud

26. “The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind.” – Sigmund Freud

27. “The mind is like an iceberg, it floats with one-seventh of its bulk above water.” – Sigmund Freud

28. “What is common in all these dreams is obvious. They completely satisfy wishes excited during the day which remain unrealized. They are simply and undisguisedly realizations of wishes.” – Sigmund Freud

29. “Neurosis is no excuse for bad manners.” – Sigmund Freud

30. “The primitive stages can always be re-established; the primitive mind is, in the fullest meaning of the word, imperishable.” – Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud quotes that will inspire you to create a lasting legacy

31. “Maturity is the ability to postpone gratification.” – Sigmund Freud

32. “Children are completely egoistic; they feel their needs intensely and strive ruthlessly to satisfy them.” – Sigmund Freud

33. “How bold one gets when one is sure of being loved.” – Sigmund Freud

34. “The dream is the liberation of the spirit from the pressure of external nature, a detachment of the soul from the fetters of matter.” – Sigmund Freud

35. “Love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness.” – Sigmund Freud

36. “A man who has been the indisputable favorite of his mother keeps for life the feeling of a conqueror.” – Sigmund Freud

37. “No one who shares a delusion ever recognizes it as such.” – Sigmund Freud

38. “The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.” – Sigmund Freud

39. “When I am criticized, I can defend myself, but I’m powerless against the praise.” – Sigmund Freud

40. “Whoever loves becomes humble. Those who love have, so to speak, pawned a part of their narcissism.” – Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud quotes to inspire and teach

41. We are what we are because we have been what we have been, and what is needed for solving the problems of human life and motives is not moral estimates but more knowledge.– Sigmund Freud

42. The conscious mind may be compared to a fountain playing in the sun and falling back into the great subterranean pool of subconscious from which it rises. – Sigmund Freud

43. The unconscious of one human being can react upon that of another without passing through the conscious.– Sigmund Freud

44. “The great question that has never been answered, and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is ‘What does a woman want?’” – Sigmund Freud

45. “Men are more moral than they think and far more immoral than they can imagine.” – Sigmund Freud

46. “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.” – Sigmund Freud

47. “The ego is not master in its own house.” – Sigmund Freud

48. “No matter how much restriction civilization imposes on the individual, he nevertheless finds some way to circumvent it. Wit is the best safety valve modern man has evolved; the more civilization, the more repression, the more need there is for wit.” – Sigmund Freud

49. “Dogs love their friends and bite their enemies, quite unlike people, who are incapable of pure love and always have to mix love and hate.” – Sigmund Freud

50. “Great decisions in the realm of thought and momentous discoveries and solutions of problems are only possible to an individual, working in solitude.” – Sigmund Freud

More Sigmund Freud quotes and sayings

51. “The more the fruits of knowledge become accessible to men, the more widespread is the decline of religious belief.” – Sigmund Freud

52. “Loneliness and darkness have just robbed me of my valuables.” – Sigmund Freud

53. “We are so constituted that we can gain intense pleasure only from the contrast, and only very little from the condition itself.” – Sigmund Freud

54. “The weakness of my position does not imply a strengthening of yours.” – Sigmund Freud

55. “Whoever possesses something that is at once valuable and fragile is afraid of other people’s envy, in so far as he projects on to them the envy he would have felt in their place.” – Sigmund Freud

56. “Trying to be completely sincere with yourself is a good exercise.” – Sigmund Freud

57. “One must be humble, one must keep personal preferences and antipathies in the background, if one wishes to discover the realities of the world.” – Sigmund Freud

58. “Experience teaches us that the world is not a nursery.” – Sigmund Freud

59. “We are so made that we can derive intense enjoyment only from a contrast and very little from a state of things.” – Sigmund Freud

60. “The dream is a sort of substitution for those emotional and intellectual trains of thought.” – Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud quotes from the Austrian neurologist turned father of psychoanalysis

61. “If you can’t do it, give up!” — Sigmund Freud

62. “The goal of all life is death.” — Sigmund Freud

63. “If youth knew; if age could.” — Sigmund Freud

64. “Love and work… work and love, that’s all there is.” — Sigmund Freud

65. “The psychical, whatever its nature may be, is itself unconscious.” — Sigmund Freud

66. “Sadism is all right in its place, but it should be directed to proper ends.” — Sigmund Freud

67. “Civilization began the first time an angry person cast a word instead of a rock.” — Sigmund Freud

68. “If a man has been his mother’s undisputed darling he retains throughout life the triumphant feeling, the confidence in success, which not seldom brings actual success along with it.” — Sigmund Freud

69. “He that has eyes to see and ears to hear may convince himself that no mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips; betrayal oozes out of him at every pore.” — Sigmund Freud

70. “I have found little that is ‘good’ about human beings on the whole. In my experience most of them are trash, no matter whether they publicly subscribe to this or that ethical doctrine or to none at all. That is something that you cannot say aloud, or perhaps even think.” — Sigmund Freud

Which of these Sigmund Freud quotes was your favorite?

Sigmund Freud was one of the most influential minds of the 20th. He created an entirely new approach to the understanding of the human personality and left an indelible mark on psychology.

Long after his death, Freud’s provocative theories are still a huge part of psychology, neuroscience, and culture. We hope his words have inspired you to reach your highest potential and create a legacy that stands the test of time.

Did you enjoy these Sigmund Freud quotes? Which of the quotes was your favorite? Let us know in the comment section below. Also, don’t forget to share with your friends and followers.