Quotes about yourself
page 21

“Come on, Jellal! You can't let yourself get taken away from you! For Erza's sake! So come here! We'll be with you too! We're on the same team, right?! Jellal!”

Hiro Mashima (1977) Japanese manga artist

Source: フェアリーテイル 20 [Fearī Teiru 20]

“You can only understand people if you feel them in yourself.”

John Steinbeck (1902–1968) American writer

People, Feeling, Understanding

“One more thing," Jace said. "Is there a holy place around here?"
“Good idea. If you're going to take on a lair of vampires by yourself, you'd better pray first.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Source: City of Bones

Idea

“The way to get a man interested and to hold his interest was to talk about himself, and then gradually lead the conversation around yourself—and keep it there.”

Margaret Mitchell (1900–1949) American author and journalist

Way

“Love means leaving yourself vulnerable, knowing that there is someone to catch you when you fall. ~ Mercy”

Patricia Briggs book Night Broken

Source: Night Broken

Love

“You cannot exalt God and yourself at the same time.”

Rick Warren (1954) Christian religious leader

God, Time

“You try to keep life simple but it never works, and in the end all you have left is yourself.”

Sue Grafton (1940–2017) American writer

Source: A is for Alibi

Life

“No one blames her."
"That never matters," said Alec. "Not when you blame yourself.”

Cassandra Clare The City of Lost Souls

Source: City of Lost Souls

“Most of the bad guys in the real world don't know that they are bad guys. You don't get a flashing warning sign that you're about to damn yourself. It sneaks up on you when you aren't looking.”

Jim Butcher (1971) American author

World, Guy

“History is a Rorschach test, people. What you see when you look at it tells you as much about yourself as it does about the past.”

Jennifer Donnelly book Revolution

Source: Revolution

People, History, Past

“Take the risk of thinking for yourself. Much more happiness, truth, beauty and wisdom will come to you that way.”

Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011) British American author and journalist

Christopher Hitchens vs. William Dembski, 18/11/2010 ( closing remarks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwgYYxfpPC0) 2010s, 2010 Context: When Socrates was sentenced to death, for his philosophical investigations and his blasphemy for challenging the Gods of the city and he accepted his death. He did say "well, if we're lucky perhaps I'll be able to hold a conversation with other great thinkers and philosophers and doubters too", in other words that the discussion about what is good, what is beautiful, what is noble and what is pure and what is true can always go on. Why is that important, why would I like to do that? Because that is the only conversation worth having. And whether it goes on or not after I die, I don't know, but I do know that it is the conversation I want to have while I am still alive. Which means that for me, the offer of certainty, the offer of complete security, the offer of an impermeable faith that can't give way, is an offer of something not worth having. I want to live my life taking the risk all the time that I don't know anything like enough yet. That I haven't understood enough, that I can't know enough, that I'm always hungrily operating on the margins of a potentially great harvest of future knowledge and wisdom. I wouldn't have it any other way. And I urge you to look at those of you that tell you (at your age) that that you are dead until you believe as they do. (What a terrible thing to be telling to children.) And that you can only live by accepting an absolute authority. Don't think of that as a gift, think of it as a poison chalice. Push it aside no matter how tempting it is. Take the risk of thinking for yourself. Much more happiness, truth, beauty and wisdom will come to you that way.

Wisdom, Happiness, Truth, Beauty

“Believe in yourself up here and it will make you stronger than you could ever imagine.”

Sarah Dessen book Keeping the Moon

Source: Keeping the Moon

Imagination

“What are friends for? They are the ultimate reflection of yourself. Always surround yourself with people who inspire you and return the favor by giving them the best of you.”

Jenny McCarthy (1972) American model, comedian, actress, author, activist, and game show host

Source: Love, Lust & Faking It: The Naked Truth About Sex, Lies, and True Romance

People

“The trouble with anger is, it gets hold of you. And then you aren't the master of yourself anymore. Anger is.”

Jeanne DuPrau The City of Ember

Source: The City of Ember

Anger

“Normally I hate people who whine all the time, but in your case, it would be okay to complain. Be selfish, say what you want once in a while. It's okay to let yourself be sad." -Kyo talking to Tohru”

Natsuki Takaya (1973) Manga artist

Source: Fruits Basket, Vol. 1

Hate, People, Sadness, Time

“It is amazing that when someone else spouts the nonsense you yourself believe you can readily perceive it as nonsense.”

Philip K. Dick book VALIS

Source: VALIS (1981)

“Doctor Who: You want weapons? We're in a library. Books are the best weapon in the world. This room's the greatest arsenal we could have. Arm yourself!

(from Tooth and Claw in Season 2)”

Russell T. Davies (1963) Screenwriter, former executive producer of Doctor Who

Books, World, Season

“If you don't believe in yourself, who will?' ~Maybeck”

Ridley Pearson (1953) American writer

Source: Disney after Dark

“There's something wrong in not appreciating one's own special abilities, my girl. Find your own limitations, yes, but don't limit yourself with false modesty.”

Anne McCaffrey Dragonsinger

Source: Dragonsinger

Girl, Falseness

“Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true.”

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

Life, Dreams, Graduation

“There is no real security except for whatever you build inside yourself.”

Gilda Radner (1946–1989) American comedian

“Who are you if you lose your favorite person? Can you lose your favorite person without losing yourself? I reach for Stargirl and she's gone. I'm not me anymore.”

Jerry Spinelli book Love, Stargirl

Source: Love, Stargirl

Personality

“I was in analysis. I was suicidal. As a matter of fact, I would have killed myself, but I was in analysis with a strict Freudian and if you kill yourself they make you pay for the sessions you miss.”

Woody Allen (1935) American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, playwright, and musician

Standup Comic (1999)
Source: Annie Hall: Screenplay

Suicide

“Getting drunk was good. I decided that I would always like getting drunk. It took away the obvious and maybe if you could get away from the obvious often enough, you wouldn't become so obvious yourself.”

Charles Bukowski book Ham on Rye

Source: Ham on Rye

“Lend yourself to others, but give yourself to yourself.”

Michel De Montaigne book Essays

Source: Essais (1595), Book III, Chapter X. Of Managing the Will. End of First Paragraph.

“The material you work with is that which you will come to resemble. That which you work against will always work against you, including yourself.”

Henry Rollins (1961) American singer-songwriter

Source: The Portable Henry Rollins

“Oh! And they read English novels! David! Did you ever look into an English novel? Well, do not trouble yourself. It is nothing but a lot of nonsense about girls with fanciful names getting married.”

Susanna Clarke book Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Source: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Girl, Reading

“There’s a lot of good waiting for you on the other side of tired. Get yourself tired..”

Andre Agassi book Open. An Autobiography

Source: Open

Waiting

“Ask a man how much a dollar is worth, and he'll tell you, 'Almost nothing.' Try to take a dollar away from him, and you'll get yourself a fight.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Fate's Edge

Fight

“Long enough have you dream'd contemptible dreams,
Now I wash the gum from your eyes,
You must habit yourself to the dazzle of the light
and of every moment of your life”

Walt Whitman book Fulles d'herba

Source: Leaves of Grass

Life, Dreams, Light

“But what's real? You can't find the truth. You just pick the lie you like best. As long as you know that everything's a lie, you can't hurt yourself.”

Marilyn Manson (1969) American rock musician and actor

Truth, Lie, Hurt

“Droll thing life is -- that mysterious arrangement of merciless logic for a futile purpose. The most you can hope from it is some knowledge of yourself -- that comes too late -- a crop of inextinguishable regrets.”

Joseph Conrad book Heart of Darkness

Source: Heart of Darkness

Life, Hope, Knowledge

“In case you still haven't figured it out, he loves you. Your tiger will be back in the morning, and you can thank me anytime. Now, do I have to paint another picture for you, or do you think you can take it from here by yourself without screwing up?”

Susan Elizabeth Phillips (1948) American writer

Source: Kiss an Angel

Love, Thinking, Painting

“Jace,” she said. “Why are you doing this to me?”

“Because you’re lying to me. And you’re lying to yourself.” Jace’s eyes were blazing, and even though his hands were stuffed into his pockets, she could see that they were knotted into fists.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes

Lying

“You can not make yourself whole again by brooding one hundred percent of the time on the darkness of the world. We are the light of the world.”

Ivan Van Sertima (1935–2009) British Africanist in New Jersey

World, Light, Time

“Feeling sorry for yourself, and your present condition, is not only a waste of energy but the worst habit you could possibly have.”

Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American writer and lecturer

Feeling

“The secret to getting away with lying, is believing with all your heart. That goes for lying to yourself even more so than lying to another”

Elizabeth Bear (1971) American novelist

Secret, Lying, Heart

“Sometimes it takes more courage not to let yourself see. Sometimes knowledge is damaging - not enlightenment but enleadenment.”

Marisha Pessl Special Topics in Calamity Physics

Source: Special Topics in Calamity Physics

Courage, Knowledge

“I curled myself into a ball and cried quietly, doing that thing that only young people can do, namely, feeling sorry for myself. Once you're past thirty you lose that ability; instead of feeling sorry for yourself you turn bitter.”

Douglas Coupland book Eleanor Rigby

Source: Eleanor Rigby

People, Feeling, Past

“You don't feel like smiling? Then what? Force yourself to smile. Act as if you were already happy, and that will tend to make you happy.”

Celeste Ng book Everything I Never Told You: A Novel

Source: Everything I Never Told You

Happiness, Smile, Feeling

“The trouble with giving yourself a pep talk is, that deep down you know it's all bullshit.”

Sophie Kinsella book Remember Me?

Source: Remember Me?

“Forget everything. Open the windows. Clear the room. The wind blows through it. You see only its emptiness, you search in every corner and don’t find yourself.”

Franz Kafka (1883–1924) author

Source: Diaries of Franz Kafka

Search, Forgetting

“Before facing you enemy, you must first face yourself.”

Tite Kubo (1977) Japanese manga artist

Source: Bleach―ブリーチ― 33 [Burīchi 33]

“If you can't make yourself understood by your friends, you'll be in trouble when your enemies come for you.”

Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) American journalist and author

“There are moments when you can only stand and stare, watching the world forget you as you remove yourself from it - when you overcome it and cease to exist as the person you were.”

Markus Zusak (1975) Australian author

Source: Getting the Girl

World, Personality, Forgetting

“Knock yourself out… Or rather, don't.”

Eoin Colfer Artemis Fowl

Source: Artemis Fowl

“The worst thing: to give yourself away in exchange for not enough love.”

Joyce Carol Oates (1938) American author

Love

“You are where you are and what you are because of yourself, nothing else. Nature is neutral. Nature doesn't care. If you do what other successful people do, you will enjoy the same results and rewards that they do. And if you don't, you won't.”

Brian Tracy (1944) American motivational speaker and writer

Source: Focal Point: A Proven System to Simplify Your Life, Double Your Productivity, and Achieve All Your Goals

People, Nature, Success

“And one more thing: you still believe that man can be good. If that weren't the case, you wouldn't have invented all this nonsense to convince yourself otherwise.”

Paulo Coelho book The Devil and Miss Prym

Source: The Devil and Miss Prym

“A well-chosen book saves you from everything, including yourself.”

Daniel Pennac (1944) French author

Source: The Rights of the Reader

Books

“It's a choice, Annabel. And if you make the wrong one, you have only yourself to blame when there are consequences.”

Sarah Dessen book Just Listen

Source: Just Listen

“sometimes what you miss the most is the way a loved one made you feel about yourself.”

Mitch Albom (1958) American author

Source: The First Phone Call from Heaven

Love, Way, Feeling

“Above all things, never think that you're not good enough yourself. A man should never think that. My belief is that in life people will take you very much at your own reckoning.”

Anthony Trollope book The Small House at Allington

Source: The Small House at Allington (1864), Ch. 32

Life, People, Thinking

“… because if you can make yourself happy in the rain then you're doing pretty alright in life.”

David Levithan (1972) American author and editor

Source: Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

Life, Happiness

“There is no advice that I can give you, you will just have to trust yourself that when the time comes, you'll make the right decision.”

Cecelia Ahern book If You Could See Me Now

Source: If You Could See Me Now

Decision, Time

“Wait,” Foyle commanded. He looked at the beaming grin engraved in the steel robot face. “But society can be so stupid. So confused. You’ve witnessed this conference.”
“Yes, sir, but you must teach, not dictate. You must teach society.”
“To space-jaunte? Why? Why reach out to the stars and galaxies? What for?”
“Because you’re alive, sir. You might as well ask: Why is life? Don’t ask about it. Live it.”
“Quite mad,” Dagenham muttered.
“But fascinating,” Y’ang-Yeovil murmured.
“There’s got to be more to life than just living,” Foyle said to the robot.
“Then find it for yourself, sir. Don’t ask the world to stop moving because you have doubts.”
“Why can’t we all move forward together?”
“Because you’re all different. You’re not lemmings. Some must lead, and hope that the rest will follow.”
“Who leads?”
“The men who must … driven men, compelled men.”
“Freak men.”
“You’re all freaks, sir. But you always have been freaks. Life is a freak. That’s its hope and glory.”
“Thank you very much.”

Alfred Bester book The Stars My Destination

“My pleasure, sir.”
Source: The Stars My Destination (1956), Chapter 16 (p. 251).

Life, Men, Pleasure, Stupidity

“(In answer to the question ‘How would you describe yourself in three words?’) Short and balding.”

Derren Brown (1971) British illusionist

TV Series and Specials (Includes DVDs), Mind Control (1999–2000) or Inside Your Mind on DVD

Question

“Leaders and managers do not have to risk lives, profit, or mission failure because they failed to plan for a crisis. Do not allow yourself to be put on the defense by changing circumstances. No one enjoys wasting time, but don't be reluctant to call a meeting just to discuss something that might happen. Remember the oil filter theory. Rather than disobey your instincts and proceed with the status quo or embark on a risky course, invest some planning time in your business. Control your risks. Identify important decision points. Forecast potential crisis. Apply the six hour model. A little time spent discussing your business is never wasted.”

Wheeler L. Baker (1938) President of Hargrave Military Academy

Source: Crisis Management: A Model For Managers (1993), p. 74

Failure, Business, Decision, Change

“A man with nothing left to lose is a very dangerous man and his energy/anger can be focused toward a common/righteous goal. What I'm asking you to do, then, is sit back and be honest with yourself. Do you have kids/wife? Would you back out at the last minute to care for the family? Are you interested in keeping your firearms for their current/future monetary value, or would you drag that '06 through rock, swamp and cactus…to get off the needed shot? In short, I'm not looking for talkers, I'm looking for fighters…And if you are a fed, think twice. Think twice about the Constitution you are supposedly enforcing (isn't "enforcing freedom" an oxymoron?) and think twice about catching us with our guard down – you will lose just like Degan did – and your family will lose. [”

Timothy McVeigh (1968–2001) American army soldier, security guard, terrorist

Letter to Steve Colbern, as quoted in American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0060394072 (2001), by Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck, New York: ReganBooks (HarperCollins), pp. 184-185. 1990s

Family, Thinking, Freedom, Future

“Disenfranchisement is something the government does to you. It's not something you do to yourself. If you can't figure out how to fill in the ovals or punch the chads—and some minority of voters will always botch it—that doesn't mean your right to vote was rescinded. It means that you didn't take your right to vote seriously enough to pay attention to the instructions.”

Jonah Goldberg (1969) American political writer and pundit

( October 22, 2004 http://web.archive.org/web/20040421/www.nationalreview.com/goldberg/goldberg200410221457.asp) http://web.archive.org/web/20040421/author.nationalreview.com/bio/?q=MjE5NQ== 2000s, 2004

“When you're interested in somebody, and you think they might be interested in you, you should point out all your beauty problems and defects right away, rather than take a chance they won't notice them... On the other hand, say you have a purely temporary beauty problem—a new pimple, lackluster hair, no-sleep eyes, five extra pounds around the middle. Still, whatever it is, you should point it out... If you don't point out these things they might think that your temporary beauty problem is a permanent beauty problem... If they really do like you for yourself, they'll be willing to use their imagination to think of what you must look like without your temporary beauty problem.”

Andy Warhol (1928–1987) American artist

Source: 1975, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (1975), Ch. 4: Beauty

Beauty, Imagination, Problem, Thinking

“Commonplace people have an answer for everything and nothing ever surprises them. They try to look as though they knew what you were about to say better than you did yourself, and when it is their turn to speak, they repeat with great assurance something that they have heard other people say, as though it were their own invention.”

Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863) French painter

25 February 1852 (p. 152)
1831 - 1863, Delacroix' 'Journal' (1847 – 1863)

People

“I stood in front of a hundred and one critics at a critic's convention and a critic asked me, "Miss Cho, isn't it true that your management asked you to lose weight to play the part of yourself in your own TV show?" Gail [the producer] grabbed the mike from me and said, "There is no truth in that whatsoever."”

Margaret Cho (1968) American stand-up comedian

I...was so...hungry.
From Her Tours and CDs, I'm The One That I Want Tour

Truth, Parting

“I have the intention to dedicate Le Gibet to you. It is not because I think you merit a rope to hang yourself, but because it is the least difficult of the three pieces.”

Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) French composer

Ravel to pianist Jean Marnold about Le Gibet from Gaspard de la Nuit

Thinking

“Sometimes you run away by yourself purely so someone who cares will come to find you. Half the time nobody does. That's the tragedy of life.”

Lindsey Davis book The Ides of April

The Ides of April

Life, Time

“You have to learn from the mistakes of others. You won't live long enough to make them all yourself.”

Hyman George Rickover (1900–1986) United States admiral

Variations of this quote have been attributed to a number of people, including Eleanor Roosevelt, Samuel Levenson, and Lao Tzu; there is no solid support for any such attribution.
Misattributed

Learning

“Man is not supposed to make life. Only God can make a tree. Why should you make a living organism? You should make images of living organisms. It seems presumptuous to attempt to make a thing which breathes and pulsates right there by itself. It's unnatural. What's inhuman about it is, the human way to create, I think, the way we see, from part to part. You do this and then you do that, then you do that and that. Then you learn about composition, you learn about old masters, you form certain ideas about structure. But the inhuman activity of trying to make some kind of jump or leap, where even though you naturally have to paint, after all a painting is only a painting, the painting is always saying, what do you want from me, I can only be a painting, you have to go from part to part, but you shouldn't see yourself go from part to part, that's the whole point That's some kind of a leap.... I'm describing the process of painting.”

Phillip Guston (1913–1980) American artist

Source: 1961 - 1980, transcript of a public forum at Boston university', conducted by Joseph Ablow 1966, pp. 68/69

Life, God, Way, Idea

“You have to find out for yourself. Take the leap. Go as far as you can. Try staying out of touch. Become a stranger in a strange land. Acquire humility. Learn the language. Listen to what people are saying.”

Paul Theroux (1941) American travel writer and novelist

Fresh Air Fiend (2000)

People, Learning

“[Hillary Clinton] was trying to encourage us to become more active in politics and she said, 'If you leave all the decision-making to others, you might not like what they do, and you will have no one but yourself to blame.' It was such a challenge to the women in the room. And it really hit me: She’s talking to me.”

Kirsten Gillibrand (1966) United States Senator from New York

Describing Hillary Clinton's influence on Gillibrand's entering politics

Women, Decision

“The clitoris contains 8,000 nerve endings. It makes it easy to have sex. With yourself.”

Dannii Minogue (1971) Australian pop singer, songwriter, actress

Maxim Magazine (UK edition) (December 2001)

Sex

“Identification [with the other] is difficult but precious. It involves doing violence to yourself. Yet Scripture says that "heaven is taken by violence" to oneself [Luke 16:16]. To identify oneself with the other is to love him beyond words, a total giving of oneself in truth.”

Catherine Doherty (1896–1985) Religious order founder; Servant of God

"Living the Mandate", p. 36
Unfinished Pilgrimage (1995)

Love, Truth

“From the simplest lyric to the most complex novel and densest drama, literature is asking us to pay attention. Pay attention to the frog. Pay attention to the west wind. Pay attention to the boy on the raft, the lady in the tower, the old man on the train. In sum, pay attention to the world and all that dwells therein and thereby learn at last to pay attention to yourself and all that dwells therein.”

Frederick Buechner (1926) Poet, novelist, short story writer, theologian

Whistling in the Dark: A Doubter's Dictionary (1988)

World, Boy, Literature, Learning

“How would you feel if you lived on an island populated, apart from yourself, exclusively by retarded, malicious chimpanzees? Well, that’s how I feel. Don’t laugh, because you’re one of those retarded, malicious chimpanzees.”

Arthur Jones (inventor) (1926–2007) American inventor

The New High Intensity Training (2004)

Feeling

“Yes, India is the land of the Gods par excellence… The experience of the divine presence in India is within the reach of anyone who searches even a little bit. The temples are full of flowers and offerings, and you only have to flow along with the crowd, melt into it and place yourself in the hands of the Gods. I do not advocate conversion to Hinduism, but I do recommend its inspiration. I told this to the brahmins that took me into their homes. One said, 'Establish your reawakened Paganism on a valid foundation and there'll come a day when it will catch on. It won't be long.”

Christopher Gérard (1962)

As true Pagans, they feel no need to convert anyone.
Pagan Power in Modern Europe (1999)

God, Feeling, Home, Search

“Being consistent is WAY less interesting than being yourself. And if you're not interesting? Good luck with your Big Consistency Project.”

Merlin Mann (1966) American blogger

Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/hotdogsladies/status/81389251425615872 Tweeting as @hotdogsladies

Way

“To feel that there is so quick a bound to intercourse, makes us prize the moment, but then also makes it so difficult to use. Yet this one thing I wish to say, where so many must be left unsaid. You tell me, that I may, probably never know you wholly. Indeed the obstacles of time and space may prevent my understanding the workings of character; many pages of my new book may be shut against me, better than to yourself. Perhaps? I believe in Ahnungen beyond anything.”

Margaret Fuller (1810–1850) American feminist, poet, author, and activist

Ahnungen means "Premonitions"; letter XIII to James Nathan (31 March 1845).
The Love Letters Of Margaret Fuller (1903)

Books, Feeling, Understanding, Time

“I'm a very driven person. I'm always going after my goals. You just get up in the morning and kick yourself in the butt. I'd like to show people that they can have that same drive to go where they want to go. It's up to you and not to anybody else.”

Heidi Klum (1973) German model, television host, businesswoman, fashion designer, television producer, and actress

Quoted in Parade Magazine 10 July 2008 http://www.parade.com/celebrity/celebrity-parade/archive/pc_0194.html.

People, Personality

“I tell you what, if any of you survive here, I promise you this: As sure as I have a hole in my bloody arse, when it gets down to the two of you, all these people who are saying nice things about you at the moment, will not! So start thinking about yourself!”

Alan Sugar (1947) British business magnate, media personality, and political advisor

The Apprentice, Series 2

People, Thinking

“The moment the slave resolves that he will no longer be a slave, his fetters fall. He frees himself and shows the way to others. Freedom and slavery are mental states. Therefore, the first thing to say to yourself: 'I shall no longer accept the role of a slave. I shall not obey orders as such but shall disobey them when they are in conflict with my conscience.”

Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) pre-eminent leader of Indian nationalism during British-ruled India

Harijan (24 February 1946). As quoted in The Politics Of Nonviolent Action, Gene Sharp, Porter Sargent Publishers (1973), p. 59
1940s

Way, Freedom

“But there is a scary side to acting for me, because I have always wanted to develop rather than plateau out. When people come to me and tell me I was terrific in this or that, I do not want to fall flat on my face the next time. But, tough, I have fallen flat before. You just get up and dust yourself off.”

Geoffrey Rush (1951) Australian actor and film producer

"Geoffrey Rush interview" http://www.virgin.net/movies/interviews/geoffreyrush2.html.

People, Time

“If you stand up and be counted, from time to time you may get yourself knocked down. But remember this: A man flattened by an opponent can get up again. A man flattened by conformity stays down for good.”

Thomas Watson, Jr. (1914–1993) American businessman and diplomat

Watson, Jr. cited in: Joseph Mancuso (1975) Managing technology products. p. 160.

Time, Leadership

“If you have a faith, if you've some deep conviction, whether you're a Nazi or a Communist or what the hell else you are — then you can sacrifice yourself and others to your faith. But from the moment you've no faith — from that moment you live in a deep inner confusion — from then on you're exposed to what Strindberg calls 'the powers.”

Ingmar Bergman (1918–2007) Swedish filmmaker

Bergman on Bergman (1970)

Faith, Hell

“I was looking for some action / but all I found was cigarettes and alcohol
Is it worth the aggravation to find yourself a job when there's nothing worth working for?
You might as well do the white line”

Noel Gallagher (1967) British musician

Cigarettes and Alcohol
Definitely Maybe (1994)

Alcohol

“When I was a high school government teacher, I used to remind my students that TO VOTE IS TO HAVE A VOICE. That simple idea is the cornerstone of our democratic process. During my eight years as secretary of state, nothing has made me more proud than the fact that we have set all-time records for both voter registration and voting. … As Election Day approaches, I urge every Iowan to use your voice, to make yourself heard as a citizen of the United States and a proud Iowan. Please vote today. You truly hold the key to leading this state forward.”

Chet Culver (1966) American football player and politician

[2006 Election: Why I Vote, Des Moines Register, 2006-11-07, 2006-11-08, http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=why_i_vote]

School, Idea, Teachers, Time

“Geraldine: I'm quite sane!
Rance: Pull yourself together. Why have you been certified if you're sane? Even for a madwoman you're unusually dense.”

Joe Orton (1933–1967) English playwright and author

What the Butler Saw (1969), Act I

“If you want to save yourself the ticket price, go into the kitchen, cue up a male choir singing the music of hell, and get a kid to start banging pots and pans together. Then close your eyes and use your imagination… The movie has been signed by Michael Bay. This is the same man who directed The Rock in 1996. Now he has made Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Faust made a better deal.”

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

Review http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/transformers-revenge-of-the-fallen-2009 of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (23 June 2009) Reviews, One-star reviews

Music, Imagination, Hell, Revenge

“Nothing can be learned without mental exertion. If you are concerned in your further development, you will recognize the Christian word as to the curse of work as untrue. Work cannot be descended from sin, for it is a blessing. You will have experienced in yourself how elated one feels after successful physical or mental work.”

Joseph Dietzgen (1828–1888) german philosopher

Letter 1
Letters on Logic: Especially Democratic-Proletarian Logic (1906)

Feeling, Learning, Success

“If you want somebody you can trust, trust yourself.”

Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist

Song lyrics, Empire Burlesque (1985), Trust Yourself

“All our talents increase in the using, and every faculty, both good and bad, strengthens by exercise: therefore, if you choose to use the bad, or those which tend to evil, till they become your masters, and neglect the good till they dwindle away, you have only yourself to blame.”

Anne Brontë book The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Source: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848), Ch. XXIII : First weeks of Matrimony; Helen to Arthur

Exercises, Evil

“I’ve always chosen the most competitive and most difficult careers — that’s kind of all I know. Being a dancer is the same thing. You’re auditioning. You’re working really hard to achieve that goal as an artist. With modeling, you’re auditioning. You’re putting yourself out there. So acting was just another venue, but the most difficult one to actually achieve and to actually work because it’s much more cutthroat. But I was used to it because I had already been auditioning through dance and modeling so I knew that aspect of it.”

Crystal Allen (1972) American actress

Interview: Crystal Allen on Lacrosse, Superman and Storms http://www.celebrityextraonline.com/2012/05/interview-crystal-allen-on-lacrosse.html (May 18, 2012)

Dance

“Give yourself entirely to those around you. Be generous with your blessings. A kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal.”

Steve Maraboli (1975)

Source: Life, the Truth, and Being Free (2010), p. 64

“My paintings are always images of my whole psychic makeup. You cannot deny yourself. You ask, am I painting myself? I'd been a swindler if I did otherwise. I'd be denying my existence as an artist. I've been also asked, what do you want to convey? And I say, nothing but my own nature... I am nothing but an optimist.”

Hans Hofmann (1880–1966) American artist

1960s
Source: Hofmann, in Ashton, (1960's) Twetieth Century Artists on Art, 218

Nature, Painting

“One doesn't enter groups of people simply because one wants or needs to. One has an infinite number of opportunities that occur for no particular reason. Sometimes you feel a sudden unexpected pleasure at being where you find yourself.”

Michelangelo Antonioni (1912–2007) Italian film director and screenwriter

Encountering Directors interview (1969)

People, Pleasure, Feeling

“Hayek says that the problem with classical liberalism was that it was not pure enough. The government needed to restrict itself to establishing the rule of law and to using antitrust to break up monopolies. It was the overreach of the government beyond those limits, via central banking and social democracy, that caused all the trouble. A democratic government needs to limit itself to rule of law and antitrust–and perhaps soup kitchens and shelters. And what if democracy turns out not to produce a government that limits itself to those activities? Then, Hayek says, so much the worse for democracy. A Pinochet is then called for to, in a Lykourgan moment, minimalize the state. After social democracy has been leveled and the rubble cleared away, then–perhaps–a limited range of issues can be discussed and debated by a–limited–restored democracy, with some kind of group of right-wing army officers descended from latifundistas Council of Guardians in the background to ensure that property remains sacred and protected, and the government small enough to fit in a bathtub. […] Hayek was formed in Austria. From his perspective the property and enterprise respecting Imperial Habsburg government of Franz Josef eager to make no waves, to hold what it has, and to keep the lid off the pressure cooker appears not unattractive. This is especially so when you contrasted would be really existing authoritarian alternatives: anti-Semitic populist demagogue mayors of Vienna; nationalist Serbian or Croatian politicians interested in maintaining popular legitimacy by waging class war or ethnic war; separatists who seek independence and then one man, one vote, one time. An “authoritarian” after the manner of Franz Josef looks quite attractive in this context–and if you convince yourself but they are as dedicated to small government neoliberalism as you are, and that the Lykourgan moment of the form will be followed by soft rule and popular assent, so much the better. And if the popular assent is not forthcoming? Then Hayek can blame the socialists, and say it is their fault for not understanding how good a deal they are offered.”

J. Bradford DeLong (1960) American economist

Making Sense of Friedrich A. von Hayek: Focus/The Honest Broker for the Week of August 9, 2014 http://equitablegrowth.org/making-sense-friedrich-von-hayek-focusthe-honest-broker-week-august-9-2014/ (2014)

War, Law, Democracy, Understanding

“Think not to match yourself against gods, for men that walk the earth cannot hold their own with the immortals.”

Homér Iliad

V. 440–442 (tr. Samuel Butler).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

Men, God, Thinking

“My lord, you had showed yourself of much more patience—I wll not say of much more prudency—if ye had contented yourself with their lawful appeal and my lawful injunctions and rather have sought fully to instruct me in the matter than thus to desire to conquer me by shrewd words, to vanquish me by sharp threaps [assertions] of Scripture which, as I know to be true, so I trust to God—as great clerk as ye be—ye allege them out of their place.”

Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex (1485–1540) English statesman and chief minister to King Henry VIII of England

Source: Letter to Nicholas Shaxton, quoted in G. R. Elton, England Under the Tudors (3rd edn., 1991), p. 442

God, Law, Patience

“You don't want to go to Miami. Everybody's always delighted with it--no! Listen! The temperature down there is always over ninety and the humidity--and here's the problem--is way over 100%, way. And you know how it's over 100% humidity? When you're walking down the street for five minutes thinking to yourself, "You know, I should have put deodorant on my balls."”

Lewis Black (1948) American stand-up comedian, author, playwright, social critic and actor

That's over a hundred. Because that's not something you'd think of on your own.
The White Album (2000)

Way, Problem, Thinking

“Lima frightened him, it was too big, you could lose yourself in it and never find your way home; the people on the street were total strangers.”

Mario Vargas Llosa book The Time of the Hero

The Time of the Hero (1963)

People, Way, Home

“If you're going to be a good and faithful judge, you have to resign yourself to the fact that you're not always going to like the conclusions you reach. If you like them all the time, you're probably doing something wrong.”

Antonin Scalia (1936–2016) former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Speech at Chapman Law School http://lawandordnance.com/oldbrass/2005/08/the_quotable_sc.php (August 2005). 2000s

Faith, Time

“We would most gladly ye came yourself if that ye may, and if ye may not, we pray you not to fail, but to accomplish in all diligence our said commandment, to send our Seal incontinent upon the sight hereof, as we trust you, with such as ye trust and the Officers pertaining to attend with it; praying you to ascertain us of your News. Here, loved be God, is all well and truly determined, and for to resist the Malice of him that had best Cause to be true, the Duke of Buckingham, the most untrue creature living; whom with God’s Grace we shall not be long till that we will be in those parts, and subdue his Malice. We assure you there was never false traitor better purveyed for, as this bearer Gloucester shall show you.”

Richard III of England (1452–1485) English monarch

Postscript from a letter to his Chancellor, 12 October, 1483. Reprinted in Richard the Third (1956) http://books.google.com/books?id=dNm0JgAACAAJ&dq=Paul+Murray+Kendall+Richard+the+Third&ei=TZHDR8zXKZKIiQHf2NCpCA

Love, God, Parting, Falseness

Quotes about yourself page 21

Quotes about yourself
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