Self-words quotes and thoughts, aphorisms and ideas, by famous writers and authors, from Self-Knowledge to Selfishness.
I don’t care so much what I am to others as I care what I am to myself.
Michel de Montaigne
Self-knowledge is no guarantee of happiness, but it is on the side of happiness and can supply the courage to fight for it.
Simone de Beauvoir
Self knowledge puts us on our knees, and it is very necessary for love. For knowledge of God gives love, and knowledge of self gives humility
Mother Teresa
All knowledge ultimately means Self-knowledge.
Bruce Lee
If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.
Virginia Woolf (1882-1941, British novelist, essayist)
Know one, know all.
Katha Upanishad (Ancient Hindu scripture)
Know yourself, master yourself, conquest of self is most gratifying.
Author Unknown
Before a man can wake up and find himself famous he has to wake up and find himself.
Author Unknown
Explore thyself. Herein are demanded the eye and the nerve.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862, American essayist, poet, naturalist)
The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself.
Thales of Miletus (640-546 BC, Founder of Greek philosophy, sciences)
Know thyself.
Socrates (BC 469-399, Greek philosopher of Athens)
Real apprenticeship is ultimately always to the self.
Cynthia Ozick (1928-, American novelist, short-story writer)
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)
God warms his hands at man’s heart when he prays.
John Masefield (1878-1967, British poet and novelist)
You can live a lifetime and at the end, know more about other people than you know about yourself.
Beryl Markham
You can live a lifetime and at the end, know more about other people than you know about yourself.
Beryl Markham
No man remains quite what he was when he recognizes himself.
Thomas Mann (1875-1955, German author, critic)
If you want to be truly successful invest in yourself to get the knowledge you need to find your unique factor. When you find it and focus on it and persevere your success will blossom.
Sidney Madwed
Turn your doubts to question; turn your question to prayers; turn your prayers to God.
Mark R. Litteton
Self-understanding rather than self-condemnation is the way to inner peace and mature conscience.
Joshua Loth Liebman
It’s not our disadvantages or short-comings that are ridiculous, but rather the studious way we try to hide them, and our desire to act as if they did not exist.
Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837, Italian poet, scholar)
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, mystic)
Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment.
Lao-Tzu (BC 600-?, Chinese philosopher, founder of Taoism)
Know thyself, presume not God to scan. The proper study of mankind is man.
Lao-Tzu (BC 600-?, Chinese philosopher, founder of Taoism)
He who knows others is clever; He who knows himself has discernment.
Lao-Tzu (BC 600-?, Chinese philosopher, founder of Taoism)
He knows the universe and does not know himself.
Jean De La Fontaine (1621-1695, French poet)
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
An humble knowledge of thyself is a surer way to God than a deep search after learning.
Thomas a Kempis (1379-1471, German monk, mystic, religious writer)
I have the true feeling of myself only when I am unbearably unhappy.
Franz Kafka (1883-1924, German novelist, short-story writer)
Getting in touch with your true self must be your first priority.
Tom Hopkins (1944-, American sales trainer, speaker, author)
Without self knowledge, without understanding the working and functions of his machine, man cannot be free, he cannot govern himself and he will always remain a slave.
George Gurdjieff (1873-1949, Russian adept, teacher, writer)
Awakening begins when a man realizes that he is going nowhere and does not know where to go.
George Gurdjieff (1873-1949, Russian adept, teacher, writer)
Until we see what we are, we cannot take steps to become what we should be.
Charlotte P. Gillman (1860-1935, American feminist and writer)
You can never appreciate the scent of a flower by another’s description. Some things are left to experience. Journey of self.
Truth Devour
Regardless of where you started, there is always the next level. You need to keep leveling up your skills.
Mustafa Saifuddin
No teacher educated Einstein, no teacher trained Ramanujam, self-learning is their secret of success.
Dr.P.S. Jagadeesh Kumar
My schooling not only failed to teach me what it professed to be teaching, but prevented me from being educated to an extent which infuriates me when I think of all I might have learned at home by myself.
George Bernard Shaw
Great books make great being.
Lailah Gifty Akita
SELF-LOVE
There are more people without self-love than there are without envy.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680, French classical writer)
Keep integrity and your work ethics intact. So what if that means working a little harder; an honorable character is your best calling card, and that’s something anyone can have!
Kathy Ireland (1963-, American model)
What’s a man’s first duty? The answer is brief: To be himself.
Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906, Norwegian dramatist)
If we really love ourselves, everything in our life works.
Louise L. Hay (American metaphysical teacher, lecturer, author)
When everyone takes care of himself, care is taken of all.
English Proverb (Sayings of British origin)
SELF-MASTERY
I am indeed a king because I know how to rule myself.
Pietro Aretino (1492-1556, Italian writer)
Be master of mind rather than mastered by mind. You are your own master. You are the master and the way.
Buddha (568-488 BC, Indian born, founder of Buddhism)
Resolve to be thyself: and know, that he who finds himself, loses his misery.
Matthew Arnold (1822-1888, British poet, critic)
You are your own master and your own vacation resort; control yourself.
Buddha (568-488 BC, Indian born, founder of Buddhism)
SELF-MOTIVATION
Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.
Harriet Beecher Stowe
True happiness involves the full use of one’s power and talents.
John W. Gardner
One finds limits by pushing them.
Herbert A. Simon
Slow, steady progress is better than daily excuses.
Robin Sharma
Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable. Every step toward the goals requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.
Martin Luther King
SELF-OBSERVATION
Observe all men, thyself most.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790, American scientist, publisher, diplomat)
You may go where you want, but you cannot escape yourself.
Norwegian Proverb (Sayings of Norwegian origin)
SELF-PITY
Every man supposes himself not to be fully understood or appreciated.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882, American poet, essayist)
Never feel self-pity, the most destructive emotion there is. How awful to be caught up in the terrible squirrel cage of self.
Millicent Fenwick
If you believe, then you hang on. If you believe, it means you’ve got imagination, you don’t need stuff thrown out on a blueprint, and don’t face facts — what can stop you? If I don’t make it today, I’ll come in tomorrow
Ruth Gordon
Don’t tell me that you’re pitiful because you’re homeless. You just need some help; ain’t nothing pitiful about that.
(Sweet) Alice Harris
The cure for grief is motion.
Elbert Hubbard (1859-1915, American author, publisher)
Self-pity comes so naturally to all of us.
Andre Maurois (1885-1967, French writer)
SELF-PRESERVATION
Self-preservation is the first law of nature.
English Proverb (Sayings of British origin)
Don’t throw away your old shoes before you have new shoes.
German Proverb (Sayings of German origin)
Do not spit into the well that you might need to drink out of.
Russian Proverb (Sayings of Russian origin)
Her life was like running on a treadmill or riding on a stationary bike; it was aerobic, it was healthy, but she wasn’t going anywhere.
Julia Phillips
Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal.
Earl Nightingale
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
Thomas Paine
You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.
Oprah Winfrey
If you put off everything till you’re sure of it, you’ll get nothing done.
Norman Vincent Peale
SELF-RELIANCE
God loves to help him who strives to help himself.
Aeschylus (525-456 BC, Greek dramatist)
You are the handicap you must face. You are the one who must choose your place.
James Allen (1864-1912, British-born American essayist, author, “As A Man Thinketh”)
It’s so important to believe in yourself. Believe that you can do it, under any circumstances. Because if you believe you can, then you really will. That belief just keeps you searching for the answers, and then pretty soon you get it.
Wally Amos (American businessman, founder of Famous Amos Cookies)
The highest manifestation of life consists in this: that a being governs its own actions. A thing which is always subject to the direction of another is somewhat of a dead thing.
St. Thomas Aquinas
The closer one gets to the top, the more one finds there is no “top.”
Nancy Barcus
A woman finds the natural lay of the land almost unconsciously; and not feeling it incumbent on her to be guide and philosopher to any successor, she takes little pains to mark the route by which she is making her ascent.
Antoinette Brown Blackwell
SELF-RESPECT
No more duty can be urged upon those who are entering the great theatre of life than simple loyalty to their best convictions.
Edwin Hubbel Chapin (1814-1880, American author, clergyman)
Self-respect permeates every aspect of your life.
Joe Clark
Let a man then know his worth, and keep things under his feet. Let him not peep or steal, or skulk up and down with the air of a charity-boy, a bastard, or an interloper.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882, American poet, essayist)
Without self-respect there can be no genuine success. Success won at the cost of self-respect is not success – for what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own self-respect.
B.C. Forbes
They cannot take away our self-respect if we do not give it to them.
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948, Indian political, spiritual leader)
He that respects himself is safe from others; He wears a coat of mail that none can pierce.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1819-1892, American poet)
Some people have so much respect for their superiors they have none left for themselves.
Peter McArthur
Self-respect: the secure feeling that no one, as yet, is suspicious.
H. L. Mencken (1880-1956, American editor, author, critic, humorist)
Do not give your attention to what others do or fail to do; give it to what you do or fail to do.
Buddha
No-one will come in to rescue you. You just have to step out somehow, and make your dreams come true.
Moffat Machingura
Stand in your own two shoes.
T. Scott McLeod
Life is a balancing act. While we have all the rights to be in freedom, peace, harmony and bliss; we do have a responsibility to ensure that others too enjoy their own freedom, peace, harmony and bliss.
Vishwas Chavan
Don’t try to be happy, just be happy. Because your happiness does not depend on others. Be the reason for your own happiness.
Vishwas Chavan
Learn to love your self from the inside and you would not need others to love you from the outside.
Efrat Cybulkiewicz
SELF-SABOTAGE
The haft of the arrow had been feathered with one of the eagle’s own Lures. We often give our enemies the means of our own destruction.
Aesop (620-560 BC, Greek fabulist)
But I do nothing upon myself, and yet I am my own executioner.
John Donne (1572-1632, British metaphysical poet)
He who undervalues himself is justly undervalued by others. We often repent the good we have done as well as the ill.
William Hazlitt (1778-1830, British essayist)
People who bite the hand that feeds them usually lick the boot that kicks them.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983, American author, philosopher)
No man continues to do unfavorable things for long except by his own fault.
Michel Eyquem De Montaigne (1533-1592, French philosopher, essayist)
A person’s worst enemy can’t wish on him what he can think up himself.
Yiddish Proverb (Sayings of Yiddish origin)
Believing in yourself is an endless destination. Believing you have failed is the end of the journey.
Author Unknown
Latent in every man is a venom of amazing bitterness, a black resentment; something that curses and loathes life, a feeling of being trapped, of having trusted and been fooled, of being the helpless prey of impotent rage, blind surrender, the victim of a savage, ruthless power that gives and takes away, enlists a man, and crowning injury inflicts upon him the humiliation of feeling sorry for himself.
Paul Valery (1871-1945, French poet, essayist)
SELF-SACRIFICE
He who would accomplish little must sacrifice little; he who would achieve much must sacrifice much; he who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly.
James Allen (1864-1912, British-born American essayist, author, “As A Man Thinketh”)
For anything worth having one must pay the price; and the price is always work, patience, love, self-sacrifice — no paper currency, no promises to pay, but the gold of real service.
John Burroughs (1837-1921, American naturalist, author)
His answer to every problem, every setback, was “I will work harder!” – which he had adopted as his personal motto.
Geroge Orwell Boxer in Animal Farm
Self-sacrifice is what the stupidest government or religion is always asking you!
Carl William Brown
Napoleon ended his speech with a reminder of Boxer’s two favourite maxims, “I will work harder” and “Comrade Napoleon is always right” – maxims, he said, which every animal would do well to adopt as his own.
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Self-sacrifice which denies common sense is not a virtue. It’s a spiritual dissipation.
Margaret Deland
Self-sacrifice is the real miracle out of which all the reported miracles grow.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882, American poet, essayist)
The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1819-1892, American poet)
The men and women who have the right ideals… are those who have the courage to strive for the happiness which comes only with labor and effort and self-sacrifice, and those whose joy in life springs in part from power of work and sense of duty.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919, American President (26th))
SELF-SUFFICIENCY
We carry our homes within us which enables us to fly.
John Cage (1912-1992, American composer)
Only the self-sufficient stand alone – most people follow the crowd and imitate.
Bruce Lee
We should devote ourselves to being self-sufficient and must not depend upon the external ratings by others for our happiness.
Bruce Lee
Be your own palace, or the world is your jail.
John Donne (1572-1632, British metaphysical poet)
I don’t need anyone to rectify my existence. The most profound relationship we will ever have is the one with ourselves.
Shirley MacLaine (1934-, American actress)
The greatest thing in the world is to know how to be self-sufficient.
Michel Eyquem De Montaigne (1533-1592, French philosopher, essayist)
At the center of climb is “I”
American Proverb (Sayings of American origin)
Let me listen to myself and not to them.
Gertrude Stein (1874-1946, American author)
SELF-TALK
He who would be useful, strong, and happy must cease to be a passive receptacle for the negative, beggarly, and impure streams of thought; and as a wise householder commands his servants and invites his guests, so must he learn to command his desires and to say, with authority, what thoughts he shall admit into the mansion of his soul.
James Allen (1864-1912, British-born American essayist, author, “As A Man Thinketh”)
The inner speech, your thoughts, can cause you to be rich or poor, loved or unloved, happy or unhappy, attractive or unattractive, powerful or weak.
Ralph Charell (American author)
If you want to reach a state of bliss, then go beyond your ego and the internal dialogue. Make a decision to relinquish the need to control, the need to be approved, and the need to judge. Those are the three things the ego is doing all the time. It’s very important to be aware of them every time they come up.
Deepak Chopra (1946-, East-Indian-American doctor, author, lecturer)
The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large.
Confucius (BC 551-479, Chinese ethical teacher, philosopher)
All causes are essentially mental, and whosoever comes into daily contact with a high order of thinking must take on some of it.
Charles Fillmore (American co-founder of Unity School of Christianity)
One day I sat thinking, almost in despair; a hand fell on my shoulder and a voice said reassuringly: cheer up, things could get worse. So I cheered up and, sure enough, things got worse.
James Hagerty
The more faithfully you listen to the voices within you, the better you will hear what is sounding outside.
Dag Hammarskjold (1905-1961, Swedish statesman, Secretary-General of the UN)
Your ability to use the principle of autosuggestion will depend, very largely, upon your capacity to concentrate upon a given desire until that desire becomes a burning obsession.
Napoleon Hill (1883-1970, American speaker, author, “Think And Grow Rich”)
One advantage of talking to yourself is that you know at least somebody’s listening.
Franklin P. Jones
Every waking moments we talk to ourselves about the things we experience. Our self-talk, the thoughts we communicate to ourselves, in turn control the way we feel and act.
John Lembo
A gentleman that loves to hear himself talk, will speak more in a minute than he will stand to in a month.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616, British poet, playwright, actor)
SELF-TRUST
Self-trust is the first secret to success.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882, American poet, essayist)
If you conduct yourself properly, then fear no one.
Iraqi Proverb
The true teacher defends his pupils against his own personal influence. He inspires self-trust. He guides their eyes from himself to the spirit that quickens him. He will have no disciples. Votes: 5
Amos Bronson Alcott
I trust no one, not even myself.
Joseph Stalin
Self trust is the essence of heroism
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Self-trust is the first secret of success.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Trust everybody, but cut the cards yourself.
W. C. Fields
Believe in yourself. Trust the process. Change forever.
Bob Harper
Trust few men; above all, keep your follies to yourself.
Walter Raleigh
As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
All genius is simple. It involves close observation and a momentous act of self trust.
Howell Raines
SELF-UNDERSTANDING
Health and good estate of body are above all gold, and a strong body above infinite wealth. Apocrypha Every man is the architect of his fortune.
Appius Claudius (340 BC-273 BC, Roman statesman, general)
How different our lives are when we really know what is deeply important to us, and keeping that picture in mind, we manage ourselves each day to be and to do what really matters most.
Stephen R. Covey (1932-, American speaker, trainer, author of “The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People”)
An idea is something that won’t work unless you do.
Thomas A. Edison (1847-1931, American inventor, founder of GE)
You have not only the power to think — but what is a thousand times more important still — you have the power to control your thoughts and direct them to do your bidding!
Napoleon Hill (1883-1970, American speaker, author, “Think And Grow Rich”)
The better you understand yourself the less cause you will find to love yourself.
Thomas a Kempis (1379-1471, German monk, mystic, religious writer)
How could I have been anyone other than me?
Dave Matthews
I think for anyone who’s gone through a crisis, there comes a turning point, an epiphany, that marks the beginning of the end.
Deborah Norville
Let me urge that we keep clear of two besetting sins — hardness of heart and softness of head.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919, American President (26th))
SELF-WORTH
Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you.
Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887, American preacher, orator, writer)
It is very dangerous to have your self-worth riding on your results as an athlete.
Jim Courier (1970-, American tennis player)
Self-worth comes from one thing — thinking that you are worthy.
Wayne Dyer (1940-, American psychotherapist, author, lecturer)
One must be truthful with oneself about one’s own motives, especially if one is to survive in the world. It takes rigor, and it takes courage.
Alain French
‘Tis better to be known as a good man than a great one, for greatness is an assessment of mortals; goodness a gift of God.
Spark Matsunaga
When a proud man hears another praised, he feels himself injured.
English Proverb (Sayings of British origin)
No man is free who cannot command himself. Above all things, love yourself.
Pythagoras (BC 582-507, Greek philosopher, mathematician)
If your self-worth is based on anything other than your relationship with Christ, you are in big trouble.
Hyrum Smith
People that trust wholly to other’s charity, and without industry of their own, will always be poor.
Sir William Temple (1628-1699, British diplomat, essayist)
A bar of iron costs $5, made into horseshoes its worth is $12, made into needles its worth is $3500, made into balance springs for watches, its worth is $300, 000. Your own value is determined also by what you are able to make of yourself.
Author Unknown
Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him and to let him know that you trust him.
Booker T. Washington (1856-1915, American black leader and educator)
SELFISHNESS
Selfishness is that detestable vice which no one will forgive in others, and no one is without himself.
Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887, American preacher, orator, writer)
Just as a fire is covered by smoke and a mirror is obscured by dust, just as the embryo rests deep within the womb, wisdom is hidden by selfish desire.
Bhagavad Gita (c. BC 400-, Sanskrit poem incorporated into the Mahabharata)
Magnanimous people have no vanity, they have no jealousy, they have no reserves, and they feed on the true and solid wherever they find it. And what is more, they find it everywhere.
Van Wyck Brooks
He who never thinks of anything as mine does not feel the lack of anything: he is never worried by a sense of loss.
Buddha (568-488 BC, Indian born, founder of Buddhism)
He who never thinks of anything as mine does not feel the lack of anything: he is never worried by a sense of loss.
Buddha (568-488 BC, Indian born, founder of Buddhism)
Human history is the sad result of each one looking out for himself.
Julio Cortazar (1914-1984, Belgian writer)
Selfishness is one of the qualities apt to inspire love.
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864, American novelist, short story writer)
Being sorry is the highest act of selfishness, seeing value only after discarding it.
Doug Horton
Sometimes we don’t give generously because we don’t see the generous Giver to whom it all belongs anyway!
Kent R. Hunter
Lovers never get tired of each other because they are forever talking about themselves.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680, French classical writer)
In retrospect, all these exercises in self-gratification seem pure fantasy, what Pascal called, licking the earth.
Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990, British broadcaster)
How a sickness enlarges the dimensions of a man’s self to himself! He is his own exclusive object. Supreme selfishness is inculcated in him as his only duty,
Charles Lamb (1775-1834, British essayist, critic)
I’ve given up reading books. I find it takes my mind off myself.
Oscar Levant (1906-1972, American pianist, actor)
I did not have three thousand pairs of shoes. I had one thousand and sixty.
Imelda Marcos (1929-, Philippines First Lady)
Many look with one eye at what they give, but with seven at what they receive.
German Proverb (Sayings of German origin)
Selfishness, not love, is the actuating motive of the gallant.
Mme. Roland
If we were not all so excessively interested in ourselves, life would be so uninteresting that none of us would be able to endure it.
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860, German philosopher)
No man will work for your interests unless they are his.
David Seabury (American doctor, author)
He who lives only to benefit himself confers on the world a benefit when he dies.
Tertullian (160-240, Roman Christian author and polemicist)
Next to the young, I suppose the very old are the most selfish.
William M. Thackeray (1811-1863, Indian-born British novelist)
Let everyone see that you are unselfish and considerate in all you do.
The Holy Bible (Sacred scriptures of Christians and Judaism)
He who takes but never gives, may last for years but never lives.
Author Unknown
The force of selfishness is as inevitable and as calculable as the force of gravitation.
Author Unknown
You cannot be your brother’s keeper if you are caged by selfishness.
Author Unknown
Know the Self as Lord of the chariot, the body as the chariot itself, the discriminating intellect as the charioteer, and the mind as the reins. The senses, say the wise, are the horses; selfish desires are the roads they travel.
Katha Upanishad (Ancient Hindu scripture)
None are so empty as those who are full of themselves.
Benjamin Whichcote (1609-1683, British philosopher, theologian)
Selfishness is the only real atheism; unselfishness the only real religion.
Israel Zangwill (1864-1926, British writer)
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