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

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

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

Exaggerated sensitiveness is an expression of the feeling of inferiority.
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

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

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

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

It is the patriotic duty of every man to lie for his country.
Alfred Adler

Man knows much more than he understands.
Alfred Adler

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

My difficulties belong to me!
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.
Alfred Adler

Our modern states are preparing for war without even knowing the future enemy.
Alfred Adler

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