The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.
—Thomas Merton (1915–68) American Trappist Monk
Physically you are a human being, but mentally you are incomplete. Given that we have this physical human form, we must safeguard our mental capacity for judgment. For that, we cannot take out insurance; the insurance company is within: self-discipline, self-awareness, and a clear realization of the disadvantages of anger and the positive effects of kindness.
—The 14th Dalai Lama (b.1935) Tibetan Buddhist Religious Leader, Civil Rights Leader, Philosopher, Author
It is the individual who knows how little they know about themselves who stands the most reasonable chance of finding out something about themselves before they die.
—S. I. Hayakawa (1906–92) Canadian-born American Academic, Elected Rep, Politician
A human action becomes genuinely important when it springs from the soil of a clear-sighted awareness of the temporality and the ephemerally of everything human. It is only this awareness that can breathe any greatness into an action.
—Vaclav Havel (1936–2011) Czech Dramatist, Statesman
A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Shall a man go and hang himself because he belongs to the race of pygmies, and not be the biggest pygmy that he can?
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Every individual is at once the beneficiary and the victim of the linguistic tradition into which he has been born – the beneficiary inasmuch as language gives access to the accumulated records of other people’s experience, the victim in so far as it confirms him in the belief that reduced awareness is the only awareness and as it bedevils his sense of reality, so that he is all too apt to take his concepts for data, his words for actual things.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Essayist, Short Story Writer, Satirist
Be content with what you are, and wish not change; nor dread your last day, nor long for it.
—Martial (40–104) Ancient Roman Latin Poet
No man ever understands quite his own artful dodges to escape from the grim shadow of self-knowledge.
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) Polish-born British Novelist
From now on, do whatsoever you want, but do it with awareness. Easy and natural are the keys. Don’t repress anything, be your own self.
—Sri Rajneesh (Osho) (1931–90) Indian Spiritual Teacher
How I relate to my inner self influences my relationships with all others. My satisfaction with myself and my satisfaction with other people are directly proportional.
—Sue Atchley Ebaugh
It’s okay if you mess up. You should give yourself a break.
—Billy Joel (b.1949) American Singer, Songwriter, Musician
The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
The worst loneliness is not to be comfortable with yourself.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
If you want to be respected by others the great thing is to respect yourself. Only by that, only by self-respect will you compel others to respect you.
—Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–81) Russian Novelist, Essayist, Writer
He knows the universe and does not know himself.
—Jean de La Fontaine (1621–95) French Poet, Short Story Writer
The secret of my success is that at an early age I discovered I was not God.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935) American Jurist, Author
What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.
—Abraham Maslow (1908–70) American Psychologist, Academic, Humanist
It’s important to realize that inquiry is about noticing, not about dropping the thought… Inquiry is not about getting rid of thoughts; it’s about realizing what’s true for you, through awareness and unconditional self-love. Once you see the truth, the thought lets go of you, not the other way around.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
You have to deal with the fact that your life is your life.
—Alex Haley (1921–92) American Novelist, Biographer
Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
Sometimes it is more important to discover what one cannot do, than what one can.
—Lin Yutang (1895–1976) Chinese Author, Philologist
Your problem is you’re … too busy holding onto your unworthiness.
—Ram Dass (1931–2019) American Hindu, New Age Pioneer
To see, to hear, means nothing. To recognize (or not to recognize) means everything. Between what I do recognize and what I do not recognize there stands myself. And what I do not recognize I shall continue not to recognize.
—Andre Breton (1896–1966) French Poet, Essayist, Critic
Let a man’s talents or virtues be what they may, he will only feel satisfaction in his society as he is satisfied in himself.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
We pay attention with respect and interest, not in order to manipulate, but to understand what is true. And seeing what is true, the heart becomes free.
—Jack Kornfield (b.1945) American Buddhist Teacher
America does to me what I knew it would do: it just bumps me. The people charge at you like trucks coming down on you—no awareness. But one tries to dodge aside in time. Bump! bump! go the trucks. And that is human contact.
—D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Essayist, Literary Critic
Man has to live with the body and soul which have fallen to him by chance.
—Jose Ortega y. Gasset (1883–1955) Spanish Critic, Journalist, Philosopher
Whatever task you undertake, do it with all your heart and soul. Always be courteous, never be discouraged. Beware of him who promises something for nothing. Do not blame anybody for your mistakes and failures. Do not look for approval except the consciousness of doing your best.
—Bernard M. Baruch (1870–1965) American Financier, Economic Consultant
During war times not only one should himself take part in it but also encourage the courageous to do so by creating awareness, zeal and enthusiasm for the war in the society.
—The Vedas Sacred Books of Hinduism
Doing one’s duty, however small, in an unattached manner gives rise to the awakening of self-awareness.
—Sathya Sai Baba (1926–2011) Indian Hindu Religious Leader
Open-mindedness should not be fostered because, as Scripture teaches, Truth is great and will prevail, nor because, as Milton suggests, Truth will always win in a free and open encounter. It should be fostered for its own sake.
—Richard Rorty (1931–2007) American Philosopher
I hope to work, support my children and die quietly without pain.
—Sean Connery (1930–2020) Scottish Actor, Film Producer
I care not so much what I am in the opinion of others as what I am in my own; I would be rich of myself and not by borrowing.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
Despair is the price one pays for setting oneself an impossible aim. It is, one is told, the unforgivable sin, but it is a sin the corrupt or evil man never practices. He always has hope. He never reaches the freezing-point of knowing absolute failure. Only the man of goodwill carries always in his heart this capacity for damnation.
—Graham Greene (1904–91) British Novelist, Playwright, Short Story Writer
Although it is difficult to pinpoint the physical base or location of awareness, it is perhaps the most precious thing concealed within our brains. And it is something that the individual alone can feel and experience. Each of us cherishes it highly, yet it is private
—The 14th Dalai Lama (b.1935) Tibetan Buddhist Religious Leader, Civil Rights Leader, Philosopher, Author
There is no disappointment we endure one-half so great as what we are to ourselves.
—Philip James Bailey (1816–1902) English Poet
Self-love is not opposed to the love of other people. You cannot really love yourself and do yourself a favor without doing other people a favor, and vice versa.
—Karl Menninger (1893–1990) American Psychiatrist
Somehow we learn who we really are and then live with that decision.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
Let us not look back to the past with anger, nor towards the future with fear, but look around with awareness
—James Thurber
Healthy personalities accept themselves not in any self-idolizing way, but in the sense that they see themselves as persons who are worth giving to another and worthy to receive from another.
—William Glasser (b.1925) American Psychiatrist, Writer
I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures, or has a will of the kind that we experience in ourselves. Neither can I nor would I want to conceive of an individual that survives his physical death; let feeble souls, from fear or absurd egoism, cherish such thoughts. I am satisfied with the mystery of the eternity of life and with the awareness and a glimpse of the marvelous structure of the existing world, together with the devoted striving to comprehend a portion, be it ever so tiny, of the Reason that manifests itself in nature.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
No one is expected to achieve the impossible.
—French Proverb
Be what you are and become what you are capable of becoming.
Take charge of your life – become the person you would like to be.
—Unknown
Life is a culmination of the past, an awareness of the present, an indication of a future beyond knowledge, the quality that gives a touch of divinity to matter.
—Charles Lindbergh (1902–74) American Aviator, Inventor, Conservationist
Those with the greatest awareness have the greatest nightmares.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
The happy man is he who knows his limitations, yet bows to no false gods.
—Robert W. Service (1874–1958) Scottish Poet, Author
No man can climb out beyond the limitations of his own character.
—John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn (1838–1923) British Political Leader, Writer, Editor, Journalist
At thirty a man should know himself like the palm of his hand, know the exact number of his defects and qualities … And above all, accept these things.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
We set up harsh and unkind rules against ourselves. No one is born without faults. That man is best who has fewest.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet