All men should strive to learn, before they die, what they are running from, and to, and why.
—James Thurber
The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself.
—Thales of Miletus (c.624–c.545 BCE) Greek Philosopher, Mathematician
The pious and just honoring of ourselves may be thought the fountainhead from whence every laudable and worthy enterprise issues forth.
—John Milton (1608–74) English Poet, Civil Servant, Scholar, Debater
Few men survey themselves with so much severity as not to admit prejudices in their own favor.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Where you’re from only matters in relation to where you are.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
Endurance is frequently a form of indecision.
—Elizabeth Bibesco (1897–1945) English Poet, Short Story Writer, Novelist
Self-pity is our worst enemy, and if we yield to it, we can never do anything wise in this world.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
The man that shows off, to that one who wants to convince of his value is to himself.
—Domenico Cieri (b.1954) Mexican Author, Aphorist
A man’s mind is the man himself.
—Latin Proverb
Self-approbation, when founded in truth and a good conscience, is a source of some of the purest joys known to man.
—Charles Simmons (1924–2017) American Editor, Novelist
He who falls in love with himself will have no rivals.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
If you don’t get lost, there’s a chance you may never be found.
—Unknown
Many a one cannot loosen his own fetters, but is nevertheless his friend’s emancipator.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
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
Why should we honor those that die upon the field of battle? A man may show as reckless a courage in entering into the abyss of himself.
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) Irish Poet, Dramatist
The difficult part in an argument is not to defend one’s opinion, but rather to know it.
—Andre Maurois (1885–1967) French Novelist, Biographer
Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves in order to be like other people.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
Leaving home in a sense involves a kind of second birth in which we give birth to ourselves.
—Robert Neelly Bellah (1927–2013) American Sociologist
There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.
—Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) South African Political leader
One of the very best of all earthly possessions is self-possession.
—George D. Prentice (1802–70) American Journalist, Editor
I… recommend to every one of my Readers, the keeping a Journal of their Lives for one Week, and setting down punctually their whole Series of Employments during that Space of Time. This kind of Self-Examination would give them a true State of themselves, and incline them to consider seriously what they are about. One Day would rectifie the Omissions of another, and make a Man weigh all those indifferent Actions, which, though they are easily forgotten, must certainly be accounted for.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
To be honest, to be kind-to earn a little and spend a little less, to make upon the whole a family happier for his presence, to renounce when that shall be necessary and not be embittered, to keep a few friends, but these without capitulation-above all, on the same grim condition, to keep friends with himself-here is a task for all that a man has of fortitude and delicacy.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
We must be our own before we can be another’s.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The outward man is the swinging door; the inner man is the still hinge.
—Meister Eckhart (c.1260–1327) German Christian Mystic
Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
You cannot fully understand your own life without knowing and thinking beyond your life, your own neighborhood, and even your own nation.
—Johnnetta B. Cole (b.1936) American Anthropologist, Educator
Present yourself always
As who you would be,
And that is the person
The world will see.
—Robert Brault
Life ceases to be a fraction and becomes an integer.
—Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878–1969) American Baptist Minister
If you love men and they are unfriendly, look into your love; if you rule men and they are unruly, look into your wisdom; if you are courteous to them and they do not respond, look into your courtesy. If what you do is vain, always seek within.
—Mencius (c.371–c.289 BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
He who gains a victory over other men is strong; but he who gains a victory over himself is all powerful.
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
Invest in yourself-if you have confidence in yourself.
—William Feather (1889–1981) American Publisher, Author
One’s only real life is the life one never leads.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Everyone gives himself credit for more brains than he has and less money.
—Italian Proverb
A man’s growth is seen in the successive choirs of his friends.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Up to a point a man’s life is shaped by environment, heredity, and the movements and changes in the world around him. Then there comes a time when it lies within his grasp to shape the clay of his life into the sort of thing he wishes to be. Only the weak blame parents, their race, their times, lack of good fortune, or the quirks of fate. Everyone has it within his power to say, ‘This I am today; that I will be tomorrow.’ The wish, however, must be implemented by deeds.
—Louis L’Amour (1908–88) American Novelist, Short-story Writer
Oh, wad some power the giftie gie us to see oursel’s as ithers see us.
—Robert Burns (1759–96) Scottish Poet, Songwriter
Self-destruction is the effect of cowardice in the highest extreme.
—Daniel Defoe (1659–1731) English Writer, Journalist, Pamphleteer
Every man is of importance to himself.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
We are all serving a self-sentence in the dungeon of self.
—Cyril Connolly (1903–74) British Literary Critic, Writer
Your soul is all that you possess. Take it in hand and make something of it.
—Martin H. Fischer
It takes courage to push yourself to places that you have never been before… to test your limits… to break through barriers. And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
—Anais Nin (1903–77) French-American Essayist
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
The West of which I speak is but another name for the Wild, and what I have been preparing to say is, that in Wildness is the preservation of the World.
This curious world we inhabit is more wonderful than convenient; more beautiful than useful; it is more to be admired and enjoyed than used.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Nor knowest thou what argument
Thy life to thy neighbor’s creed has lent.
All are needed by each one;
Nothing is fair or good alone.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
There is luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves, we feel no one else has a right to blame us.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
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
Bypasses are devices that allow some people to dash from point A to point B very fast while other people dash from point B to point A very fast. People living at point C, being a point directly in between, are often given to wonder what’s so great about point A that so many people from point B are so keen to get there and what’s so great about point B that so many people from point A are so keen to get there. They often wish that people would just once and for all work out where the hell they wanted to be.
—Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English Novelist, Scriptwriter
He that neither knows himself nor thinks he can learn of others is not fit for company.
—Benjamin Whichcote (1609–83) British Anglican Priest, Theologian, Philosopher
I met a lot of people in Europe. I even encountered myself.
—James Baldwin (1924–87) American Novelist, Social Critic
It is a puzzling thing. The truth knocks on the door and you say, “Go away, I’m looking for the truth,” and so it goes away. Puzzling.
—Robert M. Pirsig (b.1928) American Writer, Philosopher, Author