This personal freedom to think and feel and speak authentically and to be conscious of so doing is the quality that distinguishes us as human.
ROLLO MAYWhen we are dealing with human beings, no truth has reality by itself; it is always dependent upon the reality of the immediate relationship.
More Rollo May Quotes
-
-
Creativity is the encounter of the intensively conscious human being with his world.
ROLLO MAY -
Religion is whatever the individual takes to be his ultimate concern. One’s religious attitude is to be found at that point where he has a conviction that there are values in human existence worth living and dying for.
ROLLO MAY -
Intimacy requires courage because risk is inescapable.
ROLLO MAY -
It is an ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way.
ROLLO MAY -
Hate is not the opposite of love; apathy is.
ROLLO MAY -
Apathy adds up, in the long run, to cowardice.
ROLLO MAY -
Suffering is nature’s way of indicating a mistaken attitude or way of behavior, and to the nonegocentric person every moment of suffering is the opportunity for growth. People should rejoice in suffering, strange as it sounds, for this is a sign of the availability of energy to transform their characters.
ROLLO MAY -
Joy, rather than happiness, is the goal of life, for joy is the emotion which accompanies our fulfilling our natures as human beings. It is based on the experience of one’s identity as a being of worth and dignity.
ROLLO MAY -
One of the few blessings of living in an age of anxiety is that we are forced to become aware of ourselves.
ROLLO MAY -
A dynamic struggle goes on within a person between what he or she consciously thinks on the one hand and, on the other, some insight, some perspective that is struggling to be born.
ROLLO MAY -
Fortunately, however, we no longer have to argue that self -love is not only necessary and good but that it also is a prerequisite for loving others.
ROLLO MAY -
I learned that healing and cure are active processes in which I myself needed to participate.
ROLLO MAY -
One does not become fully human painlessly.
ROLLO MAY -
In order to be open to creativity, one must have the capacity for constructive use of solitude. One must overcome the fear of being alone.
ROLLO MAY -
The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it is conformity.
ROLLO MAY -
The ultimate error is the refusal to look evil in the face.
ROLLO MAY -
The purpose of psychotherapy is to set people free.
ROLLO MAY -
Ecstasy is the accurate term for the intensity of consciousness that occurs in the creative act.
ROLLO MAY -
This is what makes heroism so important: it reflects our own sense of identity and from this our own heroism is molded.
ROLLO MAY -
However it may be confounded or covered up or counterfeited, this elemental capacity to fight against injustice remains the distinguishing characteristic of human beings.
ROLLO MAY -
The danger always exists that our technology will serve as a buffer between us and nature, a block between us and the deeper dimensions of our own experience.
ROLLO MAY -
The acorn becomes an oak by means of automatic growth; no commitment is necessary. The kitten similarly becomes a cat on the basis of instinct. Nature and being are identical in creatures like them. But a man or woman becomes fully human only by his or her choices and his or her commitment to them.
ROLLO MAY -
Deeds of violence in our society are performed largely by those trying to establish their self-esteem, to defend their self-image, and to demonstrate that they, too, are significant.
ROLLO MAY -
Creativity arises out of the tension between spontaneity and limitations, the latter (like the river banks) forcing the spontaneity into the various forms which are essential to the work of art or poem.
ROLLO MAY -
Mass communication–wonder as it may be technologically and something to be appreciated and valued–presents us wit a serious daner, the danger of conformism, due to the fact that we all view the same things at the same time in all the cities of the country. (p. 73)
ROLLO MAY -
When people feel their insignificance as individual persons, they also suffer an undermining of their sense of human responsibility.
ROLLO MAY