“Illusions commend themselves to us because they save us pain and allow us to enjoy pleasure instead. We must therefore accept it without complaint when they sometimes collide with a bit of reality against which they are dashed to pieces.”

Austrian physician and psychoanalyst of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Freud is best known for founding psychoanalysis and exploring the unconscious mind through techniques like free association. His theories on the structure of personality—id, ego, and superego—and the role of early childhood experiences in shaping behavior remain foundational in psychology.