Men have gained control over the forces of nature to such an extent that with their help… — Sigmund Freud

Men have gained control over the forces of nature to such an extent that with their help they could have no difficulty in exterminating one another to the last man. They know this, and hence comes a large part of their current unrest, their unhappiness and their mood of anxiety.

In the original German

Die Menschen haben es jetzt in der Beherrschung der Naturkräfte soweit gebracht, daß sie es mit deren Hilfe leicht haben, einander bis auf den letzten Mann auszurotten. Sie wissen das, daher ein gut Stück ihrer gegenwärtigen Unruhe, ihres Unglücks, ihrer Angststimmung.

Civilization and Its Discontents · 1930
★ 4.5
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Provenance
Current citation
Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and Its Discontents, translated by James Strachey. W. W. Norton & Company, 2021, pt. 8.
Original citation
Freud, Sigmund. Das Unbehagen in der Kultur [The Discomfort in Culture]. Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag Wien, 1930, pt. 8.