WIST

To have doubted one’s own first principles is the work of a civilized man.

Alfred Adler (1870-1937) Austrian psychologist
“Ideals and Doubts,” Illinois Law Review (May 1915)

Everyone … has a feeling of inferiority. But the feeling of inferiority is not a disease; it is rather a stimulant to health, normal striving and development. It becomes a pathological condition only when the sense of inadequacy overwhelms the individual and, far from stimulating him to useful activity, makes him depressed and incapable of development.

Alfred Adler (1870-1937) Austrian psychologist
The Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler: A Systematic Presentation in Selections From His Writings, 9.D.2 (1929) [ed. Ansbacher & Ansbacher (1956)]

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

Alfred Adler (1870-1937) Austrian psychologist
The Problems of Neurosis, ch. 2 (1929)

It is the individual who is not interested in his fellow men who has the greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to others. It is from among such individuals that all human failures spring.

Alfred Adler (1870-1937) Austrian psychologist
What Life Should Mean to You (1937)

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

Alfred Adler (1870-1937) Austrian psychologist
Comment to friend (1927)
in Phyllis Bottome, Alfred Adler: A Biography, ch. 5 (1939)