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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

“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

“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

“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

“The moment we recognize that the self is not something ready-made, but something in continuous formation through choice of action, the whole situation clears up.” John Dewey, “Democracy and Education” - 1916

“Pride, therefore, is pleasure springing from a man thinking too highly of himself.” Baruch Spinoza, “Ethics” - 1677

“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

“I can live alone, if self-respect, and circumstances require me so to do. I need not sell my soul to buy bliss. I have an inward treasure born with me, which can keep me alive if all extraneous delights should be withheld, or offered only at a...” Charlotte Brontë, “Jane Eyre” - 16 October 1847

“It’s like the people who believe they’ll be happy if they go and live somewhere else, but who learn it doesn’t work that way. Wherever you go, you take yourself with you.” Neil Gaiman, “The Graveyard Book” - 2008

“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

“Your handwriting. The way you walk. Which china pattern you choose. It’s all giving you away. Everything you do shows your hand. Everything is a self-portrait. Everything is a diary.” Chuck Palahniuk, “Diary” - 2003

“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

“I'd rather be myself . . . Myself and nasty. Not somebody else, however jolly.” Aldous Huxley, “Brave New World” - 1932

“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

“You’re always you, and that don’t change, and you’re always changing, and there’s nothing you can do about it.” Neil Gaiman, “The Graveyard Book” - 2008

“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

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

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