Rollo May

"The tragedy of modern life is that we confuse happiness with pleasure."

"The deepest principle of human nature is the craving to be appreciated."

"We are not isolated facts in a meaningless universe; we are part of a grand and significant story."

"Imagination is more powerful than knowledge, because knowledge is limited by what is known and what is imaginable."

"If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself alone."

"The task of the excellent teacher is to stimulate 'apparent contradiction' in the student's mind."

"Every act of creation is first an act of destruction."

"We cannot choose to love or not to love; but we can choose to honor that love or to destroy it."

"The most vital thing in human relations is the respect for the freedom of the other person."

"Consciousness means the capacity to be aware, and awareness is the first step toward change."

"The basic cause of anxiety in modern man is that he finds it difficult to believe in anything."

"It is the man or woman who is willing to die for a cause that makes living worthwhile for the rest of us."

"Psychological maturity consists largely in the capacity to deal with problems and frustrations without decompensating."

"One cannot be deeply responsive to the world without being saddened very often."

"The purpose of all art is to make life more bearable and the human condition more beautiful."

"We are anxious not because we lack security, but because we lack meaning."

"The freedom to become oneself requires the courage to acknowledge who one is."

"I write to discover what I think; I do not think to discover what to write."

"The therapist's task is not to cure but to help the client find meaning in their suffering."

"What we call 'evil' is always the surfacing of repressed impulses and energies."

"In a world where everything changes, the only constant is our capacity for transformation."

"The creative act requires courage because it means breaking with the past."

"Man's search for meaning is not optional; it is necessary for psychological survival."

"True freedom is not the absence of constraints but the conscious choice among them."

"The quality of your relationships determines the quality of your life."

"We are never more alive than when we are genuinely afraid."

"The source of the most intense human suffering is unfulfilled potential."

"A person cannot authentically love another until they have first loved themselves."

"The present moment is the only time we ever have."

"Society tends to be afraid of those who are different or who ask difficult questions."