It is doubtless a vice to turn one’s eyes inward too much, but I am my own comedy and tragedy.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
A man who knows he is a fool is not a great fool.
—Zhuang Zhou (c.369–c.286 BCE) Chinese Taoist Philosopher
No sooner is it a little calmer with me than it is almost too calm, as though I have the true feeling of myself only when I am unbearably unhappy.
—Franz Kafka (1883–1924) Austrian Novelist, Short Story Writer
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
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
A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900–44) French Novelist, Aviator
Sometimes it is more important to discover what one cannot do, than what one can.
—Lin Yutang (1895–1976) Chinese Author, Philologist
Self knowers always dwell in El Dorado; they drink from the fountain of youth, and at all times owners of all they wish to enjoy.
—Claude M. Bristol (1891–1951) American Journalist, Self-Help Author
‘Tis not need we know our every thought or see the work shop where each mask is wrought wherefrom we view the world of box and pit, careless of wear, just so the mask shall fit and serve our jape’s turn for a night or two.
—Ezra Pound (1885-1972) American Poet, Translator, Critic
Man, know thyself; all wisdom centres there.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
It’s not only the most difficult thing to know one’s self, but the most inconvenient.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (1818–85) American Humorist, Author, Lecturer
The first step to improvement, whether mental, moral, or religious, is to know ourselves—our weakness, errors, deficiencies, and sins, that, by divine grace, we may overcome and turn from them all.
—Tryon Edwards American Theologian
He who seeks to approach his own buried past must conduct himself like a man digging. He must not be afraid to return again and again to the same matter; to scatter it as one scatters earth, to turn it over as one turns over soil. For the matter itself is only a deposit, a stratum, which yields only to the most meticulous examination what constitutes the real treasure hidden within the earth: the images, severed from all earlier associations, that stand—like precious fragments or torsos in a collector’s gallery—in the prosaic rooms of our later understanding.
—Walter Benjamin
Ninety per cent of the world’s woe comes from people not knowing themselves, their abilities, their frailties, and even their real virtues. Most of us go almost all the way through life as complete strangers to ourselves—so how can we know anyone else?
—Sydney J. Harris (1917–86) American Essayist, Drama Critic
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
There’s a period of life when we swallow a knowledge of ourselves and it becomes either good or sour inside.
—Pearl Bailey (1918–1990) American Jazz Singer, Actress, Writer
There is no disappointment we endure one-half so great as what we are to ourselves.
—Philip James Bailey (1816–1902) English Poet
Before a man can wake up and find himself famous he has to wake up and find himself.
—Unknown
The height of all philosophy is to know thyself; and the end of this knowledge is to know God. Know thyself, that thou mayest know God; and know God, that thou mayest love him and be like him. In the one thou art initiated into wisdom; and in the other perfected in it.
—Francis Quarles (1592–1644) English Religious Poet
Other men’s sins are before our eyes; our own are behind our backs.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
I know myself, but that is all.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American Novelist
Explore thyself. Herein are demanded the eye and the nerve.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Self-knowledge is the beginning of self-improvement.
—Spanish Proverb
Sum up at night what thou hast done by day, and in the morning what thou hast to do.—Dress and undress thy soul; mark the decay and growth of it.—If with thy watch, that too be down, then wind up both; since we shall be most surely judged, make thine accounts agree.
—George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh Anglican Poet, Orator, Clergyman
I think knowing what you cannot do is more important than knowing what you can do. In fact, that’s good taste.
—Lucille Ball (1911–89) American Actor, Comedian, Model
Man can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as… from a lack of bread.
—Richard Wright (1908–1960) American Novelist, Short-Story Writer
I know myself, but that is all.
—Unknown
Learn what you are and be such.
—Pindar (c.518–c.438 BCE) Greek Lyric Poet
In other living creatures the ignorance of themselves is nature, but in men it is a vice.
—Boethius (c.480–524 CE) Roman Statesman, Philosopher
He who comes up to his own idea of greatness, must always have had a very low standard of it in his mind.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
The one self-knowledge worth having is to know one’s own mind.
—F. H. Bradley (1846–1924 ) British Idealist Philosopher
One secures the gold of the spirit when he finds himself.
—Claude M. Bristol (1891–1951) American Journalist, Self-Help Author
A humble knowledge of oneself is a surer road to God than a deep searching of the sciences.
—Thomas a Kempis (1379–1471) German Religious Priest, Writer
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
We succeed in enterprises which demand the positive qualities we possess, but we excel in those which can also make use of our defects.
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–59) French Historian, Political Scientist
To reach perfection, we must be made sensible of our failings, either by the admonitions of friends, or the invectives of enemies.
—Diogenes Laertius (f.3rd Century CE) Biographer of the Greek Philosophers
Know then thyself, presume not God to scan,
The proper study of Mankind is Man.
Placed on this isthmus of a middle state,
A being darkly wise and rudely great.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
Rebellion against your handicaps gets you nowhere. Self-pity gets you nowhere. One must have the adventurous daring to accept oneself as a bundle of possibilities and undertake the most interesting game in the world—making the most of one’s best.
—Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878–1969) American Baptist Minister
He that knows himself, knows others; and he that is ignorant of himself, could not write a very profound lecture on other men’s heads.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
Many people today don’t want honest answers insofar as honest means unpleasant or disturbing. They want a soft answer that turneth away anxiety.
—Louis Kronenberger (1904–80) American Drama, Literary Critic
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 those that ever loved or hated you.
—Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) Swiss Theologian, Poet
He knows the universe and does not know himself.
—Jean de La Fontaine (1621–95) French Poet, Short Story Writer
No man ever made an ill figure who understood his own talents, nor a good one, who mistook them.
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Irish Satirist
He that would govern others, first should be the master of himself, richly endued with depth of understanding and height of knowledge.
—Philip Massinger (1583–1640) English Playwright
No one who has not a complete knowledge of himself will ever have a true understanding of another.
—Novalis (1772–1801) German Romantic Poet, Novelist
The happy man is he who knows his limitations, yet bows to no false gods.
—Robert W. Service (1874–1958) Scottish Poet, Author
Millions of individuals making their own decisions
in the marketplace will always allocate resources
better than any centralized government planning process.
—Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American Head of State
It is part of our pedagogy to teach the operations of thinking, feeling, and willing so that they may be made conscious. For if we do not know the difference between an emotion and a thought, we will know very little. We need to understand the components (of emotions) at work… in order to free their hold.
—M. C. Richards (1916–99) American Poet, Potter, Writer
There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one’s self.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Trust not yourself, but your defects to know. Make use of every friend and every foe.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet