“True to the meaning of the rebel as one who renounces authority, he seeks primarily not the substitution of one political system for another. He may favor such a political change, but it is not his chief goal. He rebels for the sake of a vision of life and society which he is convinced is critically important for himself and his fellows. … the rebel fights not only for the relief of his fellow men but also for his personal integrity. For him these are but two sides of the same coin.”
Source: Power and Innocence (1972), Ch. 11 : The Humanity of the Rebel
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Rollo May135
US psychiatrist 1909–1994Related quotes
Marianne von Werefkin (1860–1938) expressionist painter
Vol. 1: 'My beautiful One, My Unique!', pp. 130-140
1895 - 1905, Lettres à un Inconnu, 1901 – 1905; Museo Communale, Ascona
Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union
Address to the court in "The Communist Trial", People v. Lloyd (1920)
Rollo May (1909–1994) US psychiatrist
Source: Power and Innocence (1972), Ch. 11 : The Humanity of the Rebel
Context: 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.
Giovanni Baldelli (1914–1986) Anarchist theorist
Source: Social Anarchism (1971), p. 7
“He is only a very shallow critic who cannot see an eternal rebel in the heart of the Conservative.”
G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English mystery novelist and Christian apologist
Varied Types (1903)
Stanisław Lem book The Cyberiad
In "Tale of the Three Storytelling Machines of King Genius", §3
The Cyberiad (1967)