Quotes about yourself
page 11

“Perhaps watching someone you love suffer can teach you even more than suffering yourself can.”

Dodie Smith book I Capture the Castle

Source: I Capture the Castle

Love, Suffering

“Well, you have the right to make a sacrifice of yourself, but I'll be damned if I'll let you sacrifice me!”

Georgette Heyer book Black Sheep

Source: Black Sheep

“Everytime you see a flood like that on the news you tell yourself: That's it. That's my heart.”

Haruki Murakami book Kafka on the Shore

Source: Kafka on the Shore

Heart

“I think it happens to everyone as they grow up. You find out who you are and what you want, and then you realize that people you've known forever don't see things the way you do. And so you keep the wonderful memories, but find yourself moving on. It's perfectly normal.”

Nicholas Sparks book True Believer

Jeremy Marsh, Chapter 7, p. 113
Variant: I think it happens to everyone as they grow up. You find out who you are and what you want, and then you realize that people you've known forever don't see things the way you do. And so you keep the wonderful memories, but find yourself moving on. It's perfectly normal.
Source: 2000s, True Believer (2005)

People, Way, Memory

“If you aren't good at loving yourself, you will have a difficult time loving anyone, since you'll resent the time and energy you give another person that you aren't even giving to yourself.”

Barbara De Angelis (1951) American psychologist

From Are You the One for Me? (1992)

Love, Time, Personality

“So long as you do no harm to another, change your opinion once in a while. Contradict yourself without being embarrassed. This is your right. It doesn't matter what others think -because that's what they will think, in any case.”

Paulo Coelho Maktub

Source: Maktub

Thinking, Change

“A power struggle collapses when you withdraw your energy from it. Power struggles become uninteresting to you when you change your intention from winning to learning about yourself.”

Gary Zukav (1942) American writer and revivalist

Learning, Change

“Light yourself on fire with passion and people will come from miles to watch you burn.”

John Wesley (1703–1791) Christian theologian

As quoted in The Peaceful Path of Prosperity : Practical and Spiritual Approaches to Enrich Your Life with Your Inner Wealth (2001) by Danny Babineaux; not found in any record of Wesley before 2001.
Misattributed
Variant: I set myself on fire and people come to watch me burn.

People, Light, Passion

“Unless you're not pushing yourself, you're not living to the fullest. You can't be afraid to fail, but unless you fail, you haven't pushed hard enough.”

Dean Karnazes (1962) American distance runner

Source: 50/50: Secrets I Learned Running 50 Marathons in 50 Days -- and How You Too Can Achieve Super Endurance!

“What you forget when you're planning a hijack by yourself is somewhere along the line, you might need to neglect your hostages just long enough so you can use the bathroom.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Survivor

Source: Survivor

Forgetting

“Surround yourself with people who take their work seriously, but not themselves.”

Colin Powell (1937) Former U.S. Secretary of State and retired four-star general

People

“[W]hen you find yourself face to face with one [Bondsmage], you bow and scrape and mind your 'sirs' and 'madams.'"

…

'Nice bird, asshole,' said Locke.”

Scott Lynch The Lies of Locke Lamora

Source: The Lies of Locke Lamora

Bird

“for once, you believed in yourself. you believed you were beautiful and so did the rest of the world.”

Sarah Dessen book Keeping the Moon

Source: Keeping the Moon

World, Beauty

“Life gives to all the choice. You can satisfy yourself with mediocrity if you wish. You can be common, ordinary, dull, colorless, or yyou can channel your life so that it will be clean, vibrant, useful, progressive, colorful, and rich.”

Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Life, Color

“Friends we shall never be, you know that yourself. Whether we shall be the happiest or the wretchedest of people--that's in your hands.”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

People

“Everything comes at a price. Everthing in your life. The question you have to ask yourself is, what price are you willing to pay?”

Paullina Simons book The Summer Garden

Source: The Summer Garden

Life, Question

“By the time you're thirty, your worst enemy is yourself.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Choke

Source: Choke

Time

“The time it takes to feel better about a breakup is directly proportional to the time it takes to feel better about yourself.”

Greg Behrendt (1963) American comedian

Source: It's Called a Breakup Because It's Broken: The Smart Girl's Break-Up Buddy

Feeling, Time

“Live to please the others, and everyone will love you, except yourself.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Love

“Molly, you are a good person. Don't let anyone take that away from you. Not even yourself.”

Jim Butcher Turn Coat

Source: Turn Coat

Personality

“You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself.”

Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) Indian Hindu monk and phylosopher

Pearls of Wisdom

God

“There is no trap so deadly as the trap you set for yourself.”

Raymond Chandler (1888–1959) Novelist, screenwriter

Source: Long Goodbye

“If friends disappoint you over and over, that's in large part your own fault. Once someone has shown a tendency to be self-centered, you need to recognize that and take care of yourself; people aren't going to change simply because you want them to.”

Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist

People, Disappointment, Change, Parting

“Have faith in who you are. Believe that you will recover, and it will truly happen. And don't judge yourself too harshly. Some things are meant to be, and you had to fall so that later you may rise and become what you are truly meant to be.”

Joseph Delaney (1945) British writer

Source: Clash of the Demons

Faith

“There came a time when you realised that moving on was pointless. That you took yourself with you wherever you went.”

Stephen King book Doctor Sleep

Variant: There came a time when you realized that moving on was pointless. That you took yourself with you wherever you went.
Source: Doctor Sleep

Time

“Success is a finished book, a stack of pages each of which is filled with words. If you reach that point, you have won a victory over yourself no less impressive than sailing single-handed around the world.”

Tom Clancy (1947–2013) American author

Books, World, Success, Victory

“The first thing you have to know is yourself. A man who knows himself can step outside himself and watch his own reactions like an observer.”

Adam Smith (1723–1790) Scottish moral philosopher and political economist

Source: The Money Game

“Writers are not just people who sit down and write. They hazard themselves. Every time you compose a book your composition of yourself is at stake.”

E.L. Doctorow (1931–2015) novelist, editor, professor

People, Books, Time

“Life is a gamble. You can get hurt, but people die in plane crashes, lose their arms and legs in car accidents; people die every day. Same with fighters: some die, some get hurt, some go on. You just don't let yourself believe it will happen to you.”

Muhammad Ali (1942–2016) African American boxer, philanthropist and activist

Life, People, Cars, Hurt

“It was easy enough to kill yourself in a fit of despair. It was easy enough to play the martyr. It was harder to do nothing. To endure your life. To wait.”

Erica Jong book Fear of Flying

Source: Fear of Flying

Life, Waiting, Despair

“I… understand how a parent might hit a child- it's because you can look into their eyes and see a reflection of yourself that you wish you hadn't.”

Jodi Picoult My Sister's Keeper

Source: My Sister's Keeper

Understanding, Parent

“Better not to give in to it. It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart.”

Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay

Variant: It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart.
Source: Mockingjay

Time

“Who am I supposed to be again? Just be yourself. But who am I?”

Candace Bushnell book The Carrie Diaries

Source: The Carrie Diaries

“When you begin a journey of revenge, start by digging two graves: one for your enemy, and one for yourself.”

Jodi Picoult book Nineteen Minutes

Source: Nineteen Minutes

Revenge

“Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

Howard Thurman (1899–1981) American writer

As quoted in Violence Unveiled (1996) by Gil Bailie, p. xv
Variant: Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
Source: The Living Wisdom of Howard Thurman: A Visionary for Our Time

People, World

“Have a belief in yourself that is bigger than anyone's disbelief.”

August Wilson (1945–2005) American playwright

“Don't mind all those people who say that you should be back to normal in a month or two. Grieving is all part of helping yourself anyway.”

Cecelia Ahern (1981) Irish novelist

Source: P.S. I Love You

People, Help, Parting

“Before you look for validation in others, try and find it in yourself”

Greg Behrendt (1963) American comedian

“Work hard, do the best you can, don't ever lose faith in yourself and take no notice of what other people say about you.”

Noel Coward (1899–1973) English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer

People, Faith

“He pauses, and I know he is about to lie. The worst feeling: when you just have to wait and prepare yourself for the lie.”

Gillian Flynn book Gone Girl

Variant: The worst feeling: when you just have to wait and prepare yourself for the lie.
Source: Gone Girl

Lie, Feeling, Waiting

“In the end, the only one you can ever really please is yourself. How others feel is up to them.”

Nicholas Sparks book See Me

Source: See Me

Feeling

“You must write for yourself, above all. That is your only hope of creating something beautiful.”

Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) French writer (1821–1880)

Beauty, Hope

“This is your true self, Tessa. This power is who you are. Whoever loves you now - and you must also love yourself - will love the truth of you.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

Love, Truth

“It is your attitude about yourself that a man will adopt.”

Sherry Argov (1977) American writer

Source: Why Men Love Bitches: From Doormat to Dreamgirl—A Woman's Guide to Holding Her Own in a Relationship

“Like seeing a photograph of yourself as a child, encountering handwriting that you know was once yours but that now seems only dimly familiar can inspire a confrontation with the mystery of time.”

Francine Prose (1947) American writer

Source: Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them

Time

“You look back on some little decision you made and realize all the things that happened because of it, and you think to yourself "if only I'd known," but, of course, you couldn't have known.”

Mary Downing Hahn (1937) American children's writer

Source: The Dead Man in Indian Creek

Thinking, Decision

“You're frightened, and you're frightening, and you're 'not at all like yourself but you will be soon,' but you know you won't.”

Kay Redfield Jamison (1946) American bipolar disorder researcher

Source: An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness

“There comes a point when things are undeniable and can't be hidden any longer. Even from yourself.”

Sarah Dessen Lock and Key

Source: Lock and Key

“Regain your senses, call yourself back, and once again wake up. Now that you realize that only dreams were troubling you, view this 'reality' as you view your dreams.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Source: Meditations

Dreams, Reality, Sense

“don't stop to think of the words when you do stop, just stop to think of the picture better-and let your mind off yourself in this work.”

Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) American writer

Source: Dr Sax

Thinking

“An honest bookstore would post the following sign above its 'self-help' section: 'For true self-help, please visit our philosophy, literature, history and science sections, find yourself a good book, read it, and think about it.”

Roger Ebert (1942–2013) American film critic, author, journalist, and TV presenter

Source: I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie

Books, History, Literature, Thinking

“Ready or not, here I come
I'm so tired of this dumb game of hide and seek
Olly olly oxen free
Show yourself, you're scaring me
Come out, come out, where ever you are
You've taken this thing way too far”

Sonya Sones book Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy

Source: Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy

Way, Game

“So release yourself from that. Don't be strategic or coy. Strategic and coy are for jackasses. Be brave. Be authentic. Practice saying the word 'love' to the people you love so when it matters the most to say it, you will.”

Cheryl Strayed book Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar

Source: Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar

Love, People

“Rip yourself open. Sew yourself shut.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Invisible Monsters

Source: Invisible Monsters

“Wasn't there a spell for making yourself happy? Somebody must have invented one. How could he have missed it? Why didn't they teach it? Was it in the library, a flying book fluttering just out of reach, beating its wings against some high window?”

Lev Grossman The Magicians

Source: The Magicians

Happiness, Books, Flying

“The chances of finding out what’s really going on in the universe are so remote, the only thing to do is hang the sense of it and keep yourself occupied.”

Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English writer and humorist

Sense, Universe, Chance

“Freedom is also about what you will allow yourself to do.”

David Levithan (1972) American author and editor

Source: Two Boys Kissing

Freedom

“It was like a song, one of those sweet, wrenching songs that makes the hair on your arms stand up. That makes you want to throw yourself on the floor and just bawl. Or fall backward and surrender to the music utterly.”

L.J. Smith (1965) American author

Source: Night World, No. 1

Music

“Suck it up. This is the life you chose for yourself, so buck up and deal.”

Lauren Myracle (1969) American children's writer

Life

“Be true to the thought of the moment and avoid distraction. Other than continuing to exert yourself, enter into nothing else, but go to the extent of living single thought by single thought.”

Tsunetomo Yamamoto book Hagakure

Source: Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai

“Convince yourself that you are working in clay, not marble, on paper not eternal bronze: Let that first sentence be as stupid as it wishes.”

Jacques Barzun (1907–2012) Historian

Stupidity

“You surround yourself with your pain or you avoid it and let it find you when you are trying to do other things”

Ann Brashares book The Last Summer

Source: The Last Summer

Pain

“people will tell you were they have gone, they'll tell you where to go, but until you get there for yourself you never really know.”

Joni Mitchell (1943) Canadian musician

People

“If you don't feel that you are possibly on the edge of humiliating yourself, of losing control of the whole thing, then probably what you are doing isn't very vital.”

John Irving (1942) American novelist and screenwriter

Feeling

“Sometimes you have to accept how things are. You can make it easy on yourself, or you can make it hard. The choice is yours.”

Susan Mallery (1950) American author

Source: Almost Perfect

“It is a slightly arresting notion that if you were to pick yourself apart with tweezers, one atom at a time, you would produce a mound of fine atomic dust, none of which had ever been alive but all of which had once been you.”

Bill Bryson book A Short History of Nearly Everything

Pages 1-2
Source: A Short History of Nearly Everything (2003)

Time

“Over the last few hours I've allowed myself to feel defeated, and just like she said if you allow yourself to feel the way you really feel, maybe you won't be afraid of that feeling anymore.”

Tori Amos (1963) American singer

Source: Death: The High Cost of Living Collected

Way, Feeling

“…when writing, always hook the reader with your first sentence…in love, never settle…value yourself first and this will help you to value others…life is short, so enjoy it to the fullest…everyone in the world is different, and that’s ok…”

Spider Robinson (1948) Canadian author

Love, Life, World, Help

“I spent my life learning to feel less.
Every day I felt less.
Is that growing old? Or is it something worse?
You can not protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Oskar's grandmother to his grandfather after she told him of her pregnancy.
"My Feelings" (p. 180)
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2005)

Life, Happiness, Sadness, Feeling

“look at other people and ask yourself if you are really seeing them or just your thoughts about them…. Without knowing it, we are coloring everything, putting our spin on it all.”

Jon Kabat-Zinn (1944) American academic

Source: Wherever You Go, There You Are - Mindfulness Meditation In Everyday Life

People, Color

“You aren't afraid of throwing yourself in the path of danger, but you're terrified of letting anyone in.”

Richelle Mead Shadow Kiss

Source: Shadow Kiss

“I say, thirteen is too many dogs for good mental health. Five is pretty much the limit. More than five dogs and you forfeit your right to call yourself entirely sane.
Even if the dogs are small.”

E. Lockhart (1967) American writer of novels as E. Lockhart (mainly for teenage girls) and of picture books under real name Emily J…

Source: The Boyfriend List: 15 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Ceramic Frogs and Me, Ruby Oliver

Health, Dogs

“The Element is about discovering your self, and you can't do this if you're trapped in a compulsion to conform. You can't be yourself in a swarm.”

Ken Robinson (1950) UK writer

Source: The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything

“They told us not to wish in the first place, not to aspire, not to try; to be quiet, to play nice, to shoot low and aspire not at all. They are always wrong. Follow your dreams. Make your wishes. Create the future. And above all, believe in yourself. That is the lesson of Babylon 5.”

J. Michael Straczynski (1954) American writer and television producer

From the Babylon 5 Calendar (1998).

Dreams, Future

“Maturity: knowing where you're crazy, trying to warn others of the fact and striving to keep yourself under control.”

Alain de Botton (1969) Swiss writer

“Real freedom is freedom from the opinions of others. Above all, freedom from your opinions about yourself.”

Brennan Manning (1934–2013) writer, American Roman Catholic priest and United States Marine

Source: The Wisdom of Tenderness: What Happens When God's Fierce Mercy Transforms Our Lives

Freedom

“Do for yourself, for no one else will.”

Johanna Lindsey (1952–2019) American writer

Source: A Heart So Wild

Motivational, For women, Success, Attitude

“Because this business of becoming conscious, of being a writer, is ultimately about asking yourself, How alive am I willing to be?”

Anne Lamott (1954) Novelist, essayist, memoirist, activist

Source: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Business

“Chase after the truth like all hell and you’ll free yourself, even though you never touch its coat tails.”

Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union

The Sign (May 1938) This has been misquoted as: The pursuit of truth will set you free; even if you never catch up with it.

Truth, Hell

“Because anyone that can make you feel that bad about yourself is toxic.”

Sarah Dessen book The Truth About Forever

Source: The Truth About Forever

Feeling

“When I was young, I asked my priest how to get to heaven and still protect yourself from all the evil in the world. He told me what God told His children;'You are sheep among wolves, be wise as the serpent, yet innocent as doves.”

Dennis Lehane book Gone, Baby, Gone

Source: Gone, Baby, Gone

God, Children, World, Evil

“When you spring to an idea, and decide it is truth, without evidence, you blind yourself to other possibilities.”

Robin Hobb book Assassin's Apprentice

Source: Assassin's Apprentice

Truth, Spring, Idea

“I'll tell you what love is" I said, "It is blind devotion, unquestioning self humiliation, utter submission, trust and belief against yourself and against the whole world, giving up your heart and soul to the smiter.”

Jasper Fforde book Lost in a Good Book

Source: Lost in a Good Book

Love, World, Soul, Heart

“It is not possible to control the outside of yourself until you have mastered your breathing space. It is not possible to change anything until you understand the substance you wish to change.”

Jeanette Winterson book Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

Source: Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

Understanding, Change

“You can’t make someone feel good about themselves until you feel good about
yourself.”

Robin S. Sharma (1965) Canadian self help writer

Feeling

“Writing is about hypnotizing yourself into believing in yourself, getting some work done, then unhypnotizing yourself and going over the material coldly.”

Anne Lamott (1954) Novelist, essayist, memoirist, activist

Source: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

“Cassie Wright knows, the moment you make yourself available to any man, he starts to take you for granted”

Chuck Palahniuk Snuff

Source: Snuff

“There´s no way to protect yourself against heartbreak. That's just a part of life.”

Jenny Han book P.S. I Still Love You

Source: P.S. I Still Love You

Life, Way, Parting

“All outward forms of religion are almost useless, and are the causes of endless strife…. Believe there is a great power silently working all things for good, behave yourself and never mind the rest.”

Beatrix Potter (1866–1943) English children's writer and illustrator

Source: Merry Christmas, Peter Rabbit!

Religion

“When you title yourself, you immediately lend yourself to all kinds of pretension”

Henry Rollins book Black Coffee Blues

Source: Black Coffee Blues

“Goddamn it, do it yourself. You’re five hundred years old and you can’t use a telephone? Read the directions. What are you, an immortal idiot?”

Anne Rice book The Queen of the Damned

Source: The Queen of the Damned

Reading

“Be your own flying saucer! Rescue yourself!”

Tom Robbins Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

Source: Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

Flying

“It's not what you say out of your mouth that determines your life, it's what you whisper to yourself that has the most power!”

Robert T. Kiyosaki (1947) American finance author , investor

Life, Motivational, Inspirational, Positive

“I used to think the worst feeling in the world is losing someone you love. But I was wrong the worst feeling in the world is the moment that you realize you've lost yourself.”

L.J. Smith (1965) American author

Love, World, Feeling, Thinking

“If you go to your death rather than do everything you might to prevent what is happening, you are merely committing suicide and trying to make yourself feel better about it. That is the act of a coward. It is beneath contempt.”

Jim Butcher Dead Beat

Source: Dead Beat

Death, Feeling, Suicide

“When you're rotten about yourself, you become rotten to everyone else, even those
you love.”

Mitch Albom For One More Day

Source: For One More Day

Love

“The easiest thing in the world is to convince yourself that you're right. As one grows old, it is easier still.”

Robert Ludlum book The Bourne Identity

Source: The Bourne Identity

World

“Confine yourself to the present.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Source: Meditations

“I know what it's like to want to die. How it hurts to smile. How you try to fit in but you can't. How you hurt yourself on the outside to try to kill the thing on the inside.”

Susanna Kaysen (1948) American writer

Smile, Hurt

“When you have wisdom that another person knows that he needs, you give it freely. But when the other person doesn't yet know that he needs your wisdom you keep it to yourself. Food only looks good to a hungry man.”

Orson Scott Card book Xenocide

Source: Xenocide

Wisdom, Food, Personality

Quotes about yourself page 11

Quotes about yourself
page 11