Does not the possibility or the power to do something about the situation at hand confer on one the responsibility to do it?
ROLLO MAYIn my clinical experience, the greatest block to a person’s development is his having to take on a way of life which is not rooted in his own powers.
More Rollo May Quotes
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So courage makes possible all the psychological virtues. Without courage other values wither away into mere facsimiles of virtue.
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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.
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To love means to open ourselves to the negative as well as the positive – to grief, sorrow, and disappointment as well as to joy, fulfillment, and an intensity of consciousness we did not know was possible before
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People attain worth and dignity by the multitude of decisions they make from day by day. These decisions require courage.
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There is no authentic inner freedom that does not, sooner or later, also affect and change human history.
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Memory is not just the imprint of the past time upon us; it is the keeper of what is meaningful for our deepest hopes and fears.
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It is well to remind ourselves that anxiety signifies a conflict, and so long as a conflict is going on, a constructive solution is possible.
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In my clinical experience, the greatest block to a person’s development is his having to take on a way of life which is not rooted in his own powers.
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The amazing thing about love is that it is the best way to get to know ourselves.
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Every human being must have a point at which he stands against the culture, where he says, “This is me and the world be damned!” Leaders have always been the ones to stand against the society – Socrates, Christ, Freud, all the way down the line.
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All our feelings, like the artist’s paints and brush, are ways of communicating and sharing something meaningful from us to the world.
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It is an old and ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way; and we grasp more fiercely at research, statistics, and technical aids in sex when we have lost the values and meaning of love.
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Creativity is neither the product of neurosis nor simple talent, but an intense courageous encounter with the Gods.
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One of the few blessings of living in an age of anxiety is that we are forced to become aware of ourselves.
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However it may be confounded or covered up or counterfeited, this elemental capacity to fight against injustice remains the distinguishing characteristic of human beings.
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The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it is conformity.
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It is an ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way.
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Many people feel they are powerless to do anything effective with their lives. It takes courage to break out of the settled mold, but most find conformity more comfortable. This is why the opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it’s conformity.
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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.
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Life comes from physical survival; but the good life comes from what we care about.
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One of the easiest ways to be irresponsible about power is to forget you have it.
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When people feel their insignificance as individual persons, they also suffer an undermining of their sense of human responsibility.
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Vanity and narcissism – the compulsive need to be admired and praised – undermine one’s courage, for one then fights on someone else’s conviction rather than one’s own.
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One central need in life is to fulfill its own potential.
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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.
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When we are dealing with human beings, no truth has reality by itself; it is always dependent upon the reality of the immediate relationship.
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