Rollo May — Quote from Man's Search for Himself
“The purpose of psychotherapy is not to make people adjusted but to set them free.”
Man's Search for Himself (1953)
Concepts: freedom, authenticity, agency
Resonant Quotes
- “Freedom is what we do with what is done to us.” — Jean-Paul Sartre, Situations Both quotes articulate freedom not as escape from conditions but as authentic response to them—Sartre through existen...
- “When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, t...” — Audre Lorde, The Cancer Journals Both quotes reveal liberation as the transcendence of fear through authentic power—Lorde's personal empowerment and M...
- “To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's.” — Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment Both champion authentic selfhood over social conformity—May's therapeutic freedom and Dostoevsky's individual error b...
- “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” — Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols Both articulate transformative views of suffering and challenge, where adversity becomes the catalyst for authentic s...
- “O my body, make of me always a man who questions!” — Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks Both quotes reject adjustment to oppressive norms, with Fanon's embodied questioning and May's therapeutic liberation...
- “No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself.” — Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own Woolf's rejection of performative expectations aligns perfectly with May's therapeutic goal of liberation from social...
- “If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's...” — Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider Both advocate for authentic selfhood against external impositions — Lorde's self-definition and May's freedom from ad...
- “To will oneself free is also to will others free.” — Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity Both quotes reveal freedom as fundamentally relational and transformative rather than merely individual, with Beauvoi...