“We see clearly how each one of us will draw strength and judgment from his limitless whole self. And the knowledge of our greatest desire will make us teach our lesser desires to follow it, will make us shape and use the whole of our life for the thing we want and love.
“And now I wish to ask you each a question. What particular thing or power seems most dear and necessary to you in your own life, in order to fulfil your aim. Alfred, tell me. Do you know? Or do you want time to think of it?”
“What I want most,” said Alfred, “is the power to calculate and judge how things are going to turn out. To plan well.”
“What I want most,” said Marian, “is to be the sort of girl I wish to be. To be like my idea of myself.”
“What I want most,” said Virginia, “is to have fun, to be happy.”
“What does that mean?” asked Henry. “Happiness, for each one of us, is having what we want most.”
“Well,” said Virginia, “I like life to be pleasant for me and for all the people about me.”
“What I want most,” said Florence, “is to be loved.”
“Only to be loved, or to love, too?”
“To be loved and to love.”