"Thus we arrive at the singular conclusion that of all the information passed by our cultural assets it is precisely the elements which might be of the greatest importance to us and which have the task of solving the riddles of the universe and of reconciling us to the sufferings of life -- it is precisely those elements that are the least well authenticated of any."

"We are so constituted that we can gain intense pleasure only from the contrast, and only very little from the condition itself."

"It only too often yields to the temptation to become sycophantic, opportunist and lying, like a politician who sees the truth but wants to keep his place in popular favour."

"What we call happiness in the strictest sense comes from the (preferably sudden) satisfaction of needs which have been dammed up to a high degree."

"It is impossible to overlook the extent to which civilization is built upon a renunciation of instinct."

"A man's heterosexuality will not put up with any homosexuality, and vice versa."

"Life as we find it is too hard for us it entails too much pain too many disappointments impossible tasks. We cannot do without palliative remedies."

"The psychical, whatever its nature may be, is itself unconscious."

"Analysis does not set out to make pathological reactions impossible, but to give the patient's ego freedom to decide one way or another."

"The mind is like an iceberg, it floats with one-seventh of its bulk above water."

"It would be an undoubted advantage if we were to leave God out altogether and honestly admit the purely human origin of all the regulations and precepts of civilization. Along with their pretended sanctity, these commandments and laws would lose their rigidity and unchangeableness as well. People could understand that they are made, not so much to rule them as, on the contrary, to serve their interests; and they would adopt a more friendly attitude to them, and instead of aiming at their abolition, would aim only at their improvement."