Mature Love

Erich Fromm wrote this:

To give has become more satisfactory, more joyous, than to receive; to love, more important even than being loved. By loving, he has left the prison cell of aloneness and isolation which was constituted by the sate of narcissism and self-centeredness. He feels a sense of new union, of sharing, of oneness. More than that, he feels potency of producing love by loving -- rather than the dependence of receiving by being loved -- and for that reason having to be small, helpless, sick -- or "good." Infantile love follows the principle: "I love because I am loved." Mature love follows the principle: "I am loved because I love." Immature love says: "I love you because I need you." Mature love says: "I need you because I love you."