Quotes

Hardly anyone is ascribed as many quotations as Sigmund Freud. We have made it our task to list some of the most succinct quotations on this page and to substantiate them with sources. The quotes listed here are an excerpt from the book Freud verbatim, edited by Hannes Etzlstorfer and Peter Nömaier with the support of the Sigmund Freud Foundation, published by Christian Brandstätter Verlag in 2010.

The section "Attributed to Freud, not substantiated" contains quotations that reach us via various inquiries and messages, which are attributed to Sigmund Freud but for whose authenticity we have not been able to find any evidence to date. We are happy to receive references to sources in order to be able to verify the quotations, to archiv@freud-museum.at . At the same time, this section is intended to provide information about possible false citations.

 

Attributed to Freud, no evidence

Sometimes, a cigar is a cigar.

I can most highly recommend the Gestapo to everyone. See the blog post by Michael Thaler

Health is the ability to love and work.

Before you diagnose yourself with depression or an inferiority complex, make sure you're not just surrounded by assholes.
 
 

Documented quotes

…, not all men are worthy of love
Civilization and its Discontents. The complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud. London 1961: Hogarth

With the help of the necessary boldness and lack of conscience it is not difficult to amass a large fortune, and for such services a title will of course be a suitable reward.
Jokes and their Relations to the Unconscious. The complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud. London 1961: Hogarth

To be healthy is wonderful if one isn’t condemned to be alone.
Ernst L. Freud: The Letters of Sigmund Freud. New York, 1961: Basic Books. April 29, 1885, to Martha Bernays

A human being is so miserable when all he wants is to stay alive.
Ernst L. Freud: The Letters of Sigmund Freud. New York, 1961: Basic Books. Aug.14 1885, to Martha Freud

The Viennese are no more abstinent and no more neurotic than the inhabitants of any other capital city. There is rather less embarrassment – less prudery – in regard to sexual relationships than in the cities of the West and North which are so proud of their chastity.
On the History of the Psycho-Analytic Movement. The complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud. London 1961: Hogarth

Breslau also plays a role in my childhood memories. At the age of three years I passed through the station when we moved from Freiberg to Leipzig, and the gas flames which I saw for the first time reminded me of spirits burning in hell.
Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson: The complete letters of Sigmund Freud to Wilhelm Fliess. Cambridge (MASS) 1985: Harvard University Press. Dec. 3, 1897

You know, when one is travelling to America the journey as far as Stockerau passes very quickly, but from there time begins to drag. And the return journey is the same, the last bit from Stockerau seems so slow.
Ernst L. Freud: The Letters of Sigmund Freud. New York, 1961: Basic Books. June 6, 1885, to Martha Freud

It is impossible to talk of the land unless one is a poet or quotes others.
Ernst L. Freud: The Letters of Sigmund Freud. New York, 1961: Basic Books. Sept. 17, 1905, to Alexander Freud

We soon realize that what we know to be useless, but expect civilization to value, is beauty.
Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents. Translated by David McLintock, London (Penguin Books Ltd.) 2004, p. 37.

When it comes to praise one can take unlimited quantities, as anyone knows.
Ernst L. Freud: The Letters of Sigmund Freud. New York, 1961: Basic Books. Oct. 8, 1936, to Ludwig Binswanger

As a rule when I am attacked I can defend myself; but when I am praised, I am helpless.
Ernst L. Freud: The Letters of Sigmund Freud. New York, 1961: Basic Books. May. 10, 1926, to Marie Bonaparte

By making our enemy small, mean, contemptible, comical, we take a roundabout route to getting for ourselves the enjoyment of vanquishing him, which the third person – who has gone to no effort – endorses with his laughter.
Sigmund Freud, The Joke and Its Relation to the Unconscious. Translated by Joyce Crick with an Introduction by John Carey. London (Penguin Books Ltd.) 2002, p. 100.

Everything that promotes the development of civilization also works against war.
Sigmund Freud, Why War? in: Sigmund Freud, On Murder, Mourning and Melancholia London (Penguin Books) 2005, p. 232.

Envy often spoils the enjoyment of gardens and country houses.
Ernst L. Freud: The Letters of Sigmund Freud. New York, 1961: Basic Books. Sept. 17, 1905, to Alexander Freud

The Interpretation of Dreams is  he royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind.
The Interpretation of Dreams. Translated by James Strachey. The standard Edition of the complete Psychological Works by Sigmund Freud.. London, 1953: Hogarth

Not only dreams are wish fulfillments, so are hysterical attacks.
Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson: The complete letters of Sigmund Freud to Wilhelm Fliess. Cambridge (MASS) 1985: Harvard University Press.

It is a great injustice to persecute homosexuality as a crime, and a cruelty, too.
Ernst und Lucie Freud (Hrsg.): Sigmund Freud, Briefe 1873-1939. Frankfurt/Main: 1968, S. 438, 9.4. 1935, to N.N.