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Robert Waxman's Recommended Tidbits
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"The unexamined life is not worth living." "Gnothi se auton (Know Thyself)." "'Know thyself?' If I knew myself, I'd run away." "Active, successful natures act, not according to the dictum "know
thyself," but as if there hovered before them the commandment: will a self and thou shalt become a self. " "'Know thyself' - a maxim
as pernicious as it is odious. A person observing himself would arrest his own development. Any caterpillar who tried to "know
himself" would never become a butterfly." "People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself. But the self is not something one
finds, it is something one creates." "It
is not only the most difficult thing to know oneself, but the most inconvenient one, too." "Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it." "To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming,
is the only end of life." "To
the question of your life you are the answer, and to the problems of your life you are the solution." "Man's main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become
what he potentially is. The most important product of his effort is his own personality." "It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion, it is easy in solitude to live after
your own; but the great man is he who, in the midst of the world, keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude."
"To know oneself,
one should assert oneself." "We
are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be." "Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks
inside, awakens." "The
most difficult thing in life is to know yourself." "Committing yourself is a way of finding out who you are. A man finds his identity by identifying."
"One does not "find
oneself" by pursuing one's self, but on the contrary by pursuing something else and learning through discipline or
routine … who one is and wants to be." "Ninety percent of the world's woe comes from people not knowing themselves, their abilities, their
frailties, and even their real virtues. Most of us go almost all the way through life as complete strangers to ourselves."
"Self-knowledge is
the beginning of self-improvement." "Nothing is easier than self-deceit." "Above all, be true to yourself, and if you cannot put your heart in it, take yourself out of it."
"You need to claim
the events of your life to make yourself yours. When you truly possess all that you have been and done, which may take some
time, you are fierce with reality." "Any life, no matter how long and complex it may be, is made up of a single moment--the moment in which
a man finds out, once and for all, who he is." "Be what you are. This is the
first step towards becoming better than you are." "Being born in a duck yard does
not matter, if only you are hatched from a swan's egg." "But an accurate definition of
the self is impossible. You are more than you realize, more than you can define. And the more time you spend trying to nail
down the definition, the less time you spend living right now. ... Your past is not your identity... You, living now, is your
identity." "Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about
your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for
you to do." "Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it
makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones tend to take care of themselves." "Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you
gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you." "Don't compromise yourself.
You are all you've got." "Every year I live I am more convinced that the waste of life lies in the love we have not given, the
powers we have not used, the selfish prudence that will risk nothing, and which shirking pain, misses happiness as well. No
one ever yet was the poorer in the long run for having once in a lifetime 'let out all the length of all the reins.'"
"Everything I did in my life that was worthwhile, I caught hell for." "The fact remains that the overwhelming
majority of people who have become wealthy have become so thanks to work they found profoundly absorbing.... The long term
study of people who eventually become wealthy clearly reveals that their "Luck" arouse from the accidental dedication
they had to an area they enjoyed." "Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts." "When
you take charge of your life, there is no longer need to ask permission of other people or society at large. When you ask
permission, you give someone veto power over your life." "Flowers do not force their way
with great strife. Flowers open to perfection slowly in the sun.... Don't be in a hurry about spiritual matters. Go step
by step, and be very sure." "I am still learning--how to take joy in all the people I am, how to use all my selves in the service
of what I believe, how to accept when I fail and rejoice when I succeed." "I do not want to die...until
I have faithfully made the most of my talent and cultivated the seed that was placed in me until the last small twig has grown."
"I have had more trouble with myself than with any other man I've met." "I
know this now. Every man gives his life for what he believes. Every woman gives her life for what she believes. Sometimes
people believe in little or nothing yet they give their lives to that little or nothing. One life is all we have and we live
it as we believe in living it. And then it is gone. But to sacrifice what you are and live without belief, that's more
terrible than dying." "If you're able to be yourself, then you have no competition. All you have to do is get closer and
closer to that essence." "In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." "It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit." "It
is in vain to hope to please all alike. Let a man stand with his face in what direction he will, he must necessarily turn
his back on one half of the world." "What can we gain by sailing
to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves? This is the most important of all voyages
of discovery, and without it, all the rest are not only useless, but disastrous..." "It is never too late to be what
you might have been." "It is the chiefest point of happiness that a man is willing to be what he is." "It is the highest form of self-respect to admit our errors and mistakes and make amends for them. To
make a mistake is only an error in judgment, but to adhere to it when it is discovered shows infirmity of character."
"When I'm trusting and being myself as fully as possible, everything in my life reflects this by
falling into place easily, often miraculously." "It takes years to build up trust,
but only seconds to destroy it. "It's important that people
should know what you stand for. It's equally important that they know what you won't stand for." "Just as you would not neglect seeds that you planted with the hope that they will bear vegetables and
fruits and flowers, so you must attend to and nourish the garden of your becoming." "On this subject I do not which
to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. No! No! Tell a man whose house is on fire to give a moderate alarm; tell him
to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire
into which it has fallen; but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present. I am in earnest; I will not equivocate;
I will not retreat a single inch; and I will be heard." "One can never consent to creep
when one feels an impulse to soar." "The
most vigilant self-criticism of course is necessary, but the time comes when the artist must tell himself he is good or he
will go under." "Neither
evil tongues, "Never explain--your friends do not need it, and your enemies will not believe you anyway." "Never follow somebody else's
path; it doesn't work the same way twice for anyone...the path follows you and rolls up behind you as you walk, forcing
the next person to find their own way." "The man who lets a leader prescribe his course is a wreck being towed to the scrap heap." "The mark of a true professional is giving more than you get."
"Ninety percent of the world's
woe comes from people not knowing themselves, their abilities, their frailties, and even their real virtues. Most of us go
almost all the way through life as complete strangers to ourselves." "On this subject I do not which to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. No! No! Tell a man whose
house is on fire to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher; tell the
mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen; but urge me not to use moderation in a cause
like the present. I am in earnest; I will not equivocate; I will not retreat a single inch; and I will be heard." "One can never consent to creep
when one feels an impulse to soar." "One
does what one can, not what one cannot." "One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes ... and
the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility." "The only one thing I can change is myself, but sometimes that makes all of the difference." "Our deepest fear is not that
we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens
us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are
a child of God! Your playing small doesn't' serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that
other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's
not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission
to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." "Practice rather than preach. Make of your life an affirmation, defined
by your ideals, not the negation of others. Dare to the level of your capability then go beyond to a higher level." "Put yourself in a state of mind
where you say to yourself, "Here is an opportunity for you to celebrate like never before, my own power, my own ability
to get myself to do whatever is necessary." "Self-conquest is really self-surrender. Yet before we can surrender ourselves we must become ourselves.
For no one can give up what he does not possess." "Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted, but getting what you have, which once you
have got it you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known." "Sometimes the best way to figure out who you are is to get to that place where you don't have to
be anything else." "There
is nothing with which every man is so afraid as getting to know how enormously much he is capable of doing and becoming."
"There is only one
you for all time. Fearlessly be yourself." "There's a period of life when we swallow a knowledge of ourselves and it becomes either good or
sour inside." "Think
about your future possibilities and the fact that your potential is virtually unlimited. You can do what you want to do and
go where you want to go. You can be the person you want to be. You can set large and small goals and make plans and move step-by-step,
progressively toward their realization. There are no obstacles to what you can accomplish except the obstacles that you create
in your mind." "Those
who know others are intelligent "To be nobody-but-yourself--in a
world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else--means to fight the hardest battle which any human
being can fight; and never stop fighting." "To do good thing in the world, first you must know who you are and what gives meaning to your life."
"Unless your heart,
your soul, and your whole being are behind every decision you make, the words from your mouth will be empty, and each action
will be meaningless. Truth and confidence are the roots of happiness." "The two important things I did learn were that you are as powerful and strong as you allow yourself
to be, and that the most difficult part of any endeavor is taking the first step, making the first decision." "Walking your talk is a great way
to motivate yourself. No one likes to live a lie. Be honest with yourself, and you will find the motivation to do what you
advise others to do." "The
way in which we think of ourselves has everything to do with how our world sees us and how we can see ourselves successfully
acknowledged by that world." "We
are all born originals--why is it so many of us die copies?" "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit." "We say we waste time, but that is impossible. We waste ourselves." "We should every night call ourselves to an account: what infirmity have I mastered to-day? what passions
opposed? what temptation resisted? what virtue acquired? Our vices will abate of themselves if they be brought every day to
the shrift." "What another would
have done as well as you, do not do it. What another would have said as well as you, do not say it; what another would have
written as well, do not write it. Be faithful to that which exists nowhere but in yourself." "Whatever you are by nature, keep to it; never desert your line of talent. Be what nature intended you
for, and you will succeed." "Wherever
you are, whatever your circumstances may be, whatever misfortune you may have suffered, the music of your life has not gone.
It's inside you--if you listen to it, you can play it." "When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other. Originality is deliberate
and forced, and partakes of the nature of a protest." "Why not be oneself? That is the whole secret of a successful appearance. If one is a greyhound why try
to look like a Pekinese?" "You
cannot take the mild approach to the weeds in your mental garden. You have got to hate weeds enough to kill them. Weeds are
not something you handle; weeds are something you devastate." "You got to sing like you don't need the money "You
have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through." "You will make a lousy anybody else, but you will be the best "you" in existence." "Accept everything about yourself--I
mean everything, You are you and that is the beginning and the end--no apologies, no regrets." "Be not anxious about what you have, but about what you are."
"Be who you are and say what
you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." "The greatest thing is, at any moment, to be willing to give up who we are in order to become all that
we can be." "You
must constantly ask yourself these questions: Who am I around? What are they doing to me? What have they got me reading? What
have they got me saying? Where do they have me going? What do they have me thinking? And most important, what do they have
me becoming? Then ask yourself the big question: Is that okay?"" "Each of us has a fire in our hearts for something. It's our goal in life to find it and to keep
it lit." "There
is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only
one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and
be lost." "We are
like violins. We can be used as doorstops, or we can make music." "The one person who most blocks you from a full, happy, and successful life is you. He is therefore wise
who makes himself an asset. We can be our won worst enemy or best friend. We can be a source of trouble or a cure for trouble.
So if you feel empty, as many do, start by getting free from yourself as a first stop to vibrant living." "Only to the extent that someone
is living out this self transcendence of human existence, is he truly human or does he become his true self. He becomes so,
not by concerning himself with his self's actualization, but by forgetting himself and giving himself, overlooking himself
and focusing outward." "What
I am thinking and doing day by day is resistlessly shaping my future--a future in which there is no expiation except through
my own better conduct. No one can live my life for me. If I am wise I shall begin today to build my own truer and better world
from within." "I have
a basic philosophy that I've tried to follow during my coaching career. Whether you're winning or losing, it's
important to always be yourself. You can't change because of the circumstances around you." "The world needs people like you to dream of something great and then
pursue it with all your heart." "A
bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song." "That you may retain your self-respect, it is better to displease the people by doing what you know is
right, than to temporarily please them by doing what you know is wrong." "Why be afraid of what people will say? Those who care about you will say, "Good luck!" and
those who care only about themselves will never say anything worth listening to anyway." "Perhaps nobody ever accomplishes all that he feels lies in him to do but nearly every one who tries
his power touches the walls of his being occasionally, and learns about how far to attempt to spring." "One does not "find oneself"
by pursuing one's self, but on the contrary to the promptings of his innermost heart." "It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority. By definition, there are already
enough people to do that." "To
dream of the person you'd like to be, is a waste to the person you are." "Often people attempt to live their lives backwards; they try to have more things, or more money, in
order to do more of what they want, so they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who
you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want." "Fear is a question: What are you afraid of, and why? Just as the seed of health is in illness, because
illness contains information, our fears are a treasure house of self-knowledge if we explore them." "Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim.
Accept no one's definition of your life, but define yourself." "Women are always being tested ... but ultimately, each of us has to define who we are individually and
then do the very best job we can to grow into it." "You have a masterpiece inside you, you know. One unlike any that ahs ever been created, or ever will
be. If you go to your grave without painting your masterpiece, it will not get painted. No one else can paint it. Only you."
"By your own soul,
learn to live "If they give you ruled paper, write the other way." "Take care, don't fight, and remember: if you do not choose to lead, you will forever be led by others.
Find what scares you, and do it. And you can make a difference, if you choose to do so." "The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice
what we are for what we could become." "A desire to be in charge of our own lives, a need for control, is born in each of us. It is essential
to our mental health, and our success, that we take control." "Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform." "Don't listen to those who say, "It's not done that way."
Maybe it's not, but maybe you will. Don't listen to those who say, "You're taking too big a chance."
Michelangelo would have painted the Sistine floor, and it would surely be rubbed out by today. Most importantly, don't
listen when the little voice of fear inside of you rears its ugly head and says, "They're all smarter than you out
there. They're more talented, they're taller, blonder, prettier, luckier and have connections…" I firmly
believe that if you follow a path that interests you, not to the exclusion of love, sensitivity, and cooperation with others,
but with the strength of conviction that you can move others by your own efforts, and do not make success or failure the criteria
by which you live, the chances are you'll be a person worthy of your own respect." "We must overcome the notion that we must be regular...it robs you of the chance to be extraordinary
and leads you to the mediocre." "Throughout
the years of your life you will face many challenges, remember that you can climb the highest mountain, drive through the
roughest storm, soar across the bluest sky, or even sail across the roughest waters. It is only destined by your attitude
where you will end up in life. The most important thing is don't let yourself get lost in the crowd." "We fail to see that we can control our destiny; make ourselves do
whatever is possible; make ourselves become whatever we long to be." "To every man there openeth A way, and ways, and a way. And the high soul climbs the high way, And the
low soul gropes the low: And in between, on the misty flats, The rest drift to and fro. But to every man there openeth A high
way and a low, And every man decideth. The way his soul shall go." "Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people
they don't like." "Until
you make peace with who you are, you'll never be content with what you have." "There's always someone to tell you you have to. Wrong. Don't. Rather, spend time finding out
who you really are. Work on being more of that. A lot better than the futile "gotta change" treadmill, which never
really ends." They will
say you are on the wrong road, if it is your own." "There are many who are living far below their possibilities because they are continually handing over
their individualities to others. Do you want to be a power I the world? Then be yourself." "There is a road, no simple highway, between the dawn and the dark of night, and if you go, no one may
follow, that path is for your steps alone." "People spend too much time finding other people to blame, too much energy finding excuses for not being
what they are capable of being, and not enough energy putting themselves on the line, growing out of the past, and getting
on with their lives." "Self-confidence
is so relaxing. There is no strain or stress when one is self-confident. Our lack of self-confidence comes from trying to
be someone we aren't." "Our
dependency makes slaves out of us, especially if this dependency is a dependency of our self-esteem. If you need encouragement,
praise, pats on the back from everybody, then you make everybody your judge." "Start doing the things you think should be done, and start being what you think society should become.
Do you believe in free speech? Then speak freely. Do you love the truth? Then tell it. Do you believe in an open society?
Then act in the open. Do you believe in a decent and humane society? Then behave decently and humanely." "It's a funny thing about life:
if you refuse to accept anything but the best you very often get it." "The roots of true achievement lie in the will to become the best that you can become." "Take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing:
no one to blame." "People
take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've
gotten lost." "Real
confidence comes from knowing and accepting yourself--your strengths and your limitations--in contrast to depending on affirmation
from others." "Men
make counterfeit money; in many more cases, money makes counterfeit men." "Defining myself, as opposed to being defined by others, is one of the most difficult challenges I face."
"Do what you feel
in your heart to be right, for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do and damned if you don't."
"No one is to be called
an enemy, all are your benefactors, and no one does you harm. You have no enemy except yourselves." "No star is ever lost we once have
seen, "How do the geese know when to fly to the sun? Who tells them the seasons? How do we, humans, know when
it is time to move on? As with the migrant birds, so surely with us, there is a voice within, if only we would listen to it,
that tells us so certainly when to go forth into the unknown." "I don't think there ever was a lazy man in this world. Every man has some sort of gift, and he prizes
that gift beyond all others. He may be a professional billiard-player, or a Paderewski, or a poet--I don't care what it
is. But whatever it is, he takes a native delight in exploiting that gift, and you will find it is difficult to beguile him
away from it. Well, there are thousands of other interests occupying other men, but those interests don't appeal to the
special tastes of the billiard champion or Paderewski. They are set down, therefore, as too lazy to do that or do this--to
do, in short what they have no taste or inclination to do. In that sense, then I am phenomenally lazy. But when it comes to
writing a book--I am not lazy. My family find it difficult to dig me out of my chair." "Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. "Learn to live with self and you will learn to liant, so they will
be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in
order to have what you want." "Josh
Billings said, "It is not only the most difficult thing to know oneself, but the most inconvenient one, too." Human
beings have always employed an enormous variety of clever devices for running away from themselves, and the modern world is
particularly rich in such stratagems." "I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him." "I would be true, for there are those who trust me; "It
is better to be defeated on principle than to win on lies." "It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them." "I was once afraid of people saying, "Who does she think she is?" Now I have the courage to
stand and say, 'This is who I am.'" "He who cannot obey himself will be commanded. That is the nature of living creatures." "You have to leave the city of your
comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover
is yourself." "Be patient
toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are
written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to
live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will find them gradually, without noticing
it, and live along some distant day into the answer." "Man cannot remake himself without suffering, for he is both the marble and the sculptor." "The greatest explorer on this
earth never takes voyages as long as those of the man who descends to the depth of his heart." "There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to
blossom." "The
value of identity of course is that so often with it comes purpose." "All men should strive to learn before they die what they are running from, and to, and why." "I know well what I am fleeing
from but not what I am in search of." "If you don't get lost, there's a chance you may never be found." "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front
only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover
that I had not lived." "A
man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it." "If in the last few years you haven't discarded a major opinion or acquired a new one, check your
pulse. You may be dead." "Man
never knows what he wants; he aspires to penetrate mysteries and as soon as he has, he wants to reestablish them. Ignorance
irritates him and knowledge cloys." "The
man who views the world at fifty the same as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life." "One may understand the cosmos, but never the ego; the self is more
distant than any star." "If
you resist reading what you disagree with, how will you ever acquire deeper insights into what you believe? The things most
worth reading are precisely those that challenge our convictions." "It is only when we silent the blaring sounds of our daily existence that we can finally hear the whispers
of truth that life reveals to us, as it stands knocking on the doorsteps of our hearts." "There are chapters in every life which are seldom read and certainly not aloud." "Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves." "No single event can
awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born." "In search of my mother's garden, I found my own." "Why should we honour those that die upon the field of battle? A man
may show as reckless a courage in entering into the abyss of himself." "If you haven't had at least a slight poetic crack in the heart, you have been cheated by nature."
"Learning how to operate
a soul figures to take time." I've left Bethlehem "Resolve to be thyself; and know
that he who finds himself, loses his misery." "To dare to live alone is the rarest courage; since there are many who had rather meet their bitterest
enemy in the field, than their own hearts in their closet." "No one remains quite what he was when he recognizes himself." "Every one of us has in him a continent of undiscovered character. Blessed is he who acts the Columbus
to his own soul." "There's
a period of life when we swallow a knowledge of ourselves and it becomes either good or sour inside." "I can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life. The problem
is that I can't find anybody who can tell me what they want." "He who knows others is learned; "You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one." "Trying to define yourself is like
trying to bite your own teeth." "Man
stands in his own shadow and wonders why it's dark." "We are the products of editing, rather than authorship." "Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that
they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death." "There are... things which a man is afraid to tell even to himself, and every decent man has a number
of such things stored away in his mind." "It's a helluva start, being able to recognize what makes you happy." "Oh! that you could turn your eyes towards the napes of your necks, and make but an interior survey of
your good selves." "It's terrifying to see someone inside of whom a vital spring seems to have been broken. It's
particularly terrifying to see him in your mirror." "Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses
of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without
wondering." "When
you re-read a classic you do not see in the book more than you did before. You see more in you than there was before."
"There is nothing
like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered." "For most men life is a search for
the proper manila envelope in which to get themselves filed." "I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be."
"We run away all the time to
avoid coming face to face with ourselves." "A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it." "The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want."
"Driving down the wrong road
and knowing it, "Those
who are brutally honest are seldom so with themselves." "By all means use sometimes to be alone. Salute thyself; see what thy soul doth wear." "Becoming conscious is of course
a sacrilege against nature; it is as though you had robbed the unconscious of something." "We catch frightful glimpses of ourselves in the hostile eyes of others." "Just when I think I have learned the way to live, life changes."
"And if you find everything as
soon as you look for it, you find it in vain, you look for it in vain." "You'll never find peace of mind until you listen to your heart." "To know what you prefer, instead of humbly saying "Amen" to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to keep your soul alive." -Robert Louis Stevenson "Let your heart guide you. It
whispers, so listen carefully." "If a man happens to find himself, he has a mansion which he can inhabit with dignity all the days of
his life." "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." "They must often change,
who would be constant in happiness or wisdom." Your distress about life might mean you have been living for the wrong reason, not that you have no reason
for living." "In
order to judge properly, one must get away somewhat from what one is judging, after having loved it. This is true of countries,
of persons, and of oneself. " "You
cannot fully understand your own life without knowing and thinking beyond your life, your own neighborhood, and even your
own nation." "There's
more than one answer to these questions "A man may be so much of everything that he is nothing of anything." "No question is so difficult to answer as that to which the answer is obvious." "There is an eternal landscape, a geography of the soul; we search
for its outlines all our lives." God,
why do I storm heaven for answers that are already in my heart? Every grace I need has already been given me. Oh, lead me
to the Beyond within." "Camouflage
is a game we all like to play, but our secrets are as surely revealed by what we want to seem to be as by what we want to
conceal." "Truth
hurts - not the searching after; the running from!" "A man's growth is seen in the successive choirs of his friends." I... recommend to every one of my Readers, the keeping a Journal of their
Lives for one Week, and setting down punctually their whole Series of Employments during that Space of Time. This kind of
Self-Examination would give them a true State of themselves, and incline them to consider seriously what they are about. One
Day would rectifie the Omissions of another, and make a Man weigh all those indifferent Actions, which, though they are easily
forgotten, must certainly be accounted for." "For souls in growth, great quarrels are great emancipators." "Few people know so clearly what they want. Most people can't even think what to hope for when they throw a penny in a fountain." -Barbara Kingsolver "Living
is being born slowly. It would be a little too easy if we could borrow ready-made souls." "If you can go through life without experiencing pain you probably
haven’t been born yet." "Man
is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth." "That's the way things come clear. All of a sudden. And then you
realize how obvious they've been all along." "You will never come up against a greater adversary than your own potential, my young friend." "Real
birthdays are not annual affairs. Real birthdays are the days when we have a new birth." "Pain reaches the heart with electrical speed, but truth moves to the heart as slowly as a glacier."
"Readjusting is a
painful process, but most of us need it at one time or another." "When your heart speaks, take good notes." "Like an old gold-panning prospector, you must resign yourself to digging up a lot of sand from which
you will later patiently wash out a few minute particles of gold ore." "Everyone is born a king, and most people die in exile." "Leaving home in a sense involves a kind of second birth in which we give birth to ourselves." "The contemplative
life is often miserable. One must act more, think less, and not watch oneself live." "The simplest questions are the most profound. Where were you born? Where is your home? Where are you
going? What are you doing? Think about these once in a while and watch your answers change." "There is a great deal of unmapped country within us which would have to be taken into account in an
explanation of our gusts and storms." "Man
can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as... from a lack of bread." “Every time you don't follow your inner guidance, you feel a loss of energy, loss of power a sense
of spiritual deadness.”
“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself -- and you are the easiest person to fool.”
“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.” “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.” “Let the world know you as you are, not as you think you should be.”
“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.”
“Take pride in how far you have
come, have faith in how far you can go.” “We
know what we are, but know not what we may become.” “You grow up the day you have your first real laugh - at yourself.” “If you are all wrapped up in yourself, you are overdressed.”
“At some point your heart
will tell itself what to do.” “Enlarge
your consciousness. If your consciousness is small, you will experience smallness in every department of your life.”
“We don't see things as
they are, we see them as we are.” “The
fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” “The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world, is to
be in reality what we would appear to be.” “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.” “It may be all right to be content with what you have; never with
what you are.” “I have
just three things to teach: “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.” “Man
is what he believes.” “Never
think you're not good enough yourself. A man should never think that. People will take you very much at your own reckoning.”
“I thank God for my handicaps,
for through them, I have found myself, my work and my God.” “Everyone should carefully observe which way his heart draws him, and then choose that way with all
his strength.” “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.” “When we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and
examine ourselves.” “No
bird soars too high, if he soars on his own wings.” “The more things a man is ashamed of, the more respectable he is.” “No one can give you better advice than yourself.”
“The most common sort of lie is
the one uttered to one's self.” “Knowing
others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. “If you have a skeleton in
your closet, take it out and dance with it.” “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.” “No one can be caught in places he doesn't
visit.” “People seem
not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.” | ||||||||||||
