Man’s biological weakness is the condition of human culture.

meaning [of freedom] changes according to the degrees of man’s awareness and conception of himself as an independent and separate being.

Eric Fromm, Escape from Freedom^∇

… individuation seems to have reached its peak… between the Reformation and the present.

Eric Fromm, Escape from Freedom^∇

To the degree … [he] has not yet completely severed the umbilical cord which fasten him to the outside world, he lacks freedom; [however] these ties give him security, a feeling of belonging, and of being rooted somewhere.

Eric Fromm, Escape from Freedom^∇

The more the child grows and to the extent to which primary ties are cut off, the more it develops a quest for freedom and independence.

Eric Fromm, Escape from Freedom^∇

… essentially by social conditions.

Eric Fromm, Escape from Freedom^∇

… human existence and freedom are from the beginning inseparable … freedom from instinctual determination of his actions.

Eric Fromm, Escape from Freedom^∇

There is only one possible, productive solution for the relationship of individualized man with the world: his active solidarity with all men and his spontaneous activity, love and work, which unite him again with the world, not by primary ties but as a free and independent individuals.

Eric Fromm, Escape from Freedom^∇