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Freedom always deals with 'the possible'; this gives freedom its great flexibility, its fascination, and its dangers.
Rollo May
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Freedom allows for endless possibilities but carries inherent risks.

In this quote, Rollo May emphasizes that true freedom is not just about the absence of constraints but encompasses the potential and choices that come with it. This flexibility opens up a realm of opportunities that can be both alluring and perilous, as the freedom to choose also encompasses the risk of making unwise decisions.

Themes

FreedomPossibilityFlexibilityRiskChoices

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about the importance of personal choices in life.

More from Rollo May

Love is generally confused with dependence; but in point of fact, you can love only in proportion to your capacity for independence.
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To love means to open ourselves to the negative as well as the positive - to grief, sorrow, and disappointment as well as to joy, fulfillment, and an intensity of consciousness we did not know was possible before
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Terrorism and the whole drug scene are vivid examples of the fact that what persons abhor most of all in life is the possibility that they will not matter.
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Humor is the healthy way of feeling "distance" between one's self and the problem, a way of standing off and looking at one's problem with perspective.
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Beauty is the experience that gives us a sense of joy and a sense of peace simultaneously.
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The poet, like the lover, is a menace on the assembly line.
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