#Self Knowledge Quotes

“Were it my cue to fight, I should have known itWithout a prompter.”

“Go to you bosom: Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know.”

“The private life of one man shall be a more illustrious monarchy,--more formidable to its enemy, more sweet and serene in its influence to its friend, than any kingdom in history. For a man, rightly viewed, comprehendeth the particular natures of all men.”

“A skilful man reads his dreams for his selfknowledge; yet not the details, but the quality.”

“Shakspeare is the only biographer of Shakspeare; and even he can tell nothing, except to the Shakspeare in us; that is, to our most apprehensive and sympathetic hour.”

“Other men are lenses through which we read our own minds. Each man seeks those of different quality from his own, and such as are good of their kind; that is, he seeks other men, and the rest.”

“The student is to read history actively and not passively; to esteem his own life the text, and books the commentary. Thus compelled, the muse of history will utter oracles as never to those who do not respect themselves.”

“And, in fine, the ancient precept, "Know thyself," and the modern precept, "Study nature," become at last one maxim.”

“The Foole doth thinke he is wise, but the wiseman knowes himselfe to be a Foole.”

“Of all knowledge the wise and good seek most to know themselves.”

“Marry, sir, they praise me and make an ass of me. Now my foes tell me plainly I am an ass; so that by my foes, sir, I profit in the knowledge of myself, any by my friends I am abused; so that, conclusions to be as kisses, if your four negatives make your two affirmatives, why then, the worse for my friends, and the better for my foes.”

“We are wiser than we know.”

“You will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it.”

“I heard people say, 'Why would he want to do this?' My answer is 'Why not?' It is what I love. It's what I know.”

“I know perfectly well my own egotism.”

“If I quake, what matters it what I quake at? Our proper vice takes form in one or another shape, according to the sex, age, or temperament of the person, and, if we are capable of fear, will readily find terrors.”

“The powers of the mind should be concentrated and the mind turned back upon itself; as the darkest places reveal their secrets before the penetrating rays of the sun, so will the concentrated mind penetrate its own innermost secrets.”

“A mind might ponder its thought for an epoch, and not gain so much self-knowledge as the passion of love shall teach in a day.”

“You know more than you think you know, just as you know less than you want to know.”

“Only the shallow know themselves.”

“And what causes fear? Ignorance of our own nature.”

“But no man's a hero to himself. I've lived with me a lifetime. I know everything worth knowing about myself--" ~Something Wicked This Way Comes”

“I am the only person in the world I should like to know thoroughly.”

“...Blessed is anyone who knows who he or she really is and builds a place to live there.”

“The greatest discoveries are those that shed light unto ourselves.”

“This is...self-knowled ge-for a man to know what he knows, and what he does not know.”

“Know mankind well, don't degrade every man as evil, and don't exalt every man thinking he is good. He who cannot discover himself; cannot discover the world.”

“Learning to know anxiety is an adventure which every man has to affront if he would not go to perdition either by not having known anxiety or by sinking under it. He therefore who has leaned rightly to be in anxiety has learned the most important thing.”

“Knowing thyself is the height of wisdom.”

“Judge of your natural character by what you do in your dreams.”

“Sleep takes off the costume of circumstance, arms us with terrible freedom, so that every will rushes to deed. A skillful man reads his dreams for his self-knowledge; yet not the details, but the quality. What part does he play in them - a cheerful, manly part, or a poor, drivelling part? However monstrous and grotesque their apparitions, they have a substantial truth.”

“Moderation, which consists in indifference about little things, and in a prudent and well-proportioned zeal about things of importance, can proceed from nothing but true knowledge, which has its foundation in self-acquaintance.”

“The most dangerous thing you can do is know who you are.”

“Dad," said Will, his voice very faint. "Are you a good person?" "To you and your mother, yes, I try. But no man's a hero to himself. I've lived with me a lifetime, Will. I know everything worth knowing about myself-" "And, adding it all up...?" "The sum? As they come and go, and I mostly sit very still and tight, yes, I'm all right.”

“The tools which would teach men their own use would be beyond price.”

“The Greek philosophies teach us that we are a combination of dark and light, good and evil, and murderer and savior, hmm? And until we know this completely about ourselves we cannot love well, and we cannot forgive ourselves.”

“The noblest of all studies is the study of what man is and of what life he should live.”

“Do thine own work, and know thyself.”

“Many's the man/ who thought himself wise/ but what he needed/ he did not know.”

“To be curious about that which is not one's concern while still in ignorance of oneself is ridiculous.”

“The wisest of you men is he who has realized, like Socrates, that in respect of wisdom he is really worthless.”

“but the bravest man among us is afraid of himself”

“Civilization is that mode of conduct which points out to man the path of duty. Performance of duty and observance of morality are convertible terms. To observe morality is to attain mastery over our mind and our passions. So doing, we know ourselves.”

“To know anything about oneself one must know all about others.”

“Wisdom consists in knowing what not to want as well as what to want.”

“Men have no confidence in an officer who doesn't know his own mind.”

“He who exerts his mind to the utmost knows his nature.”

“The sage wears clothes of coarse cloth but carries jewels in his bosom; He knows himself but does not display himself; He loves himself but does not hold himself in high esteem.”

“Every one is least known to himself, and it is very difficult for a man to know himself.”

“The sage knows himself, but does not parade. He cherishes himself, but does not praise himself.”