quotations and passages about self

self 2 - self 3 - self 4

Compassion for others begins
with kindness to ourselves.

Pema Chödrön

The older I get, the more I realize the importance of exercising the various dimensions
of my body, soul, mind, and heart. Taken together, these aspects give me a sense of
wholeness. I want to be a whole human being rather than one who limps on one leg
because I don't know how to use all of my parts. Intellectual, emotional, and physical
activity are not separate entities. Rather, they are dimensions of the same human being.

Robert Fulghum

You have to be true to yourself, but you have to be true to your best self,
not to the self that secretly thinks you are better than other people.

Stephen Gaskin

One day, a woman found herself standing at Heaven's gate. The angels' only
question to her was, "Zusai, why weren't you Zusai?" Within that simple question
lies the heart of all our soul work. If you are David, why aren't you fully David?
If you are Susan, why aren't you completely Susan? We are
here on Earth to become who we are meant to be.

Angeles Arrien

And another version of the same story:

The Hasidic rabbi, Zuscha, was asked on his deathbed what he thought the
kingdom of God would be like. He replied, "I don't know. But one thing
I do know. When I get there I am not going to be asked, 'Why weren't you
Moses? Why weren't you David?' I am only going to be asked, 'Why weren't
you Zuscha? Why weren't you fully you?'"

Alan Loy McGinnis

Resolve to be thyself; and know that those
Who find themselves, lose their misery.

Matthew Arnold

Each heart is a world.--
You find all within yourself that you find without.--
To know yourself you have only to set down a true statement
of these that ever loved or hated you.

Johann Kasper Lavater

Endeavor to be patient in bearing the defects and infirmities
of others, of what sort soever they be; for thou thyself also
hast many failings which must be borne with by others.

Thomas a Kempis

What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think.
This rule, equally arduous in actual and intellectual life, may serve
for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder,
because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty
better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion;
it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great person is one who
in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness
the independence of solitude.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

When you can, always advise people to do what you see they really want to do,
so long as what they want to do isn't dangerously unlawful, stupidly unsocial,
or obviously impossible. Doing what they want to do, they may succeed;
doing what they don't want to do, they won't.

James Gould Cozzens

When you reread a classic you do
not see more in the book than you
did before; you see more in you
than there was before.

Clifton Fadiman

I was always looking outside
myself for strength and
confidence, but it comes from
within. It is there all the time.

Anna Freud

What another would have done as well as you, do not do it.
What another would have said as well as you, do not say it;
written as well, do not write it. Be faithful to that
which exists nowhere but in yourself--and there make yourself indispensable.

Andre Gide

It is healthy to accept myself as I am, to like myself, and to love myself. It is okay for me to accept a compliment or praise. Because I am just as deserving and worthy as anyone else, I may treat myself as well as I treat others, live my own life, and enjoy my life. There is a difference between being unselfish and being a martyr or a victim. There is a time for putting myself first so that I may take care of myself and my needs.

Jill Wolf

We all have choices to make about the quality of our presence and
how we will affect those around us. The quality of our presence is
dependent not on what we can or cannot “do” but on the essence
of who we are and how we relate to others. Becoming the presence
we would like to be is an intentional work. It grows while
we make peace with ourselves and with life.

Sallirae Henderson

Remember always that you have not only the right
to be an individual; you have an obligation to be one.
You cannot make any useful contribution in life
unless you do this.

Eleanor Roosevelt

All of us have to seek in our own way to make our own selves
more noble and to realize our own true worth.

Albert Schweitzer

People grind and grind in the mill of a truism, and nothing comes out but what was put in.
But the moment they desert the tradition for a spontaneous thought, then poetry, wit, hope,
virtue, learning, anecdote, all flock to their aid.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The holiest of holidays are those
Kept by ourselves in silence and apart;
The secret anniversaries of the heart.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

In solitude all great things are born.

Moses Harvey

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We either make ourselves miserable, or we make
ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.

Carlos Castaneda

There's only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving,
and that's your own self.

Aldous Huxley

The person who makes everything that leads to happiness
depend upon him or herself, and not upon other people, has
adopted the very best plan for living happily.

Plato

Be yourself and think for yourself;
and while your conclusions may not be infallible,
they will be nearer right than the conclusions forced upon you.

Elbert Hubbard

Happiness belongs to those who are sufficient unto themselves.
For all external sources of happiness and pleasure are,
by their very nature, highly uncertain, precarious, ephemeral, and subject to chance.

Arthur Schopenhauer

Being bored is an insult to oneself.

Jules Renard

You and I can profit by asking ourselves: What do I see when I look through
the lens of my attitude toward myself? Am I more a critic than a friend?
Do I look beyond the surface blemishes to find the truly beautiful
and unique person that I am? Or do I play the destructive "comparison game"?
What verdict does the juror of my mind pass on me:
"good at heart" or "guilty on all counts"?

John Powell, S.J.

Don't compromise yourself.
You are all you've got.

Janis Joplin

You've got to believe deep inside yourself that you're destined to do great things.

Joe Paterno