Originality exists in every individual because each of us differs from the others. We are all primary numbers divisible only by ourselves.
—Jean Guitton (1901–99) French Catholic Philosopher, Theologian
One cannot spend forever sitting and solving the mysteries of one’s history.
—Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler) (b.1970) American Author, Children’s Books
Our own self-love draws a thick veil between us and our faults.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
Each had his past shut in him like the leaves of a book known to him by heart; and his friends could only read the title, James Spalding, or Charles Budgeon, and the passengers going the opposite way could read nothing at all—save “a man with a red moustache,” “a young man in gray smoking a pipe.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) English Novelist
I say me, knowing all the while it’s not me.
—Samuel Beckett (1906–1989) Irish Novelist, Playwright
Confusion now hath made his masterpiece.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
We have five senses in which we glory and which we recognize and celebrate, senses that constitute the sensible world for us. But there are other senses – secret senses, sixth senses, if you will – equally vital, but unrecognized, and unlauded.
—Oliver Sacks (1933–2015) Anglo-American Neurologist, Writer
One’s only real life is the life one never leads.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Think positively about yourself…. ask God who made you to keep on remaking you.
—Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American Clergyman, Self-Help Author
One of the very best of all earthly possessions is self-possession.
—George D. Prentice (1802–70) American Journalist, Editor, Poet
Do what you must,
And your friends will adjust.
—Robert Brault
There are… things which a man is afraid to tell even to himself, and every decent man has a number of such things stored away in his mind.
—Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–81) Russian Novelist, Essayist, Writer
We can secure other people’s approval if we do right and try hard; but our own is worth a hundred of it, and no way has been found out of securing that.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
If you resist reading what you disagree with, how will you ever acquire deeper insights into what you believe? The things most worth reading are precisely those that challenge our convictions.
—Unknown
We are more easily persuaded, in general, by the reasons we ourselves discover than by those which are given to us by others.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
There is a great deal of unmapped country within us which would have to be taken into account in an explanation of our gusts and storms.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
Nobody, but nobody, is going to tell me I’m not the most. I am. I was the most when everybody else was struggling bitterly to become a little.
—William Saroyan (1908–81) American Playwright, Novelist
A man has to live with himself, and he should see to it that he always has good company.
—Charles Evans Hughes (1862–1948) American Judge, Lawyer, Politician
Men who know themselves are no longer fools; they stand on the threshold of the Door of Wisdom.
—Havelock Ellis (1859–1939) British Essayist, Physician
Civilization is the progress of a society towards privacy. The savage’s whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men.
—Ayn Rand (1905–82) Russian-born American Novelist, Philosopher
People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering.
—Augustine of Hippo (354–430) Roman-African Christian Philosopher
One’s own self is well hidden from one’s own self; of all mines of treasure, one’s own is the last to be dug up.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
He who falls in love with himself will have no rivals.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
He who asks of life nothing but the improvement of his own nature is less liable than anyone else to miss and waste life.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
It is better to rely on yourself than on your friends.
—William Feather (1889–1981) American Publisher, Author
A wise man never loses anything if he have himself.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be.
—Jane Austen (1775–1817) English Novelist
The great thing in the world is to know how to be sufficient unto oneself.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
I can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life. The problem is that I can’t find anybody who can tell me what they want.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
The finest thing in the world is knowing how to belong to oneself.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
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