“Never trouble another for what you can do yourself”

“Be yourself; no base imitator of another, but your best self. There is something which you can do better than another. Listen to the inward voice and bravely obey that. Do the things at which you are great, not what you were never made for.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

“Never do anything yourself that others can do for you.”

Agatha Christie book The Labours of Hercules

“Be not another, if you can be yourself.”

Paracelsus (1493–1541) Swiss physician and alchemist

“Pleasant it is, when over a great sea the winds trouble the waters, to gaze from shore upon another's great tribulation: not because any man's troubles are a delectable joy, but because to perceive from what ills you are free yourself is pleasant.”
Suave mari magno turbantibus aequora ventis e terra magnum alterius spectare laborem; non quia vexari quemquamst jucunda voluptas, sed quibus ipse malis careas quia cernere suave est.

Lucretius (-94–-55 BC) Roman poet and philosopher

“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.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

“It is a big mistake to think that the best way to express yourself is to do whatever you want, acting as you please. This is not expressing yourself. If you know what to do exactly, and you do it, then you can express yourself fully.”

Shunryu Suzuki (1904–1971) Japanese Buddhist missionary

“I pray you, magnificent Sir, do not trouble yourself to return to us, but await our coming to you.”

Giordano Bruno (1548–1600) Italian philosopher, mathematician and astronomer

“And identity is funny being yourself is funny as you are never yourself to yourself except as you remember yourself and then of course you do not believe yourself.”

Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American art collector and experimental writer of novels, poetry and plays

“However much you love somebody, you should always keep a part of yourself to yourself. Never give it all. You can never be yourself otherwise.”

Aidan Chambers (1934) British children's writer