Sanity is only that which is within the frame of reference of conventional thought.
Interpretation
Sanity is defined by societal norms and conventional thinking.
In this quote, Erich Fromm suggests that what is considered 'sane' behavior is often shaped by societal conventions and accepted norms. This perspective encourages us to reflect on the nature of sanity, prompting questions about how society influences our understanding of mental health and the potential value of unconventional thoughts and behaviors.
In practice
When discussing mental health in a public seminar, this quote can highlight the importance of understanding diverse perspectives.
Love, experienced thus, is a constant challenge; it is not a resting place, but a moving, growing, working together; even whether there is harmony or conflict; joy or sadness, is secondary to the fundamental fact that two people experience themselves from the essence of their existence, that they are only one with each other by being one with themselves, rather than by fleeing from themselves.
Both dreams and myths are important communications from ourselves to ourselves. If we do not understand the language in which they are written, we miss a great deal of what we know and tell ourselves in those hours when we are not busy manipulating the outside world.
Infantile love follows the principle: "I love because I am loved." Mature love follows the principle: "I am loved because I love." Immature love says: "I love you because I need you." Mature love says: "I need you because I love you.
To have faith requires courage, the ability to take a risk, the readiness even to accept pain and disappointment. Whoever insists on safety and security as primary conditions of life cannot have faith; whoever shuts himself off in a system of defense, where distance and possession are his means of security, makes himself a prisoner. To be loved, and to love, need courage, the courage to judge certain values as of ultimate concern β and to take the jump and to stake everything on these values.
In times of change, learners inherit the earth
In the nineteenth century the problem was that God is dead. In the twentieth century the problem is that man is dead.
Whether in the intellectual pursuits of science or in the mystical pursuits of the spirit, the light beckons ahead, and the purpose surging in our nature responds.
The U.S. immigration laws are bad - really, really bad. I'd say treatment of immigrants is one of the greatest injustices done in our government's name.
When you're safe at home you wish you were having an adventure; when you're having an adventure you wish you were safe at home.
The man who forgets does not forgive, he only loses the remembrance; forgiveness is the offspring of a noble heart, of a generous mind, whilst forgetfulness is only the result of a weak memory, or of an easy carelessness.
If everybody likes you, you're pretty dull.
A true man never frets about his place in the world, but just slides into it by the gravitation of his nature, and swings there as easily as a star.
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