Quotes about self (5415 quotes, page 54)

“A warrior must cultivate the feeling that he has everything needed for the extravagant journey that is his life. What counts for a warrior is being alive. Life in itself is sufficient, self-explanatory and complete.”

Carlos Castaneda book The Wheel of Time

Source: The Wheel of Time: Shamans of Ancient Mexico, Their Thoughts About Life, Death and the Universe], (1998), Quotations from "Tales of Power" (Chapter 10)

Life , Feeling

“A warrior doesn't know remorse for anything he has done, because to isolate one's acts as being mean, or ugly, or evil is to place an unwarranted importance on the self.”

Carlos Castaneda book The Wheel of Time

Source: The Wheel of Time: Shamans of Ancient Mexico, Their Thoughts About Life, Death and the Universe], (1998), Quotations from "Journey to Ixtlan" (Chapter 8)

Evil

“Except not a moment of peace from love of self,
except no lofty position from lack of will.
Worldliness brings no profit –
Become insignificant, seek no increase.”

Sarmad Kashani (1590–1661) Persian mystic, poet and saint

Source: Sarmad, Martyr to Love Divine, p. 241 (2005)

Peace , Love

“Control of the mind can be achieved by understanding yourself, the aim and the energy which is blocking us from progressing. Between God and the Self, the blocking energy is the ego.”

Baba Hari Dass (1923–2018) master yogi, author, builder, commentator of Indian spiritual tradition

Mount Madonna Messenger

God , Understanding

“Self-pity, he said, is the most demoralizing of all vices.”

Robert A. Heinlein book Friday

Source: Friday (1982), Chapter 24 (p. 244)

“But I do not willingly involve us in nationalistic wars; the side of the angels is seldom self-evident.”

Robert A. Heinlein book Friday

Source: Friday (1982), Chapter 4 (p. 37)

War , Angels

“Self-control and resistance to distractions. Optimism in adversity—especially illness.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Hays translation
I, 15
Meditations (c. AD 121–180), Book I

Optimism

“To carry on the great revolutionary alliance, all organizations should conduct more self-criticisms, and conduct more investigations and studies and self-criticisms in one's own organization. This would facilitate the alliance. Otherwise, the enemy can easily exploit our weaknesses.”

Jiang Qing (1914–1991) Chinese political figure and wife of Mao Zedong

Source: Talk at the Peking Forum on Literature and Art (9 and 12 November 1967)

Study

“Many people operate as if there are two separate and equal sources of information—the self and others, where the number of others is irrelevant. The result is a “truly” false-consensus effect in the context of knowing one’s own plus a certain number of others’ responses.”

Robyn Dawes (1936–2010) American psychologist

Source: Everyday Irrationality: How Pseudo-Scientists, Lunatics, and the Rest of Us Systematically Fail to Think Rationally (2001), Chapter 8, “Connecting Ourselves with Others, Without Recourse to a Good Story” (p. 148)

People , Falseness

“So true - when people see an absence of women in engineering, science and technology, then it becomes self-reinforcing.”

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (1977) Nigerian writer

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/15-quotes-from-chimamanda-adichie-that-have-change/
On Gender

People , Women , Science

“Nations will for a long time insist upon a large measure of self-government, but when they begin to see the benefits which accrue from each successive international co-operative development, they will finally grasp the new principle of synthesis, and the age of separation will be over for ever.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Chapter II Planning a Model World

Age , Time , Success

“We will give two practical Courses of self-training, mental and physical, with which we can fit ourselves to become successful pioneers for the new age.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Introduction p. I - XII

Success , Age , Training

“This century has seen world war for the first time. It has seen a world civilization threatened with self-destruction, not only through war but through the exploitation of all the kingdoms in nature...”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Introduction p. I - XII

Time , War , Nature , World

“We Communists must not separate our study of theory from our ideological self-cultivation. We must remould ourselves and temper our proletarian ideology not only in the practice of revolution but in the study of Marxism-Leninism.”

Liu Shaoqi (1898–1969) 2nd President of the People's Republic of China (1898-1969)

Source: "How to Be a Good Communist - 4. The Unity of Theoretical Study and Ideological Self-Cultivation" https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/liu-shaoqi/1939/how-to-be/ch04.htm (July 1939)

Study

“Love unifies by individuating and individuates by unifying. At what moment do lovers come into the most perfect possession of themselves as individuals if not when they are most lost in each other? Self, is given up, but "he who loses his self will find it."”

Peter Kreeft (1937) American philosopher

Matthew 16:25
Source: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Heaven … But Never Dreamed of Asking (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1990), p. 74

Perfection , Lovers , Love

“At the present time the issue is the self-interest of several immense nation-groups. The result is much as it would be if the four quarters of a person’s body were arrayed against each other, and the circulation impeded between them. Economical chaos and frustration is the result, on a world scale.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Introduction p. I - XII

Personality , World , Time

“Self-knowledge starts with understanding that you’ve got the single most important thing absolutely right – you are alive.”

Prem Rawat (1957) controversial spiritual leader

Source: Prem Rawat's book, Hear Yourself: How to Find Peace in the Noisy World, published in 2021

Understanding , Knowledge

“I consider myself as having two selves. One self is Chinese and more delicate, more subtle, in terms of language. But the English self is young and audacious, and I say what I want to say.”

Geling Yan (1958) Chinese writer and screenwriter

Source: "Chinese writer finds freedom in English" in Reuters https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-literature-yan-interview/chinese-writer-finds-freedom-in-english-idUSTRE53M00D20090423 (22 April 2009)

“Dwelling upon the self too much produces a terrible fatigue. A man in that position is deaf and blind to everything else. The fatigue makes him cease to see the marvels all around him.”

Carlos Castaneda book The Wheel of Time

Source: The Wheel of Time: Shamans of Ancient Mexico, Their Thoughts About Life, Death and the Universe], (1998), Quotations from The Teachings of Don Juan (Chapter 4)

“Hindus have become devoid of self-confidence simply because they have ceased to take legitimate, well-informed, and conscious pride in their spiritual, cultural, and social heritage.”

Sita Ram Goel (1921–2003) Indian activist

Source: Defence of Hindu Society (1983)

Confidence , Self-confidence

“Whatever you identify with is what you are. If you identify with the physical body, then to all intents and purposes you are the physical body. That traps the Self in the physical plane and causes all the illness — stomach aches, ulcers, and all the rest, of the physical body.”

Benjamin Creme (1922–2016) artist, author, esotericist

Source: Maitreya's Mission Vol. III (1997) p. 606

“The self-preservation instinct of the nation must be heard. Adventurists must have their hands tied before they push the homeland into the abyss of fratricide.”

Wojciech Jaruzelski (1923–2014) Polish military officer and politician

Source: Excerpts of Martial law speech (14 December 1981)

“What theology that would have been, a god self-worshipping, a drug addicted to itself.”

China Miéville Embassytown

Source: Embassytown (2011), Chapter 18 (p. 239)

God

“Who would dare invite such a smoke? To some it might be healing, but to others, bane. Breathed in at the nostrils, it seemed to fill the eyes and ears and brain. To a man who knew many things, it would reveal many more, to a man who knew little it would reveal too much. Its name was self-knowledge.”

Tanith Lee Tales from the Flat Earth

Tales from the Flat Earth, Night's Master (1978)
Source: Book 3 “The World’s Lure”, Chapter 4 “The Anger of the Magicians” (p. 163)

Knowledge

“Philosophy can never reconcile itself with science. Science aims at self-evident truths and finds in them that "natural necessity" which, after having proclaimed itself for ever eternal, claims to serve as the foundation of all knowledge and strives to rule over all wanton "suddenly."”

Lev Shestov (1866–1938) Russian theologian

But philosophy has always been, and will always be, a fight with and a conquest of self-evident truths; philosophy is not looking for any "natural necessity", it sees in naturalness and in necessity alike an evil magic, which, if one cannot quite shake it off (for in this no mortal has ever yet succeeded), yet one must at least call by its right name; and even this is an important step! p. 342
Source: In Job's Balances: on the sources of the eternal truths, Words That Are Swallowed Up - Plotinus's Ecstasies

Truth , Science , Nature , Knowledge

“[T]hough affluence is a good thing, and the spirit of compassionate reform is a good thing, in the end a nation survives only to the extent that the spirit of self-discipline and self-sacrifice is strong and vital.”

Irving Kristol (1920–2009) American columnist, journalist, and writer

Source: Memorandum to Robert T. Hartmann https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0204/1511691.pdf (1976)

Strong

“It is important for the Supreme Court itself to engage in self-criticism, self-awareness, self-assessment to address the loss of confidence of the people in the Supreme Court. That is where our salvation lies.”

Folake Solanke (1932) Nigerian lawyer

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6lqx-jLCac Folake Solanke speaks on the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

Loss , Confidence , People

“You are captive of your lower-self (ego); you nullify it and break the snare so that you arrive at your real nest.”

Bu Ali Shah Qalandar (1209–1324) Indian Sufi saint

Source: The Sayings and Teachings of the Great Mystics of Islam (2004), p. 271

“Become lover. Think both the worlds beauty of the Beloved and think own self the beauty of the Beloved.”

Bu Ali Shah Qalandar (1209–1324) Indian Sufi saint

Source: The Sayings and Teachings of the Great Mystics of Islam (2004), p. 270

Thinking , Lovers , World , Beauty

“Detachment from worldly things is the most essential qualification required for a true dervish. His separation from everything, including his own self is the only way for the realization of kingship with God.”

Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki (1173–1235) Indian Sufi

Source: The Sayings and Teachings of the Great Mystics of Islam (2004), p. 263

God , Way

“Children should above all be taught self-reliance, love for all men, altruism, mutual charity, and more than anything else, to think and reason for themselves... Aim at creating free men and women, free intellectually, free morally, unprejudiced in all respects, and above all things, unselfish.”

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky book The Key to Theosophy

Source: The Key to Theosophy (1889)

Children , Women , Thinking , Love

“One should cultivate an innocence, an awareness of self, and an unselfconsciousness of self which leaves one nothing to hide.”

Isaac Asimov book Second Foundation

Source: The Foundation series (1951–1993), Second Foundation (1953), Chapter 8 "Seldon's Plan"

“I felt the South Vietnamese had a right to their own self-determination. And I was over there to help them to maintain that self-determination.”

James Robinson Risner (1925–2013) Recipient of the Purple Heart medal

Source: "Vietnam: A Television History; Interview with Robinson Risner" https://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_6076E82857E84041BBB27C3C40582A89 (1981)

Help

“It was clear to me that all over the world publishing is a problem. Whether than it through self-censorship or overt censorship.”

Julian Assange book When Google Met Wikileaks

Source: Julian Assange, "When Google Met Wikileaks" (ORbooks, New York, 2014), p. 69

Problem , World

“The modern historian of India must approach her as a living entity with a central continuous urge, of which the apparent life is a mere expression. Without such an outlook, it is impossible to understand India, which…stands today strong…determined not to be untrue to its ancient self.”

Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi (1887–1971) Indian independence movement activist, politician, writer and educationist (1887-1971)

Source: quoted in https://www.dharmadispatch.in/culture/revisiting-km-munshis-majestic-vision-for-writing-indias-history https://www.esamskriti.com/e/National-Affairs/For-The-Followers-Of-Dharma/History-Writing-And-Nationalism-1.aspx http://www.eng.vedanta.ru/library/prabuddha_bharata/August2005_editorial.php

Strong , Understanding , Life

“Technology is nature without the human being. It is abstract nature, reduced to itself, delivered over to itself, exalting and expressing itself on its own. It develops in such a way that all the virtualities and potentialities within it must be actualized, for them and for what they are, for their own sake, so that everything is done that can be done, that is to say, everything that nature can become. It is a matter of making gold, going to the moon, building self-guiding and self-monitoring missiles that can decide on the moment to self-destruction – and destroy us. Technology is alchemy; it is the self-fulfillment of nature in place of the self-fulfillment of the life that we are. It is barbarism, the new barbarism of our time, in place of culture. Inasmuch as it puts the prescriptions and regulations of life out of play, it is not simply barbarism in its most extreme and inhumane form that has ever been known – it is sheer madness.”

Michel Henry (1922–2002) French writer

Michel Henry, Barbarism, Continuum, 2012, p. 52
Books on Culture and Barbarism, Barbarism (1987)

Madness , Nature , Life , Time

“Banish Evil from the world? Nonsense! Encourage it, foster it, sponsor it. The world owes Evil a debt beyond imagination. Think! Without greed ambition falters. Without vanity art becomes idle musing. Without cruelty benevolence lapses to passivity. Superstition has shamed man into self-reliance and, without stupidity, where would be the savor of superior understanding?”

Jack Vance book The Many Worlds of Magnus Ridolph

The Sub-Standard Sardines (p. 132)
Short fiction, The Many Worlds of Magnus Ridolph (1966)

Imagination , Stupidity , World , Evil

“When self-willed microunits combine to form and sustain a durable macrounit, certain freedoms of action are curtailed.
This is the basic process of Organization.
The more numerous and erratic the microunits, the more complex must be the structure and function of the macrounit—hence the more pervasive and restricting the details of Organization.”

Jack Vance (1916–2013) American mystery and speculative fiction writer

Dodkin’s Job (p. 7)
Short fiction, Future Tense (1964)

Freedom

“The antidote for self-pity and negative thinking is gratitude.”

Jay Samit (1961) American businessman

Future Proofing You (2021)

Gratitude , Thinking

“Self-perception is more important than any other factor in predicting success.”

Jay Samit (1961) American businessman

Future Proofing You (2021)

Success

“...the constitution of the universe may be such that the human self and the substance that things [are] made out of, the spatial matter or whatever you call it, are much more inextricably related than we realized.”

Christopher Alexander (1936) architect

Source: Debate with Peter Eisenman at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, 17 November 1982.

Universe

“Autocratic governments are masters of self-contradiction. They say one thing, do another.”

Alastair Reynolds book On the Steel Breeze

Source: On the Steel Breeze (2013), Chapter 22 (p. 253)

“The knowledge we get by tinkering, via trial and error, experience, and the workings of time, in other words, contact with the earth, is vastly superior to that obtained through reasoning, something self-serving institutions have been very busy hiding from us.”

Nassim Nicholas Taleb book Skin in the Game

Source: Skin in the Game (2018), p. 7

Time , Business , Error , Knowledge

“The highest degree of knowledge. To become a Buddha one has to break through the bondage of sense and personality; to acquire a complete perception of the REAL SELF and learn not to separate it from all otherselves; to learn by experience the utter unreality of all phenomena of the visible Kosmos foremost of all; to reach a complete detachment from all that is evanescent and finite, and live while yet on Earth in the immortal and the everlasting alone, in a supreme state of holiness.”

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831–1891) occult writer

Buddha (Sk.). Lit., “The Enlightened.”
The Theosophical Glossary (1892)

Personality , Learning , Knowledge , Sense

“The idea of schooling free men in anything would have revolted Athenians. Forced training was for slaves. Among free men, learning was self-discipline, not the gift of experts.”

John Taylor Gatto book The Underground History of American Education

Source: The Underground History of American Education: An Intimate Investigation Into the Prison of Modern Schooling (2001), p. 62

School , Learning , Men , Training

“I feel ashamed that so many of us cannot imagine a better way to do things than locking children up all day in cells instead of letting them grow up knowing their families, mingling with the world, assuming real obligations, striving to be independent and self-reliant and free.”

John Taylor Gatto (1935–2018) American teacher, book author

Source: A Different Kind of Teacher: Solving the Crisis of American Schooling, Berkeley Hills Books (2000) p. 97

Imagination , Children , World , Family

“The more you know yourself, the more clarity there is. Self-knowledge has no end – you don’t come to an achievement; you don’t come to a conclusion. It is an endless river.”

Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986) Indian spiritual philosopher

Knowledge

“If you don't feel well, stay home, take a self-test. If you're positive (of COVID-19), isolate.”

Hans Kluge (1968) Belgian doctor, senior official of the WHO

Source: Hans Kluge (2022) cited in: " COVID-19: Europe and US could be headed toward pandemic ‘endgame,’ WHO official says https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2022/01/25/2003772017" in Taipei Times, 25 January 2022.

Home , Feeling

“Conversely, a shallow, quick breath only half-nourishes, and is the partner of fear, nervousness and self-consciousness; whilst the uneven uncontrolled breath allows the person to become ‘beside themselves* with the emotional disturbance and indecision.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Chapter XV The Essential Science of Breathing

Personality , Fear , Indecision

“There's a right of self-defense here that's involved: We know the government has to respond, so we will not be subjected to these types of attacks in the future. But the response should be measured, restrained as much as possible, to protect innocent civilians. It should not just be military. We should pursue diplomatic ways, legal ways, any other ways we can address that.”

Joseph Fiorenza (1931–2022) US Roman Catholic archbishop

Source: Bishops Write Bush to Back U.S. Efforts https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/21/us/a-nation-challenged-support-from-churches-bishops-write-bush-to-back-us-efforts.html (21 September 2001)

Future , Way

“How much grit do you think you've got?
Can you quit a thing that you like a lot?
You may talk of pluck; it's an easy word,
And where'er you go it is often heard;
But can you tell to a jot or guess
Just how much courage you now possess?You may stand to trouble and keep your grin,
But have you tackled self-discipline?
Have you ever issued commands to you
To quit the things that you like to do,
And then, when tempted and sorely swayed,
Those rigid orders have you obeyed?Don't boast of your grit till you've tried it out,
Nor prate to men of your courage stout,
For it's easy enough to retain a grin
In the face of a fight there's a chance to win,
But the sort of grit that is good to own
Is the stuff you need when you're all alone.How much grit do you think you've got?
Can you turn from joys that you like a lot?
Have you ever tested yourself to know
How far with yourself your will can go?
If you want to know if you have grit,
Just pick out a joy that you like, and quit.It's bully sport and it's open fight;
It will keep you busy both day and night;
For the toughest kind of a game you'll find
Is to make your body obey your mind.
And you never will know what is meant by grit
Unless there's something you've tried to quit.”

Edgar Guest (1881–1959) American writer

Source: Just Folks (1917), On Quitting

Night , Men , Game , Courage

“Compassion for other human beings has to extend to the society that’s been grinding the powerless under its heel. The more civilized the society becomes, the more humane it becomes; the more it can see its own humanity, the more it sees the ways in which its humanity has been behaving inhumanly. This injustice of the world inspires a rage so intense that to express it fully would require homicidal action; it’s self-destructive, destroy-the-world rage. Simply put, I’ve learned that I must find positive outlets for anger or it will destroy me. I have to try to find a way to channel that anger to the positive, and the highest positive is forgiveness.”

Sidney Poitier (1927) American-born Bahamian actor, film director, author, and diplomat

Variant: I’ve learned that I must find positive outlets for anger or it will destroy me. There is a certain anger; it reaches such intensity that to express it fully would require homicidal rage — self-destructive, destroy-the-world rage — and its flame burns because the world is so unjust. I have to try to find a way to channel that anger to the positive, and the highest positive is forgiveness.
Source: The Measure of a Man (2000)

Learning , Rage , World , Forgiveness

“1. Strive to be a leader of character, competence, and courage.
2. Lead from the front. Say, "Follow me!" and then lead the way.
3. Stay in top physical shape- physical stamina is the root of mental toughness.
4. Develop your team. If you know your people, are fair in setting realistic goals and expectations, and lead by example, you will develop teamwork.
5. Delegate responsibility to your subordinates and let them do their jobs. You can't do a good job if you don't have a chance to use your imagination or your creativity.
6. Anticipate problems and prepare to overcome obstacles. Don't wait until you get to the top of the ridge and then make up your mind.
7. Remain humble. Don't worry about who receives the credit. Never let power or authority go to your head.
8. Take a moment of self-reflection. Look at yourself in the mirror every night and ask yourself if you did your best.
9. True satisfaction comes from getting the job done. The key to a successful leader is to earn respect- not because of rank or position, but because you are a leader of character.
10. Hang Tough!

Never, ever give up.”

Dick Winters (1918–2011) American military personnel

Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters (2006)
Source: Leadership at the Point of the Bayonet: Ten Principles for Success, p. 293

Night , People , Way , Imagination

“Experiencing oneself as Life does is to enjoy oneself [jouir de soi]. Enjoyment does not presuppose any differences similar to those in which the world is born: it is homogeneous phenomenological material, a monolithic affective body whose phenomenality is affectivity as such. The self-revelation of Life is not a formal structure that can be conceived on the basis of “outside oneself” and in terms of its own structures, since these are bypassed, overcome while being maintained in this very bypassing. The self-revelation of life is its enjoyment, the primordial self-enjoyment that defines the essence of Living and thus of God himself. According to Christianity, God is Love. Love is nothing other than the self-revelation of God understood as in its pathetic phenomenological essence, specifically, the self-enjoyment of absolute Life. This is why the Love of God is the infinite love in which he eternally loves himself, and the revelation of God is none other than this Love.”

Michel Henry (1922–2002) French writer

Books on Religion and Christianity, I am the Truth. Toward a philosophy of Christianity (1996)
Source: Michel Henry, I am the Truth. Toward a Philosophy of Christianity, translated by Susan Emanuel, Stanford University Press, 2003, p. 30

Love , Life , God , World

“Where is a self-revelation of this sort achieved? In Life, as its essence, since Life is nothing other than that which reveals itself – not something that might have an added property of self-revealing, but the very fact of self-revealing, self-revelation as such. Everywhere that something like a self-revelation is produced there is Life. Everywhere there is Life, this self-revelation is produced. If, then, the Revelation of God is a self-revelation that owes nothing to the truth of the world, and if we ask where such a self-revelation is achieved, the answer is unequivocal: in Life and in Life alone. Therefore we are in the presence of the first fundamental equation of Christianity: God is Life – he is the essence of Life, or if one prefers, the essence of Life is God. Saying this we already know what God is, but we do not know it through the effect of some knowledge or learning – we do not know it through thought, against the background of the truth of the world. Rather we know it, and we can know it, only in and through Life itself. We can know the essence of God only in God. But this observation is premature.”

Michel Henry (1922–2002) French writer

Books on Religion and Christianity, I am the Truth. Toward a philosophy of Christianity (1996)
Source: Michel Henry, I am the Truth. Toward a Philosophy of Christianity, translated by Susan Emanuel, Stanford University Press, 2003, p. 27-28

Knowledge , Life , God , Learning

“Although it is not thought or some other form of knowledge, although it is not the truth of the world, that gives access to the Revelation of God, at least a single possibility persist, already mentioned as a simple matter of fact and now rendered unimpeachable. Access to God, understood as his self-revelation according to a phenomenality proper to Him, is not susceptible of being produced except where this self-revelation is produced and in the way self-revelation does so. There where God originally arrives in himself, in the phenomenalization of phenomenality that is his own and is thus like the self-phenomenalization of this phenomenality proper – there alone is access to God. It is not that thought is lacking and so we cannot accede to the Revelation of God. Quite the contrary, it is only when thought defaults, because the truth of the world is absent, that what is at stake be achieved: the self-revelation of God – the self-phenomenalization of pure phenomenality against the background of a phenomenality that is not that of the world.”

Michel Henry (1922–2002) French writer

Books on Religion and Christianity, I am the Truth. Toward a philosophy of Christianity (1996)
Source: Michel Henry, I am the Truth. Toward a Philosophy of Christianity, translated by Susan Emanuel, Stanford University Press, 2003, p. 27

Knowledge , God , Truth , Way

“People did not always love the mountains. Just a few hundred years ago the high mountains were regarded as horrible, monstrous places filling people with terror and fear. The inhabitants near them were seen as awful demons, subhumans. But this attitude got transformed into just the opposite, especially by Romantic writers and painters in the nineteenth century. Seen by the Romantics, high mountains became places of impossible beauty, where the quality of light and the expansive solitary grandeur of the high peaks opened the heart of the individual. A man climbing a mountain became the image of self-conscious intelligence pitted against the eternal indifference of the forces of nature. Compared to these forces of nature, we are nothing save for the will that moves our limbs. Only that will is truly our own.”

Heinz R. Pagels (1939–1988) American physicist

Source: The Cosmic Code (1982), p. 271-272

Mountain , Intelligence , Indifference , Nature

“The belief that we can maintain current levels of consumption, especially of animal products, capitalist expansion, imperial wars, a reliance on fossil fuels and abject subservience to unfettered corporate power, which has solidified the worst income inequality in human history, is not a form of hope but suicidal self-delusion. We are not headed under the policies of the Biden administration and the global ruling elite for the broad sunlit uplands of a new and glorious future, but economic misery, vast climate migrations, waves of new and more virulent pandemics, of which COVID-19 is a mild precursor, along with irreversible ecological systems collapse and frightening forms of societal breakdown, authoritarianism and neofascism.”

Chris Hedges (1956) American journalist

Source: The Great Delusion https://scheerpost.com/2020/12/21/chris-hedges-the-great-delusion/. Scheerpost, December 21, 2020

History , Suicide , War , Future

“Overextending myself is not stretching myself. I had to accept how difficult it is to monitor the difference. Necessary for me as cutting down on sugar. Crucial. Physically. Psychically. Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”

Audre Lorde (1934–1992) writer and activist

Source: [Lorde, Audre, A Burst of Light : Living with Cancer, A burst of light : essays, 125, Firebrand Books, 1988, 0932379400]

“The decisions I made after that moment were not the ones she would have made. They were the choices of a changed person, a new self.
You could call this selfhood many things. Transformation. Metamorphosis. Falsity. Betrayal.
I call it an education.”

Tara Westover book Educated

Source: Educated (2018), Chapter 40, “Educated” (p. 329)

Betrayal , Personality , Decision , Education

“When we are born, all humans are clueless, self-absorbed, and helpless. Most babies will grow out of it. Those who don't become managers.”

Scott Adams (1957) cartoonist, writer

Source: Books, Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook (1996)

Baby

“I'm good at being self-critical. I've also been told that I'm good at taking up new sports. I'm a fast learner and pick things up very quickly.”

Benedict Cumberbatch (1976) English actor and film producer

"The 5-minute Interview: Benedict Cumberbatch, Actor" in The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/the-5minute-interview-benedict-cumberbatch-actor-779150.html (7 February 2008)

Sport

“It’s scary to think about, but we may finally find unity as a species in self-destruction. The first minute of World War III will render nations, races, and religions meaningless concepts because the first thing to die in nuclear fire will be all our beloved imaginary borders.”

Guy P. Harrison (1963) American skeptic author

War , World , Religion , Thinking

“I was reincarnated as my former self.”

Ron English (1959) American artist

Ron English's Fauxlosophy: Volume 2 (2022)

“I always say to myself, 'I never had a career, only work.' What I mean by that is sometimes — and I won't mention names — but when you get into this career-minded perception of one's self it can be a slippery slope, and it can lead to things where you start believing in your own mythos and you start taking yourself way too seriously. You become pretentious and then you fall into the realm of diva, and that's when mistakes happen in your personal life and on camera.”

Nicolas Cage (1964) American actor

"Nicolas Cage Says He Feels 'Very Blessed Right Now': I'm Doing 'Some of the Best Work' of My Life" in People https://people.com/movies/nicolas-cage-feels-hes-doing-best-work-of-his-life-now-exclusive/ (18 April 2022)

Personality , Way , Life

“We hold these truths to be self-evident. All men and women created ... by the — you know — you know, the thing.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

2020, March 2020

Women , Truth , Men

“Whoever will be free must make himself free. Freedom is no fairy gift to fall into a man's lap. What is freedom? To have the will to be responsible for one's self.”

Max Stirner (1806–1856) German philosopher

Attributed in Forbes Vol 38 Iss. 2 (1936) p. 18, and in Lifetime Speaker's Encyclopedia (1962) by Jacob Morton Braude, p. 275

Freedom

“Efforts at self-vindication are a sign of their selfcondemnation.”

Witness Lee (1905–1997) Chinese Christian preacher

Life-study of Titus - p. 50, of Witness Lee - BY Living Stream Ministry, ISBN 0-87083-155-0

Effort

“A true worshipper will every year know more of self, and God, and heaven, and duty, and doctrine, and practice, and experience. His religion is a living thing, and will grow.”

J.C. Ryle (1816–1900) Anglican bishop

Source: Knots Untied (1877), Ch. XIII: "Worship", p. 295

God , Religion

“We are all naturally self-righteous. It is the family-disease of all the children of Adam.”

J.C. Ryle (1816–1900) Anglican bishop

Vol. II, Luke XVIII: 9–14, p. 259
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: St. Luke (1858–1859)

Family , Disease , Children , Nature

“If I had to confess, under torture, right now, what I think the simple idea is, I would say it's that we ourselves generate the world, the world is self-generated, but it may well be absolutely wrong.”

John Archibald Wheeler (1911–2008) American physicist

from a transcript of the video interview "Understanding Relativity," published at webofstories.com

Thinking , World , Idea

“We can't start getting picky because we've got enough food; that's just self-centered and racist. Unless you and your family are starving, you need to shut the fuck up!”

Penn Jillette (1955) American magician

"Eat This!", Penn & Teller: Bullshit! (4 April 2003)
2000s

Family , Food

“There is no idea so obscure that someone could not come to regard it as self-evident.”

Leszek Kolakowski (1927–2009) Philosopher, historian of ideas

Source: The Alienation of Reason (1966), Chapter Seven, Pragmatism and Positivism, p. 156

Idea

“A national election campaign is not a conflict of self-interest, with the prize going to the highest bidder. It is an occasion for a re-statement of faith, a renewal of zeal, and a clear vision of the future.”

Robert Menzies (1894–1978) Australian politician, 12th Prime Minister of Australia

Election speech, Canterbury, Victoria, 29 October, 1958 https://electionspeeches.moadoph.gov.au/speeches/1958-robert-menzies
Second Term as Prime Minister (1949-1966)

Faith , Future

“I think it is reasonable to posit that it is often the people who have had too easy a time—who have been pampered and elevated falsely in their self-esteem—who adopt the role of victim and the mien of resentment.”

Jordan Peterson book Beyond Order

Source: Books, Beyond Order (2021), p. 339

Time , People , Falseness , Thinking

“Life is not about projecting onto others your inability to cope, nurturing hatred and then going off either to self-destruction or to annihilate those who have been more successful than you.”

Ayaan Hirsi Ali (1969) Dutch feminist, author

Source: 2010s, Nomad: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations (2010), Chapter 5, “My Brother’s Son” (p. 71)

Success , Life

“We make our sons. This is the tragedy of the tribal Muslim man, and especially the firstborn son: the overblown expectations, the ruinous vanity, the unstable sense of self that relies on the oppression of one group of people—women—to maintain the other group’s self-image.”

Ayaan Hirsi Ali (1969) Dutch feminist, author

Source: 2010s, Nomad: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations (2010), Chapter 4, “My Brother’s Story” (p. 58)

People , Sense , Women

“Self-confidence is key. You do not have to have the best shoes or a designer dress; you just have to be true to yourself.”

Emma Wareus (1990) Miss Botswana 2010, 1st runner-up to Miss World 2010

Source: http://www.missnews.com.br/noticias/wareus-rooting-for-miss-botswana "Wareus rooting for Miss Botswana

Confidence , Self-confidence , Shoe

“Dominance hierarchies had underlain every system ever realized so far, but at the same time democratic values had been always a hope and a goal, expressed in every primate’s sense of self, and resentment of hierarchies that after all had to be imposed, by force.”

Kim Stanley Robinson (1952) American science fiction writer

Source: Blue Mars (1996), Chapter 11, “Viriditas” (p. 483)

Time , Hope , Sense

“The desire to be loved exactly as we are can get in the way of self-development, personal expansion and prevent us from making necessary changes that would make our relationships and life better.”

Teal Swan (1984) American spiritual teacher

Source: tealswan.com/quotes

Personality , Change , Way , Love

“With the era of great ideological confrontation behind us, mankind has managed to decrease the threat of self-destruction by nuclear conflagration and to establish sufficiently reliable mechanisms of international security.”

Leonid Kuchma (1938) Second president of Ukraine

Speech at the 50th session of the United Nations General Assembly (excerpts) (1995)

“Self-government is better than good government.”

Henry Campbell-Bannerman (1836–1908) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Widely attributed to Campbell-Bannerman since at least 1910 https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1910/jul/12/parliamentary-franchise-women-bill-1. However it appears unattributed earlier https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=rIFPAAAAYAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22self-government+is+better%22, and the concept pre-dates https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=lFI3AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA403&lpg=PA403&dq=%22your+public-spirited+advocates+of+good+government,+I+do+find+sneering+upon+the+self-government+of+the+Christian%22 Campbell-Bannerman.
Compare Gandhi: "Good government is no substitute for self-government." Young India (2 September 1920), p. 1
Attributed