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43 Alfred Adler Quotes That Broaden Your Horizon

Famous As: Austrian Psychotherapist and Founder of the School of ‘Individual Psychology’
Born On: February 7, 1870
Died On: May 28, 1937
Born In: Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus, Vienna, Austria
Founder / Co Founder: The school of individual psychology
Died At Age: 67

Often regarded as the “father of individual psychology”, Alfred W. Adler was an Austrian psychotherapist and medical doctor, who emphasized on the importance of inferiority complex. He believed that the feeling of inferiority plays a vital role in the personal development of humans. According to the Review of General Psychology, Adler was ranked 67th amongst the most recognized psychologist of the 21st century. He was one the only few to state the importance of social elements for nurturing characteristic behaviors in humans. Apart from his twelve-volume set of ‘The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler’, his notable works include The Pattern of Life, The Science of Living, Understanding Human Nature and The Neurotic Constitution. In association with Sigmund Freud and his colleagues, they formed the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society. Adler’s take on subjects such as homosexuality, addiction, birth order, parent education, spirituality, ecology and community are still applied in modern psychology. His thoughts and sayings stressed on inferiority complex, power of psychoanalysis, importance of success and failures to gain experience in life and vitality of expression of human feelings. Read through some of the most intriguing quotes from the father of individual psychology.

It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.

It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.

Alfred Adler
Follow your heart but take your brain with you.

Follow your heart but take your brain with you.

Alfred Adler
Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement.

Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement.

Alfred Adler
Meanings are not determined by situations, but we determine ourselves by the meanings we give to situations.

Meanings are not determined by situations, but we determine ourselves by the meanings we give to situations.

Alfred Adler
A simple rule in dealing with those who are hard to get along with is to remember that this person is striving to assert his superiority; and you must deal with him from that point of view.

A simple rule in dealing with those who are hard to get along with is to remember that this person is striving to assert his superiority; and you must deal with him from that point of view.

Alfred Adler
We must interpret a bad temper as a sign of inferiority.

We must interpret a bad temper as a sign of inferiority.

Alfred Adler
The science of the mind can only have for its proper goal the understanding of human nature by every human being, and through its use, brings peace to every human soul.

The science of the mind can only have for its proper goal the understanding of human nature by every human being, and through its use, brings peace to every human soul.

Alfred Adler
To all those who walk the path of human cooperation war must appear loathsome and inhuman.

To all those who walk the path of human cooperation war must appear loathsome and inhuman.

Alfred Adler
We must never neglect the patient's own use of his symptoms.

We must never neglect the patient's own use of his symptoms.

Alfred Adler

To be a human being means to possess a feeling of inferiority which constantly presses towards its own conquest. The greater the feeling of inferiority that has been experienced, the more powerful is the urge for conquest and the more violent the emotional agitation.

Alfred Adler
The educator must believe in the potential power of his pupil, and he must employ all his art in seeking to bring his pupil to experience this power.

The educator must believe in the potential power of his pupil, and he must employ all his art in seeking to bring his pupil to experience this power.

Alfred Adler

God who is eternally complete, who directs the stars, who is the master of fates, who elevates man from his lowliness to Himself, who speaks from the cosmos to every single human soul, is the most brilliant manifestation of the goal of perfection.

Alfred Adler
Exaggerated sensitiveness is an expression of the feeling of inferiority.

Exaggerated sensitiveness is an expression of the feeling of inferiority.

Alfred Adler
Man knows much more than he understands.

Man knows much more than he understands.

Alfred Adler
The truth is often a terrible weapon of aggression. It is possible to lie, and even to murder, with the truth.

The truth is often a terrible weapon of aggression. It is possible to lie, and even to murder, with the truth.

Alfred Adler
War is organized murder and torture against our brothers.

War is organized murder and torture against our brothers.

Alfred Adler
It is one of the most effective attitudes of the neurotic to measure thumbs down, so to speak, a real person by an ideal, since in doing so he can depreciate him as much as he wishes.

It is one of the most effective attitudes of the neurotic to measure thumbs down, so to speak, a real person by an ideal, since in doing so he can depreciate him as much as he wishes.

Alfred Adler
No experience is a cause of success or failure. We do not suffer from the shock of our experiences, so-called trauma - but we make out of them just what suits our purposes.

No experience is a cause of success or failure. We do not suffer from the shock of our experiences, so-called trauma - but we make out of them just what suits our purposes.

Alfred Adler
A lie would have no sense unless the truth were felt as dangerous.

A lie would have no sense unless the truth were felt as dangerous.

Alfred Adler
The greater the feeling of inferiority that has been experienced, the more powerful is the urge to conquest and the more violent the emotional agitation.

The greater the feeling of inferiority that has been experienced, the more powerful is the urge to conquest and the more violent the emotional agitation.

Alfred Adler
Every individual acts and suffers in accordance with his peculiar teleology, which has all the inevitability of fate, so long as he does not understand it.

Every individual acts and suffers in accordance with his peculiar teleology, which has all the inevitability of fate, so long as he does not understand it.

Alfred Adler
In the investigation of a neurotic style of life, we must always suspect an opponent, and note who suffers most because of the patient's condition. Usually this is a member of the family.

In the investigation of a neurotic style of life, we must always suspect an opponent, and note who suffers most because of the patient's condition. Usually this is a member of the family.

Alfred Adler
Seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another, and feeling with the heart of another.

Seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another, and feeling with the heart of another.

Alfred Adler
Every therapeutic cure, and still more, any awkward attempt to show the patient the truth, tears him from the cradle of his freedom from responsibility and must therefore reckon with the most vehement resistance.

Every therapeutic cure, and still more, any awkward attempt to show the patient the truth, tears him from the cradle of his freedom from responsibility and must therefore reckon with the most vehement resistance.

Alfred Adler
The chief danger in life is that you may take too many precautions.

The chief danger in life is that you may take too many precautions.

Alfred Adler
There is a law that man should love his neighbor as himself. In a few hundred years it should be as natural to mankind as breathing or the upright gait; but if he does not learn it he must perish.

There is a law that man should love his neighbor as himself. In a few hundred years it should be as natural to mankind as breathing or the upright gait; but if he does not learn it he must perish.

Alfred Adler
My difficulties belong to me!

My difficulties belong to me!

Alfred Adler
It is always easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.

It is always easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.

Alfred Adler
The test of one's behavior pattern is their relationship to society, relationship to work and relationship to sex.

The test of one's behavior pattern is their relationship to society, relationship to work and relationship to sex.

Alfred Adler

Death is really a great blessing for humanity, without it there could be no real progress. People who lived for ever would not only hamper and discourage the young, but they would themselves lack sufficient stimulus to be creative.

Alfred Adler