The lust for power is not rooted in strength but in weakness.

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A society whose principles are acquisition, profit, and property produces a social character oriented around having, and once the dominant pattern is established, nobody wants to be an outsider, or indeed an outcast; in order to avoid this risk everybody adapts to the majority, who have in common only their mutual antagonism

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The danger of the past was that men became slaves. The danger of the future is that man may become robots.

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Well-being is possible to the degree to which one has overcome one's narcissism; to the degree to which one is open, responsive, sensitive, awake, empty.... Well-being means, finally, to drop one's Ego, to give up greed, to cease chasing after preservation and the aggrandizement of the Ego, to be and to experience one's self in the act of being, not in having, preserving, coveting, using.

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Love is an act of faith, and whoever is of little faith is also of little love.

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People do not see that the main question is not : "Am I loved?" which is to a large extent the question : "Am I approved of? Am I protected? Am I admired?" The main question is: "Can I love?

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To spare oneself from grief at all cost can be achieved only at the price of total detachment, which excludes the ability to experience happiness

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Love isn't something natural. Rather it requires discipline, concentration, patience, faith, and the overcoming of narcissism. It isn't a feeling, it is a practice.

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The task we must set for ourselves is not to feel secure, but to be able to tolerate insecurity.

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Man's main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important product of his effort is his own personality.

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