Self Awareness Quotes

IF - and this is the greatest of them all - I had the courage to see myself as I reallyam, I would find out what is wrong with me, and correct it, then I might have a chance to profit by my mistakes and learn something from the experience of others,for I know that there is something WRONG with me, or I would now be where I WOULD HAVE BEEN IF I had spent more time analyzing my weaknesses, and less time building alibis to cover them.

We are like people looking for something they have in their hands all the time; we're looking in all directions except at the thing we want, which is probably why we haven't found it.

I think the hardest thing for a person is to know what those twelve things are that they need to work on that will bring the return of success to their life.

How can anyone see straight when he does not see himself and the darkness he unconsciously carries with him into all his dealings?

Perhaps I was too saucy and provoking.

Denial is an ugly thing.

At ebb tide I wrote a line upon the sand, and gave it all my heart and all my soul. At flood tide I returned to read what I had inscribed and found my ignorance upon the shore.

Hereafter, if you should observe an occasion to give your officers and friends a little more praise than is their due, and confess more fault than you can justly be charged with, you will only become the sooner for it, a great captain.

Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day; wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.

Paradoxically, when 'dumb' money acknowledges its limitations, it ceases to be dumb.

I've reached the moment where the movement of my thought interests me more than the thought itself.

This thou must always bear in mind, what is the nature of the whole,and what is my nature, and how this is related to that, and whatkind of a part it is of what kind of a whole; and that there is no onewho hinders thee from always doing and saying the things which areaccording to the nature of which thou art a part.

What is really important in Man is the part of him that we do not understand. Of much of it we are not even conscious, just as we are not normally conscious of keeping up our circulation by our heart-pump, though if we neglect it we die.

Every one complains of a poor memory, no one of a weak judgment.

It is doubtless a vice to turn one's eyes inward too much, but I am my own comedy and tragedy.

Before we can be cured we must want to be cured. Those who really wish for help will get it; but for many modern people even the wish is difficult.

How much more can you give? Other than, literally, open-heart surgery onstage? Not much. But the only cure you have right now is the honesty of going, this is who you are. I know who I am.

People like me are aware of their so-called genius at ten, eight, nine.

It makes no difference where you go ...there you are.

And since you know you cannot see yourself, so well as by reflection, I, your glass, will modestly discover to yourself, that of yourself which you yet know not of.

It is as hard to see one's self as to look backwards without turning around.

There are moments when it's too quiet. Particularly late at night or early in the mornings. That's when you know there's something lacking in your life. You just know.

The truthful man ends up realizing that he always lies.

We do not know today whether we are busy or idle. In times when we thought ourselves indolent, we have afterwards discovered that much was accomplished, and much was begun in us.

Know your own happiness.

Can you feel that there is something in you that is at war, something that feels threatened and wants to survive at all cost, that needs the drama in order to assert its identity as the victorious character within that theatrical production? Can you feel there is something in you that would rather be right than at peace?

Knowing thyself is the height of wisdom.

A very elementary exercise in psychology, not to be dignified by the name of psycho-analysis, showed me, on looking at my notebook, that the sketch of the angry professor had been made in anger. Anger had snatched my pencil while I dreamt. But what was anger doing there? Interest, confusion, amusement, boredom--all these emotions I could trace and name as they succeeded each other throughout the morning. Had anger, the black snake, been lurking among them? Yes, said the sketch, anger had.

Every man has some reminiscences which he would not tell to everyone, but only to his friends. He has others which he would not reveal even to his friends, but only to himself, and that in secret. But finally there are still others which a man is even afraid to tell himself, and every decent man has a considerable number of such things stored away. That is, one can even say that the more decent he is, the greater the number of such things in his mind.

This thing of darkness I Acknowledge mine.

We easily forget our faults when no one knows them but ourselves.

As far as you can, get into the habit of asking yourself in relation to any action taken by another: "What is his point of reference here?" But begin with yourself: examine yourself first.

If we try to deny the darkness in our souls then we'll become completely dark.

Apart from the pulling and hauling stands what I am, Stands amused, complacent, compassionating, idle, unitary, Looks down, is erect, or bends an arm on an impalpable certain rest, Looking with side-curved head curious what will come next, Both in and out of the game and watching and wondering at it.

Most fools think they are only ignorant.

Knowing your deepest intention can be your guiding force in the creation of a better life.

No truly conscious human being sabotages himself - it's impossible, because it's contrary to Nature.

Indeed, these errors and my prompt confessions have made me surer, if possible, of my insight into the implications of truth and ahimsa.

The fear of the judge within is more terrible than that of the one without.

We forget our faults easily when they are known to ourselves alone.

All I really know is the extent of my own ignorance

Those who think they know it all have no way of finding out they don't.

Nothing ought in reason to mortify our self-satisfaction more that the considering that we condemn at one time what we highly approve and commend at another.

Every human being is inherently a unique and individual form of life. He or she is made like that. But there is something which a person can do over and above the given material of her nature, and that is she can become conscious of what makes her the person she is, and he can work consciously toward relating what is himself to the world around him.

Do not worry if others do not understand you. Instead worry if you do not understand others.

Anger, pride and competence are our real enemies.

Let it be your constant method to look into the design of people's actions, and see what they would be at, as often as it is practicable; and to make this custom the more significant, practice it first upon yourself.

I will not have the power of nonviolence to be underestimated in order to cover my limitations or weaknesses.

Where there is anger, there is always pain underneath.

Everyone has the obligation to ponder well his own specific traits of character. He must also regulate them adequately and not wonder whether someone else's traits might suit him better. The more definitely his own a man's character is, the better it fits him.

It takes a hell of a lot for a man to put up with me. I can be a handful.

Instead of always asking yourself how to clear up your mental fog, learn to ask: "Can confusion know anything about clarity?"

I’m ALIVE. Thinking about it, noticing it, is new. You do things and don’t watch. Then all of a sudden you look and see what you’re doing and it’s the first time, really.

I think that each of us is so much alike, and yet at the same time we are so different, and I have a feeling that if you encountered difficulty, and I with my age encountered the same difficulty, I would respond one way, and you would respond another. Neither would be right or wrong. It's just that each of us is courageous, and that's what I encourage, courage, and the courage to see, and the courage to say to oneself what one has seen. Don't be in denial.

People ask how I feel about getting old. I tell them I have the same question. I'm learning as I go.

A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.

We need to not be in denial about what we've done, what we've come through. It will help us if we all do that.

When you turn the corner And you run into yourself Then you know that you have turned All the corners that are left.

Failing to understand the workings of one's own mind is bound to lead to unhappiness.

I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle.