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Self quotes

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“My wealth is in my knowledge of self, love, and spirituality.” Muhammad Ali, “The Soul of a Butterfly” - 2004

“The consciousness of self is the greatest hindrance to the proper execution of all physical action.” Bruce Lee, “Tao of Jeet Kune Do” - 1975

“In the face of a true friend a man sees as it were a second self.” Marcus Tullius Cicero, “On Friendship” - 44 BC

“I had always been good company for myself.” Charles Bukowski, “Ham on Rye” - 1982

“To lose confidence in one’s body is to lose confidence in one’s self.” Simone de Beauvoir, “The Second Sex” - 1949

“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” J. K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” - 1998

“Every man’s work . . . is always a portrait of himself” Samuel Butler, “The Way of All Flesh” - 1903

“The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained to liberation from the self.” Albert Einstein, “The world as I see it” - 1949

“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance” - 1841

“Insist on yourself; never imitate.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance” - 1841

“I have laughed, in bitterness and agony of heart, at the contrast between what I seem and what I am!” Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Scarlet Letter” - 1850

“He's the victim of a critical age; he has ceased to believe in himself and he doesn't know what to believe in.” Henry James, “The Portrait of a Lady” - 1881

“They do not love one another because they do not love themselves.” Kurt Vonnegut, “Slaughterhouse-Five” - 1969

“I guess the only time most people think about injustice is when it happens to them.” Charles Bukowski, “Ham on Rye” - 1982

“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.” Lao Tzu, “Tao Te Ching” - 4th century BC

“Our hands do not tremble except for ourselves, or for those whom we love.” Marcel Proust, “Swann's Way” - 1913

“Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.” Oscar Wilde, “Intentions” - 1891

“if you want to keep a secret you must also hide it from yourself.” George Orwell, “1984” - 1949

“In the meantime let me be that I am, and seek not to alter me.” William Shakespeare, “Much Ado About Nothing” - 1600

“Your worst enemy . . . was your own nervous system.” George Orwell, “1984” - 1949

“Who is it that can tell me who I am?” William Shakespeare, “King Lear” - 1623

“One man's ways may be as good as another's, but we all like our own best.” Jane Austen, “Persuasion” - 1816

“The aim of life is self-development.” Oscar Wilde, “The Picture of Dorian Gray” - 1890

“Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.” Paulo Coelho, “The Alchemist” - 1988

“Think you're escaping and run into yourself. Longest way round is the shortest way home.” James Joyce, “Ulysses” - 1922

“Love is the longing for the half of ourselves we have lost.” Milan Kundera, “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” - 1984

“I can't explain MYSELF, I'm afraid, sir . . . because I'm not myself, you see.” Lewis Carroll, “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland” - 1865

“The greatest hazard of all, losing the self, can occur very quietly in the world, as if it were nothing at all. No other loss can occur so quietly; any other loss—an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc. —is sure to be noticed.” Søren Kierkegaard, “The Sickness Unto Death” - 1849

“No man really knows about other human beings. The best he can do is to suppose that they are like himself.” John Steinbeck, “The Winter of Our Discontent” - 1961

“Things do not change; we change.” Henry David Thoreau, “Walden” - 1854

“The difference between how you look and how you see yourself is enough to kill most people.” Chuck Palahniuk, “Haunted” - 2005

“every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others.” Marcus Aurelius, “Meditations” - c. 170 - 180

“I don't want every one to like me; I should think less of myself if some people did.” Henry James, “The Portrait of a Lady” - 1881

“The more parts of yourself you can afford to forget the more charm you have.” F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Flappers and Philosophers” - 1920

“Every life is many days, day after day. We walk through ourselves, meeting robbers, ghosts, giants, old men, young men, wives, widows, brothers-in-love, but always meeting ourselves.” James Joyce, “Ulysses” - 1922

“What greater wealth is there than to own your Me and to spend it on growing?” Ayn Rand, “Atlas Shrugged” - 1957

“When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you.” Lao Tzu, “Tao Te Ching” - 4th century BC

“Fiction, because it is not about somebody who actually lived in the real world, always has the possibility of being about ourself.” Orson Scott Card, “Ender's Game” - 1985

“Men sometimes didn’t bother to find out who and what I was. Instead they would invent a character for me. I wouldn’t argue with them. They were obviously loving somebody I wasn’t.” Marilyn Monroe, “My Story” - 1974

“To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “Crime and Punishment” - 1867

“Some day you will find out that there is far more happiness in another's happiness than in your own.” Honoré de Balzac, “Father Goriot” - 1835

“Never complain of that of which it is at all times in your power to rid yourself.” Adam Smith, “The Theory of Moral Sentiments” - 1759

“Whatever any one does or says, I must be emerald and keep my colour.” Marcus Aurelius, “Meditations” - c. 170 - 180

“Hope and fear are both phantoms that arise from thinking of the self. When we don't see the self as self, what do we have to fear?” Lao Tzu, “Tao Te Ching” - 4th century BC

“I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well. Unfortunately, I am confined to this theme by the narrowness of my experience.” Henry David Thoreau, “Walden” - 1854

“the truth is you don’t need some external demon to take control of you to turn you into a raging, money-obsessed sociopath, you only need to let loose the demons you already have inside of you.” Jay-Z, “Decoded” - 2010

“you're way off when you start railing at things and people instead of at yourself.” J. D. Salinger, “Franny and Zooey” - 1961

“Not being able to govern events, I govern myself, and apply myself to them, if they will not apply themselves to me.” Michel de Montaigne, “The Essays of Michel de Montaigne” - 1580

“We are not our own any more than what we possess is our own. We did not make ourselves, we cannot be supreme over ourselves. We are not our own masters.” Aldous Huxley, “Brave New World” - 1932

“people are interested only in themselves. If a story is not about the hearer he will not listen.” John Steinbeck, “East of Eden” - 1952

Related topics

others love knowledge way change appearance happiness power loneliness choice individualism individuality development responsibility mind fear pleasure heart experience age

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Oscar Wilde (8)
Ralph Waldo Emerson (5)
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George MacDonald (4)
Charles Bukowski (4)
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Jane Austen (3)
James Joyce (3)
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Henry James (3)
Lao Tzu (3)
Chuck Palahniuk (3)
John Steinbeck (3)
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The Fountainhead (4)
Lilith (4)
Ham on Rye (4)
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Brave New World (2)
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