“From the perspective of Buddhism, Sartre’s notion of Existence, according to which one must create oneself continually in order to maintain oneself within nothing, remains a standpoint of attachment to the self – indeed, the most profound form of this attachment – and as such is caught in the self-contradiction this implies.”

“In its extreme form self-awareness manifests itself in notions such as that of the soul, but in simple form it merely means to be aware of oneself as an individual among others.”

Richard Leakey (1944) Kenyan paleoanthropologist, conservationist, and politician

“It's easy to hate and point out everything that is wrong with the world; it is the hardest and most important work in one's life to free oneself from the bonds of fear and attachment.”

Noah Levine (1971) American Buddhist teacher

“The trouble with Buddhism?-- in order to free oneself of all desire, one has to desire to do so.”

Henry Miller (1891–1980) American novelist

“Life involves maintaining oneself between contradictions that can't be solved by analysis.”

William Empson (1906–1984) English literary critic and poet

“There is no chaos in the world, except the chaos which your mind creates. It is self-created in the sense that at its very centre is the false idea of oneself as a thing different and separate from other things. (…).”

Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897–1981) Indian guru

“Self-consciousness is not knowledge but a story one tells about oneself.”

Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986) French writer, intellectual, existentialist philosopher, political activist, feminist, and social theorist

“One must try to keep a sensible perspective and not take oneself too seriously.”

John Banville (1945) Irish writer

“The gift of oneself to God is always the gift of oneself to all; to give oneself to God − though it were hidden from all − is to give oneself to man, for this gift of self has a sacrificial value of an incalculable radiance.”

Frithjof Schuon (1907–1998) Swiss philosopher

“To contemplate a thing implies maintaining oneself OUTSIDE it, resolved to keep a distance between it and ourselves.”

Bruce Lee (1940–1973) Hong Kong-American actor, martial artist, philosopher and filmmaker