Human history began with an act of disobedience and it is not unlikely that it will be terminated by an act of obedience.
Man’s main task in life is to give birth to himself.
The lust for power is not rooted in strength but in weakness.
Love is an act of faith, and whoever is of little faith is also of little love.
Mother’s love is peace. It need not be acquired, it need not be deserved.
To hope means to be ready at every moment for that which is not yet born, and yet not become desperate if there is no birth in our lifetime.
To die is poignantly bitter, but the idea of having to die without having lived is unbearable.
Let your mind start a journey through a strange new world. Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before. Let your soul take you where you long to be. Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar, and you’ll live as you’ve never lived before.
When people can see a vision and simultaneously recognize what can be done step by step in a concrete way to achieve it, they will begin to feel encouragement and enthusiasm instead of fright.
To live is to be born every minute. Death occurs when birth stops.
The mother-child relationship is paradoxical and, in a sense, tragic. It requires the most intense love on the mother’s side, yet this very love must help the child grow away from the mother, and to become fully independent.
Who will tell whether one happy moment of love or the joy of breathing or walking on a bright morning and smelling the fresh air, is not worth all the suffering and effort which life implies.
What are the conditions of the creative attitude, of seeing and responding, of being aware and being sensitive to what one is aware of? First of all it requires the capacity to be puzzled. Children still have the capacity to be puzzled.
In erotic love, two people who were separate become one. In motherly love, two people who were one become separate. The mother must not only tolerate, she must wish and support the child’s separation.
Selfish persons are incapable of loving others, but they are not capable of loving themselves either.
To be loved because of one’s merit, because one deserves it, always leaves doubt; maybe I did not please the person whom I want to love me, maybe this, or that – there is always a fear that love could disappear.
There is nothing inhuman, evil, or irrational which does not give some comfort, provided it is shared by a group.
If you want a Big Brother, you get all that comes with it.
The danger of the past was that men became slaves. The danger of the future is that man may become robots.
In love the paradox occurs that two beings become one and yet remain two.