Rollo May Quotes

Logotherapy sees the human patient in all his humanness. I step up to the core of the patient's being. And that is a being in search of meaning, a being that is transcending himself, a being capable of acting in love for others.

I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am also, much more than that. So are we all.

The true picture of life as it is, if it could be adequately painted, would show men what they are, and how they might rise, not, indeed to perfection, but one step first, and then another on the ladder.

… one must never forget that in the drama of existence we are ourselves both actors and spectators.

Nature... is nothing but the inner voice of self-interest.

The difference between kitties and humans is that we are aware of our mortal condition, and the burden of consciousness is to evoke and embody and explore the coordinates of our condition.

Starting with the lyrics, 'Only scared of myself and the truth in the stars/I'm a king, I'm the dirt, God within me shine,' the first half of '6 Weeks' delves into my attempts to balance the notion that I have an existential purpose with the realization that I am nothing against the vastness of the universe.

How embarrassing for man to be the greatest miracle on earth and not to understand it!

The whole work of man really seems to consist in nothing but proving to himself every minute that he is a man and not a piano key.

In order to understand, observe, deduce, man must first be conscious of himself as alive.

I think and that is all that I am.

I think I should be here alone to rethink the world - I do. I want these lesser humans gone.

Everybody is determined by his own experience.

We breathe, we think, we conceive of our lives as narratives.

Although none of the rules for becoming more alive is valid, it is healthy to keep on formulating them.

If I had to summarize, most broadly, my concerns as a writer, I'd say the question 'How then must we live?' is at the heart of it, for me.

Look around the inhabited world; how few know their own good, or knowing it, pursue.

There is an immense, painful longing for a broader, more flexible, fuller, more coherent, more comprehensive account of what we human beings are, who we are and what this life is for.

We never completely comprehend ourselves, but we can do far more than comprehend.

Naturalism teaches one of the most important things in this world. There is only this life, so live wonderfully and meaningfully.

Contemplation and wisdom are highest achievements and man is not totally at home with them.

Challenging the meaning of life is the truest expression of the state of being human.

We love in others what we lack in ourselves, and would be everything, but what we are.

I don't have dreams. How can I say it? I myself am a dream.

Transcendence constitutes selfhood.