Sign in with Facebook
“Respect, thus, implies the absence of exploitation. I want the loved person to grow and unfold for his own sake, and in his own ways, and not for the purpose of serving me. If I love the other person, I feel one with him or her, but with him as he is, not as I need him to be as an object for my use. It is clear that respect is possible only if I have achieved independence; if I can stand and walk without needing crutches, without”
― The Art of Loving
― The Art of Loving
“There is hardly any activity, any enterprise, which is started with such tremendous hopes and expectations, and yet, which fails so regularly, as love. If this were the case with any other activity, people would be eager to know the reasons for the failure, and to learn how one could do better—or they would give up the activity. Since the latter is impossible in the case of love, there seems to be only one adequate way to overcome the failure of love—to examine the reasons for this failure, and to proceed to study the meaning of love.”
― The Art of Loving
― The Art of Loving
“To respect a person is not possible without knowing him; care and responsibility would be blind if they were not guided by knowledge. Knowledge would be empty if it were not motivated by concern. There are many layers of knowledge; the knowledge which is an aspect of love is one which does not stay at the periphery, but penetrates to the core. It is possible only when I can transcend the concern for myself and see the other person in his own terms. I may know, for instance, that a person is angry, even if he does not show it overtly; but I may know him more deeply than that; then I know that he is anxious, and worried; that he feels lonely, that he feels guilty. Then I know that his anger is only the manifestation of something deeper, and I see him as anxious and embarrassed, that is, as the suffering person, rather than as the angry one.”
― The Art of Loving
― The Art of Loving
Sébastian’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Sébastian’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
638 books
|
88 friends
709 books
|
38 friends
372 books
|
30 friends
109 books
|
20 friends
1,128 books
|
10 friends
541 books
|
153 friends
1,007 books
|
9 friends
45 books
|
65 friends
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Sébastian
Lists liked by Sébastian
