Love is generally confused with dependence; but in point of fact, you can love only in proportion to your capacity for independence.
Rollo MayRead
Inner sense of worth that comes with being in love does not seem to depend essentially on whether the love is returned or not.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The sense of self-worth from being in love is independent of whether that love is reciprocated.
Rollo May emphasizes that love can instill a profound sense of worthiness and belonging, regardless of whether that love is acknowledged or reciprocated. This perspective highlights the intrinsic value of love itself, suggesting that the emotional experience it brings can foster personal growth and fulfillment apart from any external validation.
Themes
LoveSelf-WorthUnconditionalRelationshipFulfillment
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the self-empowering aspects of love at a relationship workshop.
More from Rollo May
All quotes βTo 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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Humor is the healthy way of feeling "distance" between one's self and the problem, a way of standing off and looking at one's problem with perspective.
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Beauty is the experience that gives us a sense of joy and a sense of peace simultaneously.
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The poet, like the lover, is a menace on the assembly line.
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For mightier far_x000D_ _x000D_ Than strength of nerve or sinew, or the sway_x000D_ _x000D_ Of magic potent over sun and star,_x000D_ _x000D_ Is love, though oft to agony distrest,_x000D_ _x000D_ And though his favourite be feeble woman's breast.
William WordsworthRead
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We have these earthly bodies. We don't know what they want. Half the time, we pretend they are under our mental thumb, but that is the illusion of the healthy and the protected. Of sedate lovers. For the body has emotions it conceives and carries through without concern for anyone or anything else. Love is one of those, I guess. Going back to something very old knit into the brain as we were growing. Hopeless. Scorching. Ordinary.
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Dearest, loveliest Elizabeth! What do I not owe you! You taught me a lesson, hard indeed at first, but most advantageous. By you, I was properly humbled.
Jane AustenRead
Love makes you see a place differently, just as you hold differently an object that belongs to someone you love. If you know one landscape well, you will look at all other landscapes differently. And if you learn to love one place, sometimes you can also learn to love another.
Anne MichaelsRead