"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."

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Source: Rollo May (1998). “Power and Innocence: A Search for the Sources of Violence”, p.245, W. W. Norton & Company

About the author

Rollo May

Psychologist, Author

Rollo May was an influential American existential psychologist known for his works on love, creativity, and the human condition.

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