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Power and Innocence: A Search for the Sources of Violence

Book by Rollo May · 10 quotes · Ifs, Rebel, Communication

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AllIfsRebelCommunicationCommunityGroupsHumansKnowsOrderOur SocietySelfShareViolenceActiveAdversariesAffirmationAggressionAliveApathyAriseAssertion

Power and Innocence: A Search for the Sources of Violence Quotes

“The authentic rebel knows that the silencing of all his adversaries is the last thing on earth he wishes: their extermination would deprive him and whoever else remains alive from the uniqueness, the originality, and the capacity for insight that these enemies being human also have and could share with him. If we wish the death of our enemies, we cannot talk about the community of man. In the losing of the chance for dialogue with our enemies, we are the poorer.”

IfsKnowsMenHumansEarthLastsWishCommunityChanceEnemyAliveShareLosingCapacityRemainsInsightDialogueRebelOriginalityUniquenessBeing HumanAdversariesExterminationSilencing
Book:Power and Innocence: A Search for the Sources of Violence
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“The rebel is committed to giving a form and pattern to the world. It is a pattern born of the indomitable thrust of the human mind, the mind which makes out of the mass of meaningless data in the world an order and a form.”

WorldGivingMindHumansFormOrderBornMassPatternsCommittedDataHuman MindRebelMeaninglessThrustMake OutIndomitable
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“Power is required for communication. To stand before an indifferent or hostile group and have one's say, or to speak honestly to a friend truths that go deep and hurt these require self-affirmation, self-assertion, and even at times aggression. ... My experience in psychotherapy convinces me that the act which requires the most courage is the simple communication, unpropelled by rage or anger, of one's deepest thoughts to another.”

SelfSpeakHurtSimpleGroupsCommunicationRageHonestlyConvinceAggressionIndifferentAffirmationHostileAssertionPsychotherapySelf AffirmationDeepest Thoughts
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“Communication leads to community that is, to understanding, intimacy, and the mutual valuing that was previously lacking. Community can be defined simply as a group in which free conversation can take place. Community is where I can share my innermost thoughts, bring out the depths of my own feelings, and know they will be understood.”

KnowsI CanFeelingsUnderstandingCommunityMy OwnGroupsShareCommunicationConversationUnderstoodDepthDefinedIntimacyMutualLacking
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“The function of the rebel is to shake the fixated mores of the rigid order of civilization; and this shaking, though painful, is necessary if the society is to be saved from boredom and apathy. Obviously I do not refer to everyone who calls himself a rebel, but only to the authentic rebel. Civilization gets its first flower from the rebel.”

IfsFirstsOrderFlowerCivilizationFunctionPainfulSavedBoredomShakesRebelApathyShaking
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