Sigmund Freud — a neurologist and the father of psychoanalysis — is one of the most influential men of the 20th century. When you think of psychology, you usually think of Freud, which is why we decided to dedicate this article to him and his most notable quotes.

Sigmund Freud’s Life Work

Freud founded psychoanalysis, which is a theory that explains why humans behave the way that they do and is also used to treat mental health concerns. He believed that childhood events had a larger impact on our lives than previously thought and that these events shaped who we grew up to be as adults.

Freud devoted much of his work to uncovering these events and other contributing factors to our personalities. He introduced words like denial and libido as well as phrases like anal personality to our vocabulary in his exploration.

In addition, Freud birthed the theory that the mind is basically a complex energy system, the structural investigation of which is the proper province of psychology today. Freud also articulated the concepts of the unconscious, infantile sexuality, and repression, to name just a few.

Sigmund Freud Quotes About Psychology

It’s no surprise that some of the best psychology quotes of all time come from the father of psychoanalysis. The following quotes can provide insight, comfort, and more, as you navigate life and the many challenges (or perplexities) that come with it:

  1. “Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength.”
  2. “Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways.”
  3. “We are never so defenseless against suffering as when we love.”
  4. “From error to error, one discovers the entire truth.”
  5. “One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.”
  6. “A man should not strive to eliminate his complexes, but to get into accord with them; they are legitimately what directs hi conduct in the world.”
  7. “Just as no one can be forced into belief, so no one can be forced into unbelief.”
  8. “The virtuous man contents himself with dreaming that which the wicked man does in actual life.”
  9. “The voice of the intellect is a soft one, but it does not rest until it has gained a hearing. Ultimately, after endless rebuffs, it succeeds. This is one of the few points in which one may be optimistic about the future of mankind.”
  10. “The only person with whom you have to compare yourself is you in the past.”
  11. “The mind is like an iceberg, it floats with one-seventh of its bulk above water.”
  12. “The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind.”
  13. “Thought is action in rehearsal.”
  14. “Friendship is an art of keeping distance while love is an art of intimacy.“
  15. “In the small matters trust the mind, in the large ones the heart.”
  16. “A layman will no doubt find it hard to understand how pathological disorders of the body and mind can be eliminated by ‘mere’ words. He will feel that he is being asked to believe in magic.”
  17. “Time spent with cats is never wasted.”
  18. “People do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility and most people are frightened of responsibility.”
  19. “The first human who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization.”
  20. “The more perfect a person is on the outside, the more demons they have on the inside.”
  21. “The ego is not master in its own house.”
  22. “Love and work, work and love… that’s all there is.”
  23. “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.”
  24. “Public self is a conditioned construct of the inner psychological self.”
  25. “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.”