Escape From Freedom

By Erich Fromm

Words from the achiever

“There was a book called Escape from Freedom, that I read in school. It talks about people thinking they want total freedom, wanting to do whatever they want to do. In reality, people want bounds. People want to be able to hold on to something. They want to know that this is the outer limit. It’s like a child growing up. A child wants direction. They tell you, “You know, dad, you don’t know what you are talking about.” But in reality, they want you there. That book had a huge impact in the early part of my life. Just talking about what freedom really means to different people. I had a chance to think through what that meant to me.”

About the book

A famous psychologist studies the persistent human willingness to submit to tyranny.