Erik Erikson Quotes & Sayings (Page 2)

“When we looked at the life cycle in our 40s, we looked to old people for wisdom. At 80, though, we look at other 80-year-olds to see who got wise and who not. Lots of old people don't get wise, but you don't get wise unless you age.”

“Parents must not only have certain ways of guiding by prohibition and permission, they must also be able to represent to the child a deep, almost somatic conviction that there is meaning in what they are doing.”

“Nobody likes to be found out, not even one who has made ruthless confession a part of his profession. Any autobiographer, therefore, at least between the lines, spars with his reader and potential judge.”

“I am what survives of me.”

“We are what we love.”

“He who is ashamed would like to force the world not to look at him, not to notice his exposure. He would like to destroy the eyes of the world.”

“A man's conflicts represent what he 'really' is.”

“The psychoanalytic method is essentially a historical method.”

“The way you 'take history' is also a way of 'making history.'”

“The only thing that can save us as a species is seeing how we're not thinking about future generations in the way we live.”