It was strange to find that love does not spring from abundance and richness of the ego, but is a way out of inner distress and poverty. We were surprised to discover that our first love is not directed either to another person or to ourselves, but to an imaginary ideal ego, to an image of ourselves as we would like to be. There are stranger discoveries awaiting us the more deeply we grope in the dark and the further we intrude into the secret places of the human heart.

About This Quote

About Theodor Reik

Theodor Reik was a 19th-century American american psychoanalyst. Theodor Reik was a psychoanalyst who trained as one of Freud's first students in Vienna, Austria, and was a pioneer of lay analysis in the United States. Read more on Wikipedia →

Themes

  • Love — Quotes exploring romantic love, compassion, and human connection

More quotes by Theodor Reik

Related Quotes