Sigmund Freud 1856 – 1939
Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis. Working in Vienna, he developed an elaborate theory of the unconscious, of repression and the structure of the psyche, of dreams as wish-fulfillment, and of the role of sexuality in mental life. His later writings extended psychoanalytic interpretation to religion, civilization, and the cultural patrimony, in works such as Totem and Taboo, The Future of an Illusion, and Civilization and Its Discontents. He fled Nazi-occupied Vienna for London in 1938, where he died the following year. His ideas have shaped twentieth-century thought far beyond clinical psychology.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Austrian
- Era
- Contemporary
- Movements
- Continental
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Sigmund Freud:
“Where id was, there ego shall be.”
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Attributed to Sigmund Freud:
“The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind.”
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Attributed to Sigmund Freud:
“We are never so defenseless against suffering as when we love.”
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Attributed to Sigmund Freud:
“Religion is comparable to a childhood neurosis.”
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Attributed to Sigmund Freud:
“The first human who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization.”