100+ Inspiring Sigmund Freud Quotes on Life, Religion, Behavior and Psychology
Published: 19 Apr 2025
Sigmund Freud, the Austrian neurologist and the founder of Psychoanalysis, has left behind a wealth of insights into the human mind and behavior.
His contributions to Psychology and his exploration of the human psyche have impacted our understanding of ourselves and our relationships.
As we conclude our exploration into the fascinating mind of Sigmund Freud, may his profound insights into the Human Psyche continue to echo in your thoughts.
Sigmund Freud Life Lessons Quotes
These short quotes from Sigmund Freud carry profound life lessons.
- The founder of civilization was the first human who hurled an insult instead of a stone.
Importance of Communication: This quote highlights the importance of good communication, which replaces violence or aggression even under challenging situations. The use of good words can be a necessary step in building civilization.
- One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.
- The mind is like an iceberg; it floats with one-seventh of its bulk above water.
- Being entirely honest is a good exercise.
Importance of Honesty: As physical exercise strengthens our bodies, self-honesty with our thoughts and feelings can help personal growth.
- Where id was, there shall ego be.
- The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind.
- Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength.
- Most people do not want freedom because freedom involves commitment and most fear responsibility.
Idea of True Freedom: Talking about getting freedom is easy, but sticking to the commitments and burdens of freedom is very challenging. That’s why many people avoid becoming freedom fighters; they fear responsibility.
- The goal of all life is death.
- Time spent with cats is always well-spent.
Psychology Quotes from Sigmund Freud
These famous psychological quotations of Sigmund Freud can inspire us to believe in ourselves.
- A man who has been the indisputable favorite of his mother keeps for life the feelings of a conqueror.
- Everywhere I go, I find a poet has been there before me.
Poet Presence: The Author underscores the excess of poets in this universe. They express human emotions like love, loss, joy, and sorrow in words.
- The voice of the intellect is a soft one, but it does not rest until it has gained hearing.
- I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father’s protection.
- One is very crazy when in love.
Power of love: Sometimes, a person with a deep feeling of love behaves in unusual or unexpected ways. So, we should balance good and bad behaviors when in love.
- A person who feels pleasure in producing pain in someone else is evil.
- The ego is not master in its own house.
- The more the fruits of knowledge become accessible to men, the more widespread the decline of religious belief.
- The first requisite of civilization is that of Justice.
- When inspiration does not come to me, I go halfway to meet it.
Sigmund Freud’s Quotes for Psychologists
Get the best psychology life quotes for personality development.
- Despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, the great question that has never been answered, which I have not yet been able to answer, is ‘What does a woman want?
My Analysis: This quote highlights the thirty years of study of Sigmund Freud in the feminine psyche and raises an essential question: What does a woman want in life?
- The mind is our most erotic organ.
- Religious ideas have sprung from the same needs as all the other achievements of culture: from the necessity for defending itself against the crushing supremacy of nature.
- The only thing I am sure of is that I am sure of nothing.
- When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.
- Sometimes a Cigar is just a cigar.
- Though is action in rehearsal.
- From error to error, one discovers the entire truth.
- The only person you have to compare yourself with is you in the past.
Sigmund Freud Quotes About Psychology
In this section, we will explore Freud’s well-known quotes on psychology. These quotes reflect his views on the human mind, behaviour, and how unconscious thoughts can impact our actions.
“Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength.”
“Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways.”
“One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.”
“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.”
“The only person with whom you have to compare yourself is you in the past.”
“The mind is like an iceberg, it floats with one-seventh of its bulk above water.”
“The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind.”
“The first human who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the.”
“The more perfect a person is on the outside, the more demons they have on the inside.”
“The ego is not master in its own house.”
Quotations from the Founder of Psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud
In this section, we will explore Freud’s well-known quotes on psychology. These quotes reflect his views on the human mind, behaviour, and how unconscious thoughts can impact our actions.
“Are there not very important things which can only reveal themselves, under certain conditions and at certain times, by quite feeble indications?”
“Today we do not feel quite sure of our new set of beliefs, and the old ones still exist within us.”
“Every night human beings lay aside the wrappings in which they have enveloped their skin…We may add that when they go to sleep they carry out an entirely analogous undressing of their minds.”
“Philosophy sometimes seems to me like a person who keeps cleaning their glasses and they still stay dim.”
“People do not show their sexuality freely, but to conceal it they wear a heavy overcoat woven of a tissue of lies, as though the weather were bad in the world of sexuality.”
Sigmund Freud Quotes On Pain and Mental Health
In this portion of the blog post, we’ll discuss Freud’s quotes about pain and mental health. These words express his thoughts on how emotional issues might impact our state of mind.
“Life, as we find it, is too hard for us; it brings us too many pains, disappointments and impossible tasks. In order to bear it we cannot dispense with palliative measures…
There are perhaps three such measures: powerful deflections, which cause us to make light of our misery; substitutive satisfactions, which diminish it; and intoxicating substances, which make us insensible to it.” – From “Civilization and Its Discontents,”
“No one who, like me, conjures up the most evil of those half-tamed demons that inhabit the human breast, and seeks to wrestle with them, can expect to come through the struggle unscathed.”–From “Dora: An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria,”
“Devout believers are safeguarded in a high degree against the risk of certain neurotic illnesses; their acceptance of the universal neurosis spares them the task of constructing a personal one.” –From “The Future of an Illusion,”
Sigmund Freud Quotes on Religion
Freud had strong opinions on religion and its impact on the human mind. In this section, we’ll explore his quotes on religion and how he believed it affected his thoughts.
“Our knowledge of the historical worth of certain religious doctrines increases our respect for them but does not invalidate our proposal that they should cease to be put forward as the reasons for the precepts of civilization.
On the contrary! Those historical residues have helped us to view religious teachings, as it were, as neurotic relics, and we may now argue that the time has probably come, as it does in an analytic treatment, for replacing the effects of repression by the results of the rational operation of the intellect.” –From “The Future of an Illusion,”
“One feels inclined to say that the intention that man should be ‘happy’ is not included in the plan of ‘Creation.’ ”–From “Civilization and Its Discontents,”
“Religion is an attempt to get control over the sensory world, in which we are placed, by means of the wish-world, which we have developed inside us as a result of biological and psychological necessities.
But it cannot achieve its end. Its doctrines carry with them the stamp of the times in which they originated, the ignorant childhood days of the human race. Its consolations deserve no trust.” – From “Moses and Monotheism,”
“Immorality, no less than morality, has at all times found support in religion.”– From “The Future of an Illusion,”
“Religion is a system of wishful illusions together with a disavowal of reality, such as we find nowhere else but in a state of blissful hallucinatory confusion. Religion’s eleventh commandment is “Thou shalt not question.” – From “The Future of an Illusion,”
Sigmund Freud quotes about Dreams Psychology
Freud considered dreams a means of understanding the unconscious psyche. In the following section, you’ll find his statements about dreams and how they could reveal buried ideas and desires.
“We are what we are because we have been what we have been.” ― Sigmund Freud
“Everyone has wishes which he would not like to tell to others, which he does not want to admit even to himself.”
“Dreams tell us many unpleasant biological truths about ourselves and only very free minds can thrive on such a diet. Self-deception is a plant which withers fast in the pellucid atmosphere of dream investigation.”
“Dreams may be thus stated: They are concealed realizations of repressed desires.”
“The dream does not trouble itself about things which are not deserving of our concern during the day, and trivialities which do not trouble us during the day have no power to pursue us whilst asleep.” ― Sigmund Freud, Dream Psychology
Sigmund Freud Quotes on Life
Freud had many thoughts on life and the human experience. In this section, we’ll show you his quotes about life and how they reflect his views on human nature and personal growth.
“When inspiration does not come to me, I go halfway to meet it.”
“Everywhere I go I find a poet has been there before me.”
“Where does a thought go when it’s forgotten?
“Beauty has no obvious use; nor is there any clear cultural necessity for it. Yet civilization could not do without it.”
“The more the fruits of knowledge become accessible to men, the more widespread is the decline of religious belief.”
Sigmund Freud Quotes About Love
Freud’s quote about love plays an essential part in human life, influencing our relationships and emotions. In this section, we will look at his quotes on love and how he thought it affected our behaviour.
“We are never so defenseless against suffering as when we love, never so forlornly unhappy as when we have lost our love object or its love.”
“How bold one gets when one is sure of being loved.”
“Love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness.”
“Love and work, work and love…that’s all there is.”
“In the development of mankind as a whole, just as in individuals, love alone acts as the civilizing factor in the sense that it brings a change from egoism to altruism.”
Psychoanalysis Freud Quotes About Truth and Honesty
In this section, we’ll share Freud’s thoughts on truth and honesty. His famous quotes will help you understand how psychoanalysis uses self-honesty and how truth relates to human behaviour.
“Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise.”
“From error to error, one discovers the entire truth.”
“I no longer count as one of my merits that I always tell the truth as much as possible; it has become my metier.”
“Even if all parts of a problem seem to fit together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, one has to remember that the probable need not necessarily be the truth, and the truth not always probable.”
Sigmund Freud Quotes on Human Nature
Famous Sigmund Freud quotes about Human Nature will explain the internal struggles that influence our actions, such as aggression and the fear of responsibility.
“The more perfect a person is on the outside, the more demons they have on the inside.”
“Men are strong so long as they represent a strong idea, they become powerless when they oppose it.”
“Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.”
“The tendency to aggression is an innate, independent, instinctual disposition in man… it constitutes the powerful obstacle to culture.”
“Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure that you are not, in fact, just surrounded by unpleasant people.”
Freud Words On the Ego
In the following section, we will discuss Freud’s quotes on the ego. Reading these quotations will help you better understand how the ego influences our behavior and helps us balance our wishes with reality.
Let’s see what we can learn from Freud’s point of view.
“The ego is not master in its own house.”–From “A Difficulty in the Path of Psycho-Analysis,”
“Where id was, there ego shall be.”–From “New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis,”
“One might compare the relation of the ego to the id with that between a rider and his horse. The horse provides the locomotor energy, and the rider has the prerogative of determining the goal and of guiding the movements of his powerful mount towards it. But all too often in the relations between the ego and the id we find a picture of the less ideal situation in which the rider is obliged to guide his horse in the direction in which it itself wants to go.”–From “New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis,
“Thinking is an experimental dealing with small quantities of energy, just as a general moves miniature figures over a map before setting his troops in action.”–From “New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis,
Sigmund Freud Quotes About Child Development
Have you ever wondered how early childhood influences our development? Austrian Neurologist Freud’s quotes suggest how a child’s subconscious needs play a crucial role in shaping their future.
“Being a good father to one’s children is the only chance life gives a happy man.”
“The child is involved with the unconscious world.”
“A child has pure subconscious needs that scream loudly.”
“What a child can’t understand by age five might as well stay unlearned forever.”
“Children are so beautifully creative because in their imagination lies wisdom.”
Sigmund Freud quotes on Self-Identity
This section discusses Freud’s thoughts on self-identity. His quotes discuss personal growth, internal conflicts, and constantly changing identities.
“The only person with whom you have to compare yourself is you in the past.”
“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.”
“The resolution to develop and maintain a personal identity is an innate trait.”
“One’s identity is not without its scars and ghost stories, continually redefining itself.”
“The individual is an ephemeral condensation of material and psychic elements in the flux of becoming.”
Sigmund Freud Captions on Happiness
Have you ever wondered what Freud thought about happiness? His quotes explain that happiness is not found in others but in understanding ourselves.
“We cannot pursue happiness through other people.”
“Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise.”
“Where id was, there ego shall be.”
“Happiness calls for less pain, not more pleasure.”
“Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.”
Sigmund Freud Quotes About Mind
In this section, you’ll find Top quotes from the founder of psychoanalysis, who explains the connection between the conscious and subconscious, showing how they influence our behaviour and actions.
“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.”
“The unconscious of one human being can react upon that of another without passing through the conscious.”
“Illusions commend themselves to us because they save us pain and allow us to enjoy pleasure instead.”
“The mind is like a puppet on strings, with the subconscious as the puppeteer.”
“Thought is action in rehearsal.”
Funny Sigmund Freud Quotes
Who says Freud couldn’t be funny? In this section, we’ll look at some of his more humorous quotes, showing that even the father of psychoanalysis had a sense of humor.
“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?’
“This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever.”
“A woman should soften but not weaken a man.”
“Smoking is indispensable if one has nothing to kiss.”
Conclusion:
I Hope you liked Sigmund Freud’s quotes on life.
Freud’s sayings about psychology provide fundamental insights into the complex nature of the human psyche, which significantly impacts our mental state, relationships, and ability to achieve happiness.
What’s the most beautiful lesson you’ve learned after reading Sigmund’s quotes about life? Please share it in the comments section. I’d love to hear from you.
- Be Respectful
- Stay Relevant
- Stay Positive
- True Feedback
- Encourage Discussion
- Avoid Spamming
- No Fake News
- Don't Copy-Paste
- No Personal Attacks
- Be Respectful
- Stay Relevant
- Stay Positive
- True Feedback
- Encourage Discussion
- Avoid Spamming
- No Fake News
- Don't Copy-Paste
- No Personal Attacks
