"Follow your heart but take your brain with you."
About Alfred Adler
Alfred Adler, an influential Austrian psychiatrist, is best known for founding the school of individual psychology. He challenged the prevailing Freudian views of his time by emphasizing the importance of social interest and community in understanding human behavior. Adler believed that feelings of inferiority drive individuals to strive for success and personal growth. His assertion that 'courage is the foundation of all human virtues' reflects his belief that facing life's challenges is essential for development. By promoting the idea that individuals are shaped by their social contexts, Adler shifted the focus from internal conflicts to the significance of community and relationships. Adler's ideas about courage and social interest remain relevant today, as they encourage a more holistic understanding of mental health. His work inspires individuals to seek connection and contribute positively to their communities, reinforcing the notion that personal fulfillment is intertwined with social responsibility. Through his emphasis on courage, Adler invites us to confront our fears and embrace our potential, making his insights valuable in contemporary discussions about personal and social well-being.
Quote collection
91 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"Follow your heart but take your brain with you."
"Overcoming difficulties leads to courage, self-respect, and knowing yourself."
"Men of genius are admired, men of wealth are envied, men of power are feared; but only men of character are trusted."
"We are not determined by our experiences, but are self-determined by the meaning we give to them; and when we take particular experiences as the basis for our future life, we are almost certain to be misguided to some degree. Meanings are not determined by situations. We determine ourselves by the meanings we ascribe to situations."
"What do you first do when you learn to swim? You make mistakes, do you not? And what happens? You make other mistakes, and when you have made all the mistakes you possibly can without drowning - and some of them many times over - what do you find? That you can swim? Well - life is just the same as learning to swim! Do not be afraid of making mistakes, for there is no other way of learning how to live!"
"You can be healed of depression if every day you begin the first thing in the morning to consider how you will bring a real joy to someone else."
"It is very obvious that we are not influenced by "facts" but by our interpretation of the facts."
"The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well."
"Meanings are not determined by situations, but we determine ourselves by the meanings we give to situations."
"An educator's most important task, one might say his holy duty, is to see to it that no child is discouraged at school, and that a child who enters school already discouraged regains his self-confidence through his school and his teacher. This goes hand in hand with the vocation of the educator, for education is possible only with children who look hopefully and joyfully upon the future."
"Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement."
"Life is just the same as learning to swim. Do not be afraid of making mistakes, for there is no other way of learning how to live!"
"Courage is not an ability one either possess or lacks. Courage is the willingness to engage in a risk-taking behavior regardless of whether the consequences are unknown or possibly adverse. We are capable of courageous behavior provided we are willing to engage in it. Given that life offers few guarantees, all living requires risk-taking."
"To see with the eyes of another, to hear with the ears of another, to feel with the heart of another. For the time being, this seems to me an admissible definition of what we call social feeling."
"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."
"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 fro+m among such individuals that all human failures spring."
"What is courage? Courage is the willingness to risk failure...There is only one danger I find in life, and that, indeed, is a real one. You may take too many precautions."
"The chief danger in life is that you may take too many precautions."
"All failures - neurotics, psychotics, criminals, drunkards, problem children, suicides, perverts, and prostitutes - are failures because they are lacking in social interest"
"It is always easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them."