Joseph Conrad quote: “We can never cease to be ourselves.”

“No one saves us but ourselves,
No one can and no one may.
We ourselves must walk the path
Buddhas merely teach the way.
By ourselves is evil done,
By ourselves we pain endure,
By ourselves we cease from wrong,
By ourselves become we pure.”

Paul Carus (1852–1919) American philosopher

Translation from the Dhammapada of Gautama Buddha, as translated in The Dharma, or The Religion of Enlightenment; An Exposition of Buddhism (1896)

“No one saves us but ourselves,
No one can and no one may.
We ourselves must walk the path
Buddhas merely teach the way.
By ourselves is evil done,
By ourselves we pain endure,
By ourselves we cease from wrong,
By ourselves become we pure.”

Gautama Buddha (-563–-483 BC) philosopher, reformer and the founder of Buddhism

Source: Pali Canon, Sutta Pitaka, Khuddaka Nikaya (Minor Collection), Dhammapada, Ch. 165, as translated in The Dharma, or The Religion of Enlightenment; An Exposition of Buddhism (1896) by Paul Carus; variants for some years have included "We ourselves must walk the path but Buddhas clearly show the way", but this is not yet located in any of the original publications of Carus.

“We cease loving ourselves if no one loves us.”

Anne Louise Germaine de Staël (1766–1817) Swiss author

On cesse de s'aimer si quelqu'un ne nous aime.
Sophie, or The Secret Sentiments (Sophie, ou les sentiments secrets, 1790), Act 2, sc. 8

“It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Source: Meditations

“Nobody can discover the world for somebody else. Only when we discover it for ourselves does it become common ground and a common bond and we cease to be alone.”

Wendell Berry (1934) author

Source: A Place on Earth

“No matter how qualified or deserving we are, we will never reach a better life until we can imagine it for ourselves and allow ourselves to have it.”

Richard Bach (1936) American spiritual writer

“The friendship that can cease has never been real.”
Amicitia quae desinere potest vera numquam fuit.

Jerome (345–420) Catholic saint and Doctor of the Church

Letter 3
Letters

“In a controversy, the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.”

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher

“We persist in regarding ourselves as a great power, capable of everything and only temporarily handicapped by economic difficulties. We are not a great power and never will be again. We are a great nation, but if we continue to behave like a great power we shall soon cease to be a great nation.”

Henry Tizard (1885–1959) British chemist

Memo written as Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Ministry of Defence https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/feb/01/britain-retrenched-island-europe-papers-react-to-brexit-day (1949)

“We can never have enough of that which we really do not want, and… we run fastest and farthest from ourselves.”

Eric Hoffer book The True Believer

Section 37, Ch.6 Misfits
The True Believer (1951), Part Two: The Potential Converts

“We can never cease to be ourselves.”

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Joseph Conrad 127

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