Oh, I would say, you've never understood me, Harry, that not out of vengeance have I accomplished all my sins but because something has always been close to dying in my soul, and I've sinned only in order to lie down in darkness and find, somewhere in the net of dreams, a new father, a new home.
-- William Styron, "Lie Down in Darkness"

According to the dictionary, "to belong" means to have a rightful place. A rightful place is not one that is granted by the powers that be, not even by parents; this is too shaky a source for a true feeling of belonging. A rightful place is the place we gain for ourselves, first through loving and being loved in the right way, later through one's own efforts. This alone makes the place secure, one's very own.
-- Bruno Bettelheim, "A Good Enough Parent"