Escape from Freedom (Rinehart, 1941)

Erich Fromm · c. 1941

Erich Fromm did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this book, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The book prints chapter headings its extracted text does not preserve, so the claims below are in the book's order but not grouped. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
Modern freedom has made people independent but isolated, anxious and powerless

Their wordsFreedom, though it has brought him independence and rationality, has made him isolated and, thereby, anxious and powerless.
Our reading
Becoming a conforming automaton relieves people of feeling alone and anxious

Their wordsThe person who gives up his individual self and becomes an automaton, identical with millions of other automatons around him, need not feel alone and anxious any more.
Our reading
The only productive answer to isolation is solidarity, love and work as a free individual

Their wordsThere is only one possible, productive solution for the relationship of individualized man with the world: his active solidarity with all men and his spontaneous activity, love and work, which unite him again with the world, not by primary ties but as a free and independent individual.
Our reading
Positive freedom is the spontaneous activity of the whole, integrated personality

Their wordspositive freedom consists in the spontaneous activity of the total, integrated personality.
Our reading
Human nature, passions and anxieties are a cultural product

Their wordsMan's nature, his passions, and anxieties are a cultural product
Our reading
Freedom from constraints is not the same as positive freedom to

Their words“Freedom from” is not identical with positive freedom, with “freedom to.”
Our reading
Free speech means something only if we can have thoughts of our own

Their wordsThe right to express our thoughts, however, means something only if we are able to have thoughts of our own

Related books

Man's Search for Meaning Viktor Frankl · c. 1946–1992 1 claim worded alike
Capitalism and Freedom Milton Friedman · c. 1962–1982 1 claim worded alike
The Conquest of Happiness Bertrand Russell · c. 1930 1 claim worded alike
The Theory of Moral Sentiments Adam Smith · c. 1759–1777 1 claim worded alike
Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations Clay Shirky · c. 2008 1 claim worded alike
Four Essays on Liberty (Oxford University Press, 1969): Two Concepts of Liberty Isaiah Berlin · c. 1958–1969 1 claim worded alike

Found from what the books talk about: claims worded alike in the archive's hourly pass, and subjects both are filed under. It is not a judgement that they agree — related books often argue the opposite. All books

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The other pieces are the ones whose claims are worded most like this one's. That measures language, not agreement: they may argue the opposite.