Self-words quotes and aphorisms, quotations, ideas and thoughts, by famous writers and authors, from Self-Acceptance to Self-Interest
I don’t care so much what I am to others as I care what I am to myself.
Michel de Montaigne
There is nothing outside of yourself that can ever enable you to get better, stronger, richer, quicker, or smarter. Everything is within. Everything exists. Seek nothing outside of yourself.
Miyamoto Musashi The Book of Five Rings
Some very important key words for the growth of the human being. First golden rule: you must learn from experience, in general! Then you must always rely on: self-control; politeness; hard-working; self-conscience; self-assessment; self-critical; self-management; self-autonomy; self-determination; self-esteem; self-government; self-independence; self-esteem; self-respect; cooperation; empathy, self-motivation; self-confidence; self-love; pluralism; reciprocity; tolerance; learning to learn; permanent education; rules; law; perseverance; responsibility; pragmatism; honesty; self-sacrifice; self-discipline; and last but not least, a bit of luck!
Our entire life… consists ultimately in accepting ourselves as we are.
Jean Anouilh (1910-1987, French playwright)
Learn to… be what you are, and learn to resign with a good grace all that you are not.
Henri Frederic Amiel (1821-1881, Swiss philosopher, poet, critic)
Accept the place the divine providence has found for you.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882, American poet, essayist)
Those people who are uncomfortable in themselves are disagreeable to others.
William Hazlitt (1778-1830, British essayist)
The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely.
Carl Jung (1875-1961, Swiss psychiatrist)
Now is the time when your action is practice.
The Dalai Lama
Only by giving, only by serving, only by doing, do we really do something for ourselves.
James W. Frick
Our greatest joy and satisfaction comes from the act of giving.
Leo Buscaglia (1924-1998, American expert on love, lecturer, author)
Only those who have nothing in them have nothing to give.
Douglas G. Franklin
Men do less than they ought, unless they do all they can.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881, Scottish philosopher, author)
SELF-APPRAISAL
Idiots and lunatics see only their own wit.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680, French classical writer)
Never let your failures go to your heart or your successes go to your head.
Author Unknown
Self-praise is for losers. Be a winner. Stand for something. Always have class, and be humble.
John Madden (1936-, American football coach)
SELF-APPRECIATION
To accept ourselves as we are means to value our imperfections as much as our perfections.
Sandra Bierig
I am somebody. I am me. I like being me. And I need nobody to make me somebody.
Louis L’Amour (1908-1988, American Western author)
SELF-APPROVAL
What do we call love, hate, charity, revenge, humanity, forgiveness? Different results of the master impulse, the necessity of securing one’s self-approval.
Mark Twain (1835-1910, American humorist, writer)
I’m not trying to prove anybody wrong, I’m just trying to prove something to myself.
Mike Piazza
SELF-AWARENESS
My mind is my biggest asset.
Tiger Woods (1975-, American golfer)
Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself the following question: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
Marcus Aurelius
Self-awareness gives you the capacity to learn from your mistakes as well as your successes. It enables you to keep growing.
Lawrence Bossidy
Wisdom tends to grow in proportion to one’s awareness of one’s ignorance.”
Anthony de Mello
Self awareness is the ability to take an honest look at your life without any attachment to it being right or wrong, good or bad.
Debbie Ford
I think self-awareness is probably the most important thing towards becoming a champion.
Billie Jean King (1943-, American tennis player)
The unexamined life is not worth living.
Socrates
Explore thyself. Herein are demanded the eye and the nerve.
Henry David Thoreau
Without self-awareness we are as babies in the cradles.
Virginia Woolf
Keep taking time for yourself until you are you again.
Lalah Delia
You can’t always control what goes on outside. But you can always control what goes on inside.
Wayne Dyer
You have your own life, why waste it on focusing on others.
Nitin Namdeo
When you focus on yourself and love yourself, some relationships have to go.
Adrian Michael
Be you, love you. All ways, always.
Alexandra Elle
I feel the capacity to care is the thing which gives life its deepest significance.
Pablo Casals
Care is a state in which something does matter; it is the source of human tenderness.
Rollo May
Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin, as self-neglecting.
William Shakespeare
If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.
Jack Kornfield
SELF-CONCEPT
The term self-concept is a general term used to refer to how someone thinks about, evaluates or perceives themselves. To be aware of oneself is to have a concept of oneself.
Creativity means believing you have greatness.
Wayne Dyer (1940-, American psychotherapist, author, lecturer)
The confidence we have in ourselves arises in a great measure from that which we have in others.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680, French classical writer)
One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.
Arthur Ashe (1943-1993, African-American tennis player)
Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.
Madame Marie Curie (1867-1934, Polish-born French physicist)
SELF-CONFLICT
Whatever you condemn, you have done yourself.
Georg Groddeck
It’s surprising how many persons go through life without ever recognizing that their feelings toward other people are largely determined by their feelings toward themselves, and if you’re not comfortable within yourself, you can’t be comfortable with others.
Sidney J. Harris (1917-, American journalist)
It isn’t the things that happen to us, it’s the things we think are going to happen to us that drive us almost crazy.
Kathleen Norris (1880-1966, American novelist)
A Native American elder once described his own inner struggles in this manner: Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time. When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, The one I feed the most. On Other Peoples Expectations: The only man who behaved sensibly was my tailor; he took my measurement anew every time he saw me, while all the rest went on with their old measurements and expected them to fit me.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950, Irish-born British dramatist)
SELF-CONSTRAINT
Don’t be curious of matters that don’t concern you; never speak of them, and don’t ask about them.
St. Teresa of Avila
Everybody’s business is nobody’s business, and nobody’s business is my business.
Clara Barton (1821-1912, American humanitarian)
I listen and give input only if somebody asks.
Barbara Bush (1925-, American First Lady, wife of George H. Bush)
Too often in ironing out trouble someone gets scorched.
Marcelene Cox (American writer)
When you borrow trouble you give your peace of mind as security.
Myrtle Reed
A little kingdom I possess, where thoughts and feelings dwell; And very hard the task I find of governing it well.
Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888, American author)
If a man doesn’t delight in himself and the force in him and feel that he and it are wonders, how is all life to become important to him?
Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941 American writer)
I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.
Aristotle (BC 384-322, Greek philosopher)
Prudent, cautious self-control, is wisdom’s root.
Robert Burns (1759-1796, Scottish poet)
I never prod my nose into other man’s porridge.
Miguel De Cervantes (1547-1616, Spanish novelist, dramatist, poet)
He who conquers himself is the mightiest warrior.
Confucius (BC 551-479, Chinese ethical teacher, philosopher)
The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts.
Charles Darwin (1809-1882, British naturalist)
Not to have control over the senses is like sailing in a rudderless ship, bound to break to pieces on coming in contact with the very first rock.
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948, Indian political, spiritual leader)
We improve ourselves by victories over ourselves. There must be contest, and we must win.
Edward Gibbon (1737-1794, British historian)
It is as proper to have pride in oneself as it is ridiculous to show it to others.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680, French classical writer)
He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still.
Lao-Tzu (BC 600-?, Chinese philosopher, founder of Taoism)
He that would govern others, first should be the master of himself.
Philip Massinger (1583-1640, British dramatist)
He who cannot obey himself will be commanded. That is the nature of living creatures.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900, German philosopher)
The first and best victory is to conquer self. To be conquered by self is, of all things, the most shameful and objectionable.
Plato (BC 427?-347?, Greek philosopher)
To enjoy freedom we have to control ourselves.
Virginia Woolf (1882-1941, British novelist, essayist)
You can also read this article about The Importance of self-control
SELF-DELUSION
Don’t let self-doubt hold you back!
Author Unknown
Don’t mistake chicken dung for an egg.
American Proverb (Sayings of American origin)
The visionary lies to himself, the liar only to others.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900, German philosopher)
The worst thing you can do is start slow, or con yourself into thinking that you can take your time getting into a match. The curtain is up so you’ve got to perform.
Jack Kramer (1918-, American basketball player)
I suppose I have a highly developed capacity for self-delusion, so it’s no problem for me to believe that I’m somebody else.
Daniel Day-Lewis (1958-, British-born American actor)
SELF-DENIAL
Self-denial is painful for a moment, but very agreeable in the end.
Jane Taylor
Few men make themselves masters of the things they write or speak.
John Selden (1584-1654, British jurist, statesman)
Self-denial is not a virtue, it is only the effect of prudence on rascality.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950, Irish-born British dramatist)
Self-denial is indispensable to a strong character, and the highest kind comes from a religious stock.
Theodore Parker (1810-1860, American minister)
The same people who can deny others everything are famous for refusing themselves nothing.
Leigh Hunt (1784-1859, British poet, essayist)
Every extreme attitude is a fight from the self.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983, American author, philosopher)
SELF-DETERMINATION
It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action, and discipline that enabled us to follow through.
Zig Ziglar (1926-, American sales trainer, author, motivational speaker)
I will always stay hungry, never satisfied with current accomplishments.
Arnold Schwarzenegger (1947-, Austrian-born American actor, author, director, restaurateur)
My will shall shape my future. Whether I fail or succeed shall be no man’s doing but my own. I am the force; I can clear any obstacle before me, or I can be lost in a maze. My choice, my responsibility, win or lose, only I hold the key to my destiny.
Elaine Maxwell
Doing your best is more important than being the best.
Author Unknown
A mind which really lays hold of a subject is not easily detached from it.
Ida Tarbell
If someone transports dung and does not eat it, it should not be concluded that he is an honest person.
Taiwanese Proverb
If you can command yourself, you can command the world.
Chinese Proverb (Sayings of Chinese origin)
If you are willing to discipline yourself, the physical universe won’t need to discipline you.
Leonard Orr
Not being able to govern events, I govern myself, and apply myself to them if they will not apply themselves to me.
Michel Eyquem De Montaigne (1533-1592, French philosopher, essayist)
He who conquers others is strong. He who conquers himself is mighty.
Lao-Tzu (BC 600-?, Chinese philosopher, founder of Taoism)
Being professional in whatever you do is important. Talent alone is not enough.
Kathy Ireland (1963-, American model)
Self discipline is when your conscience tells you to do something and you don’t talk back.
W. K. Hope
You must have discipline to have fun.
Julia Child (1912-2004, American gourmet cook, author, and television personality)
SELF-DISCORVERY
No one is more interesting to anybody than is that mysterious character we all call me, which is why self-liberation, self-actualization, self-transcendence, etc., are the most exciting games in town.
Robert Wilson (1941-, American theater director, designer)
When we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow bring out the best in ourselves.
William A. Ward
We discover in ourselves what others hide from us, and we recognize in others what we hide from ourselves.
Luc de Clapiers de Vauvenargues
Some people say they haven’t yet found themselves. But the self is not something one finds; it is something one creates.
Thomas Szasz (1920-, American psychiatrist)
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 themselves by without wondering.
St. Augustine (354-430, Numidian-born bishop of Hippo, theologian)
Lose yourself wholly; and the more you lose, the more you will find.
St. Catherine of Siena
I think somehow we learn who we really are and then we live with that decision.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962, American First Lady, columnist, lecturer, humanitarian)
Everything changes when you change.
Jim Rohn (American businessman, author, speaker, philosopher)
The person who God shows a treasure to must dig it out himself.
Czechoslovakian Proverb (Sayings of Czech origin)
One must know oneself. If this does not serve to discover truth, it at least serves as a rule of life and there is nothing better.
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662, French scientist, religious philosopher)
No thinker’s thoughts give me as much pleasure as my own. Of course, this does not prove anything in their favor; but on the other hand, I would be foolish to neglect fruits that are tasteful just because they grow on my own tree.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900, German philosopher)
No one has ever learned fully to know themselves.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832, German poet, dramatist, novelist)
Look into the depths of your own soul and learn first to know yourself, then you will understand why this illness was bound to come upon you and perhaps you will thenceforth avoid falling ill.
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939, Austrian physician, founder of Psychoanalysis)
Who in the world am I? Ah, that’s the great puzzle.
Lewis Carroll (1832-1898, British writer, mathematician)
Let’s dare to be ourselves, for we do that better than anyone else.
Shirley Briggs
SELF-DOUBT
Our self-conceit sustains, and always must sustain us.
Samuel Butler (1612-1680, British poet, satirist)
People think of education as something that they can finish.
Isaac Asimov
School can provide you an education and university can give you a culture, but self-knowledge and self-learning can help you to make a fortune.
Carl William Brown
Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is. The only function of a school is to make self-education easier; failing that, it does nothing.
Isaac Asimov
The first thing a student should understand to have success is that of becoming a self-taught man.
Carl William Brown
Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.
Robert Frost
SELF-ESTEEM
SELF-ESTEEM controls PERFORMANCE/REALITY which stimulate SELF-TALK which reinforces SELF-ESTEEM. This cycle can work positively or negatively and is greatly influenced by the self-talk. (I knew I wasn’t good at…, next time I’ll practice and do better!
Author Unknown
All the extraordinary men I have known were extraordinary in their own estimation.
Woodrow T. Wilson (1856-1924, American President (28th))
Blessed are they who heal us of self-despising. Of all services which can be done to man, I know of none more precious.
William Hale White
You can do it if you put your mind to it.
Author Unknown
Think highly of yourself, for the world takes you at your own estimate.
Author Unknown
He that undervalues himself will undervalue others, and He that undervalues others will oppress them.
Author Unknown
Every human being, of whatever origin, of whatever station, deserves respect. We must each respect others even as we respect ourselves.
U. Thant (1909-1974, Burmese diplomat)
He who despises himself nevertheless esteems himself as a self-despiser.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900, German philosopher)
Until you make peace with who you are, you’ll never be content with what you have.
Doris Mortman
Nothing profits more than self-esteem, grounded on what is just and right.
John Milton (1608-1674, British poet)
Low self-esteem is like driving through life with your hand-break on.
Maxwell Maltz (1944-, Canadian-born American plastic surgeon, author of “Psycho-Cybernetics”)
We are valued in this world at the rate we desire to be valued.
Jean De La Bruyere (1645-1696, French classical writer)
A person’s worth in this world is estimated according to the value they put on themselves.
Jean De La Bruyere (1645-1696, French classical writer)
That kind of life is most happy which affords us most opportunities of gaining our own esteem.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784, British author)
Self-esteem soars in direct proportion to our forgetting the “self” part.
Lady Eileen Hartley-Wigginton
The most silent people are generally those who think most highly of themselves.
William Hazlitt (1778-1830, British essayist)
Respect yourself if you would have others respect you.
Baltasar Gracian (1601-1658, Spanish philosopher, writer)
A person places themselves on a level with the ones they praise.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832, German poet, dramatist, novelist)
A man who has been the indisputable favorite of his mother keeps for life the feeling of a conqueror.
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939, Austrian physician, founder of Psychoanalysis)
It is easy to live for others, everybody does. I call on you to live for yourselves.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882, American poet, essayist)
Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolized.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955, German-born American physicist)
Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.
Buddha (568-488 BC, Indian born, founder of Buddhism)
To preserve an unclouded capacity for the enjoyment of life is an unusual moral and psychological achievement. Contrary to popular belief, it is not the prerogative of mindlessness, but the exact opposite: it is the reward of self-esteem.
Nathaniel Branden (1930- Canadian-born American psychologist, author, expert on self-esteem)
Our value is the sum of our values.
Joe Batten
Study to be what you wish to seem.
John Bate
SELF-EVIDENT
By the time a partnership dissolves, it has dissolved.
John Updike (1932-, American novelist, critic)
SELF-EXAMINATION
Nothing will make us so charitable and tender to the faults of others, as, by self-examination, thoroughly to know our own.
Francois de Salignac Fenelon (1651-1715, French writer)
SELF-EXPRESSION
Creation is a better means of self-expression than possession. Iit is through creating, not possessing, that life is revealed.
Vida D. Scudder
Though reading and conversation may furnish us with many ideas of men and things, our own meditation must form our judgement.
Isaac Watts (1674-1748, British hymn-writer)
Once a person says, “This is who I really am, what I am all about, what I was really meant to do,” it is easier to decide how to spend one’s time.
David Viscott (1938-, American author, speaker, trainer)
Continue to be yourself, because in the end that’s what people will remember about you
Author Unknown
My interest lies in my self-expression – what’s inside of me – not what I’m in.
John Turturro (1957-, American actor, director, screenwriter)
Do you want to be power in the world? Then be yourself.
Ralph Waldo Trine (1866-1945, American author)
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 (1817-1862, American essayist, poet, naturalist)
I am simple, complex, generous, selfish, unattractive, beautiful, lazy, and driven.
Barbara Streisand (1942-, American singer, actress, director)
We have to take the whole universe as the expression of the one Self. Then only our love flows to all beings and creatures in the world equally.
Swami Ramdas
He who has no opinion of his own, but depends upon the opinion and taste of others, is a slave.
Friedrich Klopstock
Be yourself and think for yourself; and while your conclusions may not be infallible, they will be nearer right than the conclusions forced upon you.
Elbert Hubbard (1859-1915, American author, publisher)
Self-observation brings man to the realization of the necessity of self-change. And in observing himself a man notices that self-observation itself brings about certain changes in his inner processes. He begins to understand that self-observation is an in
George Gurdjieff (1873-1949, Russian adept, teacher, writer)
Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life’s cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another you have only an extemporaneous half possession.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882, American poet, essayist)
By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote. In fact, it is as difficult to appropriate the thoughts of others as it is to invent.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882, American poet, essayist)
The efficient man is the man who thinks for himself.
Charles W. Eliot
One of the best things to do sometimes is simply to be.
Eric Butterworth
A man’s true state of power and riches is to be in himself.
Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887, American preacher, orator, writer)
Our lives preserved. How it was; and how it will be. Passing it along in the relay. That is what I work to do: to produce stories that save our lives.
Toni Cade Bambara (1959-, American writer)
A person who can write a long letter with ease, cannot write ill.
Jane Austen (1775-1817, British novelist)
A voice is a human gift; it should be cherished and used, to utter as fully human speech as possible. Powerlessness and silence go together.
Margaret Atwood (1939-, Canadian novelist, poet, critic)
SELF-FLATTERY
If we never flattered ourselves, we should have but insufficient pleasure.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680, French classical writer)
Self-help is the best help.
American Proverb (Sayings of American origin)
Help yourself, and Heaven will help you.
Jean Fontaine
The codfish lays ten thousand eggs. The homely hen lays one. Codfish never cackles to tell you what she has done. And so we scorn the codfish, while the humble hen we prize, which only goes to show you that it pays to advertise!
Anonymous
Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.
Bruce Lee
I’m totally into new age and self-help books. I used to work in a bookstore and that’s the section they gave me, and I got way into it. I just loved the power of positive thinking, letting yourself go.
Jason Mraz
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.
Ernest Hemingway
Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.
George Bernard Shaw
Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.
Jim Rohn
Ultimately the greatest help is self-help.
Bruce Lee
You can’t be happy unless you’re unhappy sometimes.
Lauren Oliver
SELF-IMAGE
It is curious how instinctively one protects the image of oneself from idolatry or any other handling that could make it ridiculous, or too unlike the original to be believed any longer.
Virginia Woolf (1882-1941, British novelist, essayist)
Relentless, repetitive self-talk is what changes our self-image.
Denis Waitley (1933-, American author, speaker, trainer, peak performance expert)
I think I am one of those who can manage not to take on a completely different appearance under their own glance.
Jean Rostand (1894-1977, French biologist, writer)
As you see yourself, I once saw myself; as you see me now, you will be seen.
Mexican Proverb (Sayings of Mexican origin)
It is necessary for me to establish a winner image. Therefore, I have to beat somebody.
Richard M. Nixon (1913-1994, American President (37th))
Just because you made a mistake doesn’t mean you are a mistake.
Georgette Mosbacher
Neither man nor woman can be worth anything until they have discovered that they are fools. This is the first step towards becoming either estimable or agreeable; and until it be taken there is no hope. The sooner the discovery is made the better, as there is more time and power for taking advantage of it. Sometimes the great truth is found out too late to apply to it any effectual remedy. Sometimes it is never found at all; and these form the desperate and inveterate causes of folly, self-conceit, and impertinence.
Lord Melbourne (1779-1848, British statesman, Prime Minister)
The “self-image” is the key to human personality and human behavior. Change the self image and you change the personality and the behavior.
Maxwell Maltz (1944-, Canadian-born American plastic surgeon, author of “Psycho-Cybernetics”)
Realizing that our actions, feelings and behavior are the result of our own images and beliefs gives us the level that psychology has always needed for changing personality.
Maxwell Maltz (1944-, Canadian-born American plastic surgeon, author of “Psycho-Cybernetics”)
Our self image, strongly held, essentially determines what we become
Maxwell Maltz (1944-, Canadian-born American plastic surgeon, author of “Psycho-Cybernetics”)
The world has become uglier since it began to look into a mirror every day; so let us settle for the mirror image and do without an inspection of the original.
Karl Kraus (1874-1936, Austrian satirist)
I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity. I won’t have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want a committed life to leave behind.
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968, American Civil Rights leader, Nobel Prize winner, 1964)
Success plus Self-esteem equals Pretensions.
William James (1842-1910, American psychologist, professor, author)
Self-esteem and self-contempt have specific odors; they can be smelled.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983, American author, philosopher)
No matter what our achievements might be, we think well of ourselves only in rare moments. We need people to bear witness against our inner judge, who keeps book on our shortcomings and transgressions. We need people to convince us that we are not as bad as we think we are.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983, American author, philosopher)
We can bear to be deprived of everything but our self-conceit.
William Hazlitt (1778-1830, British essayist)
I want to help people feel good about themselves, and in turn, about others, so they will have the desire to help others rather than being a selfish threat to society.
Clarence E. Hodges
To see ourselves as others see us can be eye-opening. To see others as sharing a nature with ourselves is the merest decency. But it is from the far more difficult achievement of seeing ourselves amongst others, as a local example of the forms human life has locally taken, a case among cases, a world among worlds, that the largeness of mind, without which objectivity is self-congratulation and tolerance a sham, comes.
Clifford Geertz (1926-, American anthropologist)
Your self image is your pattern!. Every thought has an activity visualized. Every activity belongs to a pattern. You identify with your pattern or thought. Your pattern leads your life.
J. G. Gallimore
The very purpose of existence is to reconcile the glowing opinion we have of ourselves with the appalling things that other people think about us.
Quentin Crisp (1908-1999, British author)
I will not be concerned at other men’s not knowing me; I will be concerned at my own want of ability.
Confucius (BC 551-479, Chinese ethical teacher, philosopher)
If we could see ourselves as others see us, we would vanish on the spot.
E. M. Cioran (1911-1995, Rumanian-born French philosopher)
I think it’s one of the scars in our culture that we have too high an opinion of ourselves. We align ourselves with the angels instead of the higher primates.
Angela Carter (1940-1992, British author)
SELF-IMPROVEMENT
If I smashed the traditions it was because I knew no traditions. I’m the girl with the unquenchable thirst.
Anne Waldman
You can change the way you feel by changing the way you think.
Author Unknown
No matter what business you’re in, you can’t run on the spot, or someone will pass you by. It doesn’t matter how many games you’ve won.
Jim Valvano (1946-1993, American college basketball coach)
The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement.
Author Unknown
If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always be what you are now.
Author Unknown
Before a diamond shows its brilliancy and prismatic colors it has to stand a good deal of cutting and smoothing.
Author Unknown
You must love and care for yourself, because that’s when the best comes out.
Tina Turner (1938-, American musician, actress)
Invest three percent of your income in yourself (self-development) in order to guarantee your future.
Brian Tracy (1944-, Canadian-born American trainer, speaker, author, businessman)
If you wish to achieve worthwhile things in your personal and career life, you must become a worthwhile person in your own self-development.
Brian Tracy (1944-, Canadian-born American trainer, speaker, author, businessman)
The best rules to form a young man, are, to talk little, to hear much, to reflect alone upon what has passed in company, to distrust one’s own opinions, and value others that deserve it.
Sir William Temple (1628-1699, British diplomat, essayist)
All of us, who are worth anything, spend our manhood in unlearning the follies, or expiating the mistakes of our youth.
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822, British poet)
A person should live if only for curiosity’s sake.
Yiddish Proverb (Sayings of Yiddish origin)
First improve yourself, and then judge others.
Jewish Proverb (Sayings of Jewish origin)
Before preparing to improve the world, first look around your own home three times.
Chinese Proverb (Sayings of Chinese origin)
When you are through improving yourself, you are out of the game. You learn until your last breath.
Richard A. Nelson
The best thing you can do is get good at being you.
Dennis the Menace
I don’t think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865, American President (16th))
I am a bad, wicked man, but I am practicing moral self-purification; I don’t eat meat any more, I now eat rice cutlets.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870-1924, Russian revolutionary leader)
People never improve unless they look to some standard or example higher or better than themselves.
Tryon Edwards (1809-1894, American theologian)
The good man is the man who, no matter how morally unworthy he has been, is moving to become better.
John Dewey (1859-1952, American philosopher, educator)
Become addicted to constant and never-ending self-improvement.
Anthony J. D’Angelo
Without continuous personal development, you are now all that you will ever become, and hell starts when the person you are meets the person you could have been.
Eli Cohen
I think the inner person is the most important…. I would like to see an invention that keeps the mind alert. That’s what is important.
Julia Child (1912-2004, American gourmet cook, author, and television personality)
Never mind what others do; do better than yourself, beat your own record each and everyday, and you are a success.
William Boetcker
The deeper interior you have the more you have in your library.
Jacqueline Bisset (1946-, American screen actor)
Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is.
Isaac Asimov (1920-1992, Russian-born American author)
Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound.
James Allen (1864-1912, British-born American essayist, author, “As A Man Thinketh”)
SELF-INTEREST
A little group of willful men reflecting no opinion but their own have rendered the great Government of the United States helpless and contemptible.
Woodrow T. Wilson (1856-1924, American President (28th))
Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live; it is asking others to live as one wishes to live. And unselfishness is letting other people’s lives alone, not interfering with them.
Oscar Wilde (1856-1900, British author, wit)
The punters know that the horse named Morality rarely gets past the post, whereas the nag named Self-interest always runs a good race.
Gough Whitlam (1916-, Australian Prime Minister)
A person is led on the path that he truly wants to travel on.
The Talmud (BC 500?-400? AD, Jewish archive of oral tradition)
It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our necessities but of their advantages.
Adam Smith (1723-1790, Scottish economist)
A wise unselfishness is not a surrender of yourself to the wishes of anyone, but only to the best discoverable course of action.
David Seabury (American doctor, author)
A person never gets tired working for himself.
Russian Proverb (Sayings of Russian origin)
A person should stay alive, if only out of curiosity.
Yiddish Proverb (Sayings of Yiddish origin)
Take from others what you want, but never be a disciple of anyone.
A.S. Neil
I don’t care as much for what I am to others as I do for what I am to myself.
Michel Eyquem De Montaigne (1533-1592, French philosopher, essayist)
Self-interest blinds some people, and makes others see.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680, French classical writer)
The ruin of the human heart is self-interest, which the American merchant calls self-service. We have become a self-service populace, and all our specious comforts — the automatic elevator, the escalator, the cafeteria — are depriving us of volition and moral and physical energy.
Edward Dahlberg (1900-1977, American author, critic)
Do not neglect your own needs for someone else’s… and recognize your needs so you will know what to do.
Buddha (568-488 BC, Indian born, founder of Buddhism)
Remember how often you have postponed minding your interest, and let slip those opportunities the gods have given you. It is now high time to consider what sort of world you are part of, and from what kind of governor of it you are descended; that you have a set period assigned you to act in, and unless you improve it to brighten and compose your thoughts, it will quickly run off with you, and be lost beyond recovery.
Marcus Aurelius (121-12180, Roman emperor, philosopher)
Self-interest is but the survival of the animal in us. Humanity only begins for man with self-surrender.
Henri Frederic Amiel (1821-1881, Swiss philosopher, poet, critic)
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