“To know yourself less beloved than you love, is a dreadful feeling”

“The better you feel about yourself, the less you feel the need to show off.”

Robert Hand (1942) American astrologer and writer

“Love doesn't demand perfection, but it does ask you to give yourself with less reserve than you'd prefer.”

Thomas Moore (1779–1852) Irish poet, singer and songwriter

“You know you've checked into Heartbreak Hotel for real when you feel less desirable than uncooked fish.”

Plum Sykes book Bergdorf Blondes

“And what did you want? To call myself beloved, to feel myself beloved on the earth.”

Raymond Carver (1938–1988) American short story author and poet

“Love consists not in feeling great things but in having great detachment and in suffering for the Beloved.”

John of the Cross (1542–1591) Spanish mystic and Roman Catholic saint

“You know how you finish a bag of chips and you hate yourself? You know you’ve done nothing good for yourself. That’s the same feeling, and you know it is, after some digital binge. You feel wasted and hollow and diminished.”

Dave Eggers book The Circle

“You have to keep your reflexes so that when you want it — it’s there. When you want to move — you are moving. And when you move, you are determined to move! Not accepting even one inch less than 100 percent of your honest feelings. Not anything less than that. So that is the type of thing you have to train yourself into. To become one with your feelings so that, when you think — it is.”

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

“Ask yourself: Is there any way I can become even more loving than I am? Can I fill my heart with more loving kindness? Can you, despite the fact that there are less than perfect people in our world, think loving thoughts about yourself and about others? Spread that love around as far as your mind will allow!”

Richard Carlson (1961–2006) Author, psychotherapist and motivational speaker

“One thing I've learned in all these years is not to make love when you really don't feel it; there's probably nothing worse you can do to yourself than that.”

Norman Mailer (1923–2007) American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, film maker, actor and political candidate