He who loves, flies, runs, and rejoices; he is free and nothing

"He who loves, flies, runs, and rejoices; he is free and nothing holds him back." – Henri Matisse

From the heart of the artist Henri Matisse, a man who painted with light itself, comes this radiant truth: “He who loves, flies, runs, and rejoices; he is free and nothing holds him back.” In these words, Matisse speaks not of love as mere sentiment, but as a force of liberation — a sacred energy that dissolves fear, breaks chains, and restores the soul to its natural state of joy. To love, in Matisse’s vision, is to live fully, without hesitation or restraint. It is to become weightless in spirit, like a bird unbound, like color freed upon a canvas.

The origin of these words flows from Matisse’s own life — a life marked by struggle, illness, and relentless creation. Even in his later years, when confined to a wheelchair and weakened by disease, he continued to create art of immense vitality and color. He called this period his “second life.” What sustained him was not strength of body, but love — love for beauty, for form, for the act of creation itself. From this wellspring of affection for life, Matisse drew freedom. Thus, when he says that love makes one “fly, run, and rejoice,” he speaks from the experience of a soul that refused to be bound by suffering.

The ancients, too, understood this truth. They taught that love is not only an emotion, but the essence of motion itself — the divine power that moves the stars, as Dante once said. To love is to align oneself with the rhythm of creation, to live in harmony with what is eternal. A heart filled with love cannot be imprisoned, for it carries its freedom within. The one who loves truly sees the world not as burden, but as blessing. Every path becomes open, every challenge a song, every sorrow a seed of growth.

Consider the life of Helen Keller, who, though blind and deaf, became a voice of hope to millions. She lived in a world of silence and shadow, yet her heart overflowed with light. “Everything has its wonders,” she wrote, “and I may not see or hear them, but I can feel them.” That feeling was love — love of life, of learning, of humanity itself. It made her fly, though she could not see the sky; it made her run, though she could not walk alone. Like Matisse, she proved that love liberates — that nothing, not even darkness, can confine a spirit that loves.

When Matisse says, “He who loves is free and nothing holds him back,” he reminds us that bondage begins not in the body, but in the heart. The one who clings to fear, bitterness, or pride is chained to their own shadow. But the one who loves — even in the face of loss — remains untouchable. For love transforms everything it touches: grief into compassion, failure into wisdom, loneliness into understanding. To love is to awaken the infinite within oneself, to move with the grace of one who trusts the universe entirely.

But this freedom demands courage. To love is to risk; it is to open the gates of the soul to both joy and pain. Yet it is in that vulnerability that one discovers true strength. The ancient mystics taught that love is the fire that purifies, and Matisse echoes them here. To love, therefore, is to shed what is small and fearful within us, and to step boldly into the vastness of life. For the lover, the artist, the dreamer — all who give themselves wholly — are the ones who fly beyond the confines of the ordinary world.

So, my children of the heart, hear this teaching and let it dwell within you: to love is to live without chains. Let your love be not timid or measured, but wild and generous, like sunlight on an open sea. Love what you do, love who you are, love those around you — even when they are difficult to love. For in that love, you will find the wings that Matisse spoke of — the power to fly, run, and rejoice, unbound by fear or doubt.

And when you feel weary or lost, remember this: it is not the weight of the world that holds you down, but the absence of love within. Fill your heart again — with kindness, with wonder, with gratitude — and you will rise. For he who loves is free, and in that freedom lies the truest art, the purest joy, and the eternal song of the human soul.