"He sido un hombre afortunado en la vida, nada me ha sido facil." "I've been a fortunate man in life, nothing has come easy"
Sigmund FreudRead
Experience teaches that for most people there is a limit beyond which their constitution cannot comply with the demands of civilization. All who wish to reach a higher standard than their constitution will allow, fall victims to neurosis. It would have been better for them if they could have remained less "perfect".
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that striving for perfection may lead to mental distress if it surpasses our natural limitations.
Sigmund Freud's quote emphasizes the idea that individuals have inherent limits shaped by their constitution, and when they attempt to exceed these limits in pursuit of higher standards imposed by society or civilization, they may experience psychological distress or neurosis. Freud argues that it might be more beneficial for some to accept their imperfections rather than aspire to an unattainable ideal of perfection, which often leads to suffering.
Themes
ExperiencePerfectionNeurosisCivilizationLimits
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about personal boundaries and mental health, this quote can provide insight into the risks of aiming for unrealistic standards.
More from Sigmund Freud
All quotes →I take up the standpoint that the tendency to aggression is an innate, independent, instinctual disposition in man, and I come back now to the statement that it constitutes the most powerful obstacle to culture.
Sigmund FreudRead
One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.
Sigmund FreudRead
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.
Sigmund FreudRead
I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection.
Sigmund FreudRead
The tendency to aggression is an innate, independent, instinctual disposition in man... it constitutes the powerful obstacle to culture.
Sigmund FreudRead
Similar quotes
He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man.
Samuel AdamsRead
Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they're so frightfully clever. I'm awfully glad I'm a Beta, because I don't work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green, and Delta children wear khaki. Oh no, I don't want to play with Delta children. And Epsilons are still worse. They're too stupid to be able to read or write. Besides they wear black, which is such a beastly color. I'm so glad I'm a Beta.
Aldous HuxleyRead
Because he (the Sage) opposes no one, no one in the world can oppose him.
LaoziRead
Not even Ares battles against necessity.
SophoclesRead
When like-minded people, talking mostly with one another, end up thinking a more extreme version of what they thought before they started to talk... If you put a bunch of rebels in a room and ask them to discuss rebellion, they'll get more extreme.
Cass SunsteinRead
As man seeks justice in equality, so society seeks order in anarchy.
Pierre-Joseph ProudhonRead