Rollo May
American existential psychologist, stating 'The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it is conformity.'
Most quoted
"The human being cannot live in a condition of emptiness for very long; if he is not growing toward something, he is usually dying toward something."
— from Man's Search for Himself, 1953
"The fully developed personality is one who can live in the present, learn from the past, and plan for the future."
— from Man's Search for Himself, 1953
"The first half of life is devoted to forming a healthy ego, the second half is going inward and letting go of it."
— from Book, 1983
All quotes by Rollo May (100)
The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, but conformity.
Every organism has a drive to actualize its own potentialities.
To be a person is to have a world.
Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.
Creativity is the encounter of the intensively conscious human being with his or her world.
The ultimate source of the self is not the ego, but the courage to be.
Love is the will to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth.
The human being cannot live in a condition of emptiness for very long; if he is not growing toward something, he is usually dying toward something.
Freedom is man's capacity to take a hand in his own development. It is our capacity to mold ourselves.
The purpose of psychotherapy is to set people free.
Every person must choose how much he will live in the present, how much in the past, and how much in the future.
The creative act is not an act of will as much as it is an act of surrender to the creative process.
The symbol is the carrier of meaning.
The neurotic is the person who uses his anxiety to avoid making choices.
Humor is a way of saying something serious without being serious.
The fully developed personality is one who can live in the present, learn from the past, and plan for the future.
Authenticity is the courage to be oneself.
The experience of joy is a sign that we are on the right path.
Every human being is a unique experiment of the universe.
The capacity to tolerate anxiety is the mark of emotional maturity.
Contemporaries of Rollo May
Other Psychologys born within 50 years of Rollo May (1909–1994).