Love is generally confused with dependence; but in point of fact, you can love only in proportion to your capacity for independence.
Rollo MayRead
Joy is the zest that you get out of using your talents, your understanding, the totality of your being, for great aims...That's the kind of feeling that goes with creativity. That's why I say the courage to create. Creation does not come out of simply what you're born with. That must be united with your courage, both of which cause anxiety, but also great joy.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Joy comes from using your talents and being creative, which requires courage and leads to fulfillment.
Rollo May's quote emphasizes the connection between joy and creativity, suggesting that true fulfillment arises when individuals use their unique talents and total self for ambitious goals. It highlights the importance of courage in the creative process, acknowledging that while the act of creation can induce anxiety, it ultimately offers profound joy. This joy is described as an essential ingredient of life that merges one's innate abilities with the bravery necessary to pursue those aspirations.
Themes
JoyCreativityCourageTalentsAnxiety
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about pursuing your passions, one could use this quote to illustrate the joy found in creativity.
More from Rollo May
All quotes →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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Terrorism and the whole drug scene are vivid examples of the fact that what persons abhor most of all in life is the possibility that they will not matter.
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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.
Rollo MayRead
The poet, like the lover, is a menace on the assembly line.
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