In love with myself, that is what people say I am. It doesn’t surprise me, for how could they notice that I can love when I love only you; how could anyone else suspect it when I love only you? In love with myself. Why? Because I’m in love with you, because it is you I love, you alone, and all that truly belongs to you, and it is thus I love myself, because this, my self, belongs to you, so that if I ceased loving you I would cease loving myself. What then is, in the eyes of the profane world, an expression of the greatest egoism, is for your initiated eyes the expression of purest sympathy; what in the profane eyes of the world is an expression of the most prosaic self-preservation, is for your sacred sight the expression of the most enthusiastic self-annihilation.”― Johannes de Silentio, from_ Either/ Or: A Fragment of Life_. Unknown
About This Quote

In this quote by Johannes de Silentio, he is talking about how egoism and selflessness are two opposing views of the world. He says that people who believe that love is selfish are wrong. He says that it is selflessness that truly gives us meaning. In his mind, if your love for yourself was selfish, you would not sacrifice yourself for someone else, but instead care only about yourself.

In our world today, we see a great deal of self-sacrifice from people who love themselves more than they do others. You may work a job you hate just to provide a comfortable life for your family, or you may give up your dreams to protect your loved ones from the trials of life. While these actions may give us meaning in life, they also have their downfalls.

If we live only for ourselves then at the end of the day we have no one to show our love to. And as Johannes de Silentio goes on to say, the only way to truly love someone else is to first love yourself.

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