Know Thyself
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Search others for their virtues, thyself for thy vices. -- Benjamin Franklin Our greatest pretenses are built up not to hide the evil and the ugly in us, but our emptiness. The hardest thing to hide is something that is not there. -- Eric Hoffer So long as you are praised think only that you are not yet on your own path but on that of another. -- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche I define comfort as
self-acceptance. When we finally learn that self-care begins and ends with
ourselves, we no longer demand sustenance and happiness from others. Look in the mirror. The face that pins you with its double gaze reveals a chastening secret. -- Diane Ackerman Every time you don't follow your inner guidance,you feel a loss of energy, loss of power a sense of spiritual deadness. -- Shakti Gawain The most important thing is to be whatever you are without shame. -- Rod Steiger You may be disappointed if
you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try. Blessed are they who heal you of self-despisings. Of all services which can be done to man, I know of none more precious. -- William Hale White The first principle is that you must not fool yourself -- and you are the easiest person to fool. -- Richard Feynman You are in control of your
life. Don't ever forget that. You are what you are because of Cherish your own emotions and never undervalue them. -- Robert Henri Each person's only hope for
improving his lot rests on recognizing the true nature of his or her basic
personality, surrendering to it, and becoming who he or she really is. What I am is good enough if I would only be it openly. -- Carl Rogers No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. -- Eleanor Roosevelt Let the world know you as you are, not as you think you should be. -- Fannie Brice Men and women are not
prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds. It is the habitual thought that frames itself into our life. It affects us even more than our intimate social relations do. Our confidential friends have not so much to do in shaping our lives as the thoughts which we harbor. -- J.W. Teal Kwitchyerbellyakin. -- Irish saying Take pride in how far you have come, have faith in how far you can go. -- Anonymous We know what we are, but know not what we may become. -- William Shakespeare You grow up the day you have your first real laugh - at yourself. -- Ethel Barrymore If you are all wrapped up in yourself, you are overdressed. -- Kate Halverson At some point your heart will tell itself what to do. -- Achaan Chah Be honorable with yourself
if you wish to associate with honorable people. Enlarge your consciousness. If your consciousness is small, you will experience smallness in every department of your life. -- Robert Pante We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are. -- Anais Nin The fool doth think he is
wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. -- Aristotle The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world, is to be in reality what we would appear to be. -- Socrates To thine own-self be true; Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look there. -- Marcus Aurelius It may be all right to be
content with what you have; never with what you are. Some say that my teaching
is nonsense. He that
respects himself is safe from others; Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, 'This is the real me,' and when you have found that attitude, follow it. -- William James Man is what he believes. -- Anton Chekhov Never think you're not good enough yourself. A man should never think that. People will take you very much at your own reckoning. -- Anthony Trollope I thank God for my handicaps, for through them, I have found myself, my work and my God. -- Helen Keller Everyone should carefully observe which way his heart draws him, and then choose that way with all his strength. -- Hasidic Saying Everything that irritates
us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves. The only tyrant I accept in this world is the still voice within. -- Mahatma Gandhi When we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves. -- Confucius No bird soars too high, if he soars on his own wings. -- William Blake The more things a man is
ashamed of, the more respectable he is. No one can give you better advice than yourself. -- Cicero The most common sort of lie is the one uttered to one's self. -- Nietzsche An old
man sat outside the walls of a great city. Knowing
others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. If you have a skeleton in your closet, take it out and dance
with it. People often say that this or that person has not yet found him or herself. But the self is not something that one finds. It is something one creates. -- Thomas Szasz There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self. -- Aldous Huxley I am always ready to learn,
although I do not always like being taught. 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. -- St. Augustine No one can be caught in places he doesn't visit. ---Danish Proverb People seem not
to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character. He knew that insofar as one denies what is, one is possessed by what is not, the compulsions, the fantasies, the terrors that flock to fill the void. -- Ursula K. LeGuin, The Lathe of Heaven I would rather be the man
who bought the Brooklyn Bridge than the one who sold it. Don't compromise yourself. You're all you've got. -- Betty Ford Do you see the world as it is, or do you see the world as you are? -- anonymous Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him -- Bible, Proverbs 26:12 The temptation to moralize
is strong; it is emotionally satisfying to have enemies rather than problems,
to seek out culprits rather than the flaws in the system. God knows it is
emotionally satisfying to be righteous with that righteousness that nourishes
itself on the blood of sinners. Work like you don't need
the money. The graveyards are full of indispensable men. -- Charles De Gaulle Love not what you are, but what you may become. -- Cervantes Do not attempt to do a thing unless you are sure of yourself; but do not relinquish it simply because someone else is not sure of you. -- Stewart E. White The way life treats you is
a merciless mirror image of your attitude toward life. They all laughed. I drew their pictures and they asked for copies and I handed them out as if they were my tickets to the show. In the Navy Yard, I could drink with men because I worked with men; in the Parkview, I could drink with men because I drew their pictures. The world was a grand confusion. Finally, when I was bleary, when my hand wouldn't do what I wanted it to do, I went home. I would lie alone in the dark, feeling that I was a character in a story that had lost its plot. -- Pete Hamill, A Drinking Life They are as stubble before
the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away. Maturity begins to grow when you can sense your conern for others outweighing your concern for yourself. -- John MacNaughton If you want to test your memory try to remember what you were worrying about a year ago today. -- E. Joseph Cossman A man's greatest strength develops at the point where he overcomes his greatest weakness. -- Elmer G. Letterman Be not merely good; be good for something. -- Henry David Thoreau We can never be certain of
our courage till we have faced danger. Freedom from desire leads to inner peace. -- Lao-Tzu As long as you think you're green, you'll grow. As soon as you think you're ripe, you'll rot. -- Scott Horton (courtesy of Nicole Smith.) Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide. -- James Russell Lowell The largest room in the world is the room for improvement. -- Anonymous More people
would learn from their mistakes if they weren't so busy denying them. Signs of
Emotional Security HOW TO BE
PERFECTLY MISERABLE. And a hymn for
Easter, a celebration of mankind's redemption from selfishness. Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it can be recalled and, perhaps, remedied. -- Pearl Buck There is no
satisfaction that can compare with looking back across the years and finding
you've grown in self-control, judgment, generosity, and unselfishness. I prefer tongue-tied knowledge to ignorant loquacity. -- Cicero, De Oratore The goal in
life is to die young -- as late as possible. Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing. -- Werner von Braun You will find poetry nowhere unless you bring some with you. -- Joseph Joubert When you are looking in the mirror, you are looking at the problem. But, remember, you are also looking at the solution. -- Anonymous God holds each of us by a string. When we sin, we cut the string. But God ties it up again, making a knot. Each time our wrongdoing cuts the string, God ties another knot drawing us up closer to Him. -- Meister Eckhart Think. Believe.
Dream. Dare. Still I am learning. -- Michelangelo, on his death bed I am obliged to
exercise unlimited forgiveness because, if I did not forgive, I should thus
act as if I were not guilty in the same way as the other has been guilty with
regard to me. I must forgive the lovelessness, the hatred, the slander, the fraud, the arrogance which I encounter, since I myself have so often lacked love, hated, slandered, defrauded, and been arrogant. I must forgive without noise or
fuss. He that is good
for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. Love work. The accusations really say more about the condition of the accusers than that of the accused. -- Roderick MacLeish Take time to
laugh. Those who can't laugh at themselves leave the job to others. -- Anonymous No conflict is so severe as his who labors to subdue himself. -- Thomas A. Kempis It is what it is. -- Tony Sasso, Marblehead Town Adminstrator You grieve you
learn The remarkable thing is that we really do love our neighbors as ourselves; we do unto others as we do unto ourselves. We hate others when we hate oursleves. We are tolerant toward others when we tolerate ourselves. We forgive others when we forgive ourselves. It is not love of self but hatred of self which is at the root of the troubles that afflict our world. -- Eric Hoffer: U.S. Writer Most of the
shadows of life are caused by standing in our own sunshine. If you live only for yourself you always in immediate danger of being bored to death with the repetition of your own views and interests. -- Walter Beran Wolfe He who believes
in nobody knows that he himself is not to be trusted. The mind may wander, but let not the senses wander with it. If the senses wander where the mind takes them, one is done for. -- Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma) Gandhi
Note: I borrowed this collection so that it might have a more permanent home, close to my heart. It was originally hosted here. |