Identity may be termed as action which is conscious of itself.
—Jane Roberts (1929–84) American Poet, Spirit Medium
I shall write a book some day about the appropriateness of names. Geoffrey Chaucer has a ribald ring, as is proper and correct, and Alexander Pope was inevitably Alexander Pope. Colley Cibber was a silly little man without much elegance and Shelley was very Percy and very Bysshe.
—James Joyce (1882–1941) Irish Novelist, Poet
I want, by understanding myself, to understand others. I want to be all that I am capable of becoming.
—Katherine Mansfield (1888–1923) New Zealand-born British Author
A human being has so many skins inside, covering the depths of the heart. We know so many things, but we don’t know ourselves! Why, thirty or forty skins or hides, as thick and hard as an ox’s or bear’s, cover the soul. Go into your own ground and learn to know yourself there.
—Meister Eckhart (c.1260–1327) German Christian Mystic
Though I am grateful for the blessings of wealth, it hasn’t changed who I am. My feet are still on the ground. I’m just wearing better shoes.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
Labels are for filing. Labels are for clothing. Labels are not for people.
—Martina Navratilova (b.1956) Czech-born American Sportsperson
Man’s unique agony as a species consists in his perpetual conflict between the desire to stand out and the need to blend in.
—Sydney J. Harris (1917–86) American Essayist, Drama Critic
Without self knowledge, without understanding the working and functions of his machine, man cannot be free, he cannot govern himself and he will always remain a slave.
—Georges Gurdjieff (1877–1949) Armenian Spiritual Leader, Occultist
No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be true.
—Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–64) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
I am only an average man but, by George, I work harder at it than the average man.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Historian, Political Leader, Explorer
To grow wiser means to learn to know better and better the faults to which this instrument with which we feel and judge can be subject.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
It is, I fear, but a vain show of fulfilling the heathen precept, “Know thyself,” and too often leads to a self-estimate which will subsist in the absence of that fruit by which alone the quality of the tree is made evident.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
When you’re average, you’re just as close to the bottom as you are the top.
—Unknown
If you come to fame not understanding who you are, it will define who you are.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
Extreme busyness, whether at school or college, kirk or market, is a symptom of deficient vitality; and a faculty for idleness implies a catholic appetite and a strong sense of personal identity.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
Proper names are poetry in the raw. Like all poetry they are untranslatable.
—W. H. Auden (1907–73) British-born American Poet, Dramatist
God expects but one thing of you, and that is that you should come out of yourself in so far as you are a created being made and let God be God in you.
—Meister Eckhart (c.1260–1327) German Christian Mystic
I fear chiefly lest my expression may not be extravagant enough, may not wander far enough beyond the narrow limit of my daily experience, so as to be adequate to the truth of which I have been convinced. Extravagance! it depends on how you are yarded.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
It’s not what you are that holds you back, it’s what you think you’re not.
—Unknown
As you become more clear about who you really are, you will be better able to decide what is best for you, the first time round.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
At bottom every man knows well enough that he is a unique being, only once on this earth; and by no extraordinary chance will such a marvelously picturesque piece of diversity in unity as he is, ever be put together a second time.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
I think the issues of identity mostly are poppycock. We are what we have done, which includes our promises, includes our hopes, but promises first.
—Wendell Berry (b.1934) American Poet, Novelist, Environmentalist
We can only learn to know ourselves and do what we can—namely, surrender our will and fulfill God’s will in us.
—Teresa of Avila (1515–82) Spanish Carmelite Nun, Mystic
Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me.
—English Proverb
Only as you do know yourself can your brain serve you as a sharp and efficient tool. Know your failings, passions, and prejudices so you can separate them from what you see. Know also when you actually have thought through to the nature of the thing with which you are dealing and when you are not thinking at all.
—Bernard M. Baruch (1870–1965) American Financier, Economic Consultant
I’m carrying on a tradition. But I’d rather be a first-rate version of myself than a second-rate version of somebody else. I’m proud of my parents, and the only way that I can prove it to them is to take what they gave me and work my head off.
—Liza Minnelli (b.1946) American Singer, Actress
I love people. I love my family, my children… but inside myself is a place where I live all alone and that’s where you renew your springs that never dry up.
—Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) American Novelist, Human Rights Activist
Beware of no man more than of yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us.
—Charles Spurgeon (1834–92) English Baptist Preacher
I think a child should be allowed to take his father’s or mother’s name at will on coming of age. Paternity is a legal fiction.
—James Joyce (1882–1941) Irish Novelist, Poet
If your batting average is high enough, the Big League will find you.
—Unknown
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