Quotes about yourself
page 41

Richard Dawkins photo

“I agree that it's very difficult to come to an absolute definition of what's moral and what is not. We are on our own, without a god, and we have to get together, sit down together and decide what kind of society do we want to live in. Do we want to live in a society where people steal, where people kill, where people don't pull their weight paying their taxes, doing that kind of thing? Do we want to live in a kind of society where everybody is out for themselves in a dog-eat-dog world? And we decide in conclave together that that's not the kind of world in which we want to live. It's difficult. There is no absolute reason why we should believe that that's true - it's a moral decision which we take as individuals - and we take it collectively as a collection of individuals. If you want to get that sort of value system from religion I want you to ask yourself - whereabouts in religion do you get it? Which religion do you get it from? They're all different. If you get it from the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition then I beg you - don't get it from your holy book! Because the morality you will get from reading your holy book is hideous. Don't get it from your holy book. Don't get it from sucking up to your god. Don't get it from saying “oh, I'm terrified of going to hell so I'd better be good””

Richard Dawkins (1941) English ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author

that's a very ignoble reason to be good. Instead - be good for good reasons. Be good for the reason that's you've decided together with other people the society we want to live in: a decent humane society. Not one based on absolutism, not one based on holy books and not one based on sucking up to.. looking over your shoulder to the divine spy camera in the sky. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roFdPHdhgKQ&t=59m29s
Richard Dawkins vs. Jonathan Sacks - BBC's RE:Think Festival (2012)

Ernest Hemingway photo

“You see it's awfully hard to talk or write about your own stuff because if it is any good you yourself know about how good it is — but if you say so yourself you feel like a shit.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

Letter to Malcolm Cowley (17 October 1945); published in Ernest Hemingway: Selected Letters 1917–1961 (1981) edited by Carlos Baker

Teal Swan photo

“If you liked it, good! If you didn't, screw you, go fuck yourself!”

Luiz Carlos Alborghetti (1945–2009) Italian-Brazilian radio commenter, showman and political figure

Original: (pt) Se gostou, gostou! Se não gostou, que se dane, vá a merda!

Steve Jobs photo
Steven Crowder photo
Steven Crowder photo
David Sedaris photo
Mae Jemison photo
Marianne Williamson photo

“Being anti-slavery simply meant you didn’t agree with slavery; being an abolitionist meant you’d crossed a bridge inside yourself, from “I don’t agree” to “Not on my watch.””

Marianne Williamson (1952) American writer

Which are you in relation to a corporate aristocracy that has corrupted our govt and eroded our democracy?
Twitter https://twitter.com/marwilliamson (24 Dec 2019)
Williamson's quotes in social media

William Quan Judge photo
Donald J. Trump photo

“Respirators, ventilators, all of the equipment—try getting it yourselves. We will be backing you, but try getting it yourselves. Point of sales, much better, much more direct if you can get it yourself.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Call with governors, quoted in * 2020-03-16

Trump tells governors to seek out respirators and other vital equipment on their own.

The New York Times staff

The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/16/world/coronavirus-news.html
2020s, 2020, March

“I believe that there are three things in life that you must absolutely do yourself because nobody can do it in your place: keeping fit, following a diet, and accumulating culture.”

Brunello Cucinelli (1953) Italian entrepreneur and philanthropist

Source: A Day In the Life of Brunello Cucinelli https://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/designers/a17874/brunello-cucinelli-profile/ Harper's Bazaar, Lauren McCarthy, 15 September 2016

Immanuel Kant photo
Immanuel Kant photo
Goldie Hawn photo

“Before you go to bed, think of three things that went well today. I don’t care if it’s a little crazy thing – it doesn’t matter…Take some music you love and if you can’t dance, go do 10 minutes of jumping jacks. Get yourself all cheered up.”

Goldie Hawn (1945) American actress, film director, and producer.

On remaining centered and positive in “Goldie Hawn: ‘I was born with a high set point for happiness’” https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/apr/13/goldie-hawn-i-was-born-with-a-high-set-point-for-happiness in The Guardian (2020 Apr 13)

Sheikh Ahmad-e Jami photo
Halldór Laxness photo
Jack Kerouac photo

“What are you trying to do, Kerouac? I'd ask myself in my sleepingbag at night, trying to deny reality with all this Buddha stuff, ya jerk?... Poor detailed immaculate incarnate fool, and you call yourself Self ... Take off your coat and crash wits.”

Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) American writer

And I realized that all this Buddhism was a STRAIN at telling the untellable emptiness yet that nothing was truer, a perfect paradox.

Meditation in the Woods (1958)

Joanna Trollope photo

“For all that somebody gets dumped every nanosecond in the world, you don’t want to be lumped in with everybody else – you want it to be expressed as poignantly and vividly as you feel it yourself…A cliche is only a cliche if it’s happening in someone else’s life.”

Joanna Trollope (1943) British writer

On how people react to her characters in “Joanna Trollope on families, fiction and feminism: ‘Society still expects women to do all the caring’” https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/mar/02/joanna-trollope-on-families-fiction-and-feminism-society-still-expects-women-to-do-all-the-caring in The Guardian (2020 Mar 2)

Ken Thompson photo

“You can't trust code that you did not totally create yourself. (Especially code from companies that employ people like me.) No amount of source-level verification or scrutiny will protect you from using untrusted code.”

Ken Thompson (1943) American computer scientist, creator of the Unix operating system

"Reflections on Trusting Trust" http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/360000/358210/reflections.pdf, 1983 Turing Award Lecture, Communications of the ACM 27 (8), August 1984, pp. 761-763.

Lucy Liu photo

“I think that art helps evaluate some of the psychology of yourself as a child, and to illuminate some things you may never have understood.”

Lucy Liu (1968) American actress and model

On the power of art in “Lucy Liu on making art to find a sense of belonging” https://www.cnn.com/style/article/lucy-liu-artsy/index.html in CNN (2019 Nov 28)

Deng Feng-Zhou photo

“Problems arise from shackles imposed by ourselves.
Our minds are entangled by trifles.
Take my advice to shake off all the worries and focus on finding yourself a way out,
bide your time and every cloud has a silver lining.”

Deng Feng-Zhou (1949) Chinese poet, Local history writer, Taoist Neidan academics and Environmentalist.

(zh-TW) 枷鎖纏身困擾滋,紅塵瑣事縛如絲。
勸君滌慮尋方向,可待雲開日照時。

"Struggling" (奮發)

Source: Deng Feng-Zhou, "Deng Feng-Zhou Classical Chinese Poetry Anthology". Volume 6, Tainan, 2018: 82.

Coraline Ada Ehmke photo

“Values that are expressed but that don't change behavior are not really values, they are lies that you tell yourself.”

Coraline Ada Ehmke technologist, activist, and transgender feminist

Antisocial Coding: My Year at GitHub https://where.coraline.codes/blog/my-year-at-github/ (July 5, 2017)

George Harrison photo

“Do what you want to do,
And go where you're going to.
Think for yourself
'Cause I won't be there with you.”

George Harrison (1943–2001) British musician, former member of the Beatles

Think for Yourself (1965)
Lyrics

Colin Powell photo

“Always do your very best. Even when no one else is looking, you always are. Don't disappoint yourself.”

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

Source: It Worked For Me: In Life and Leadership (2012), p. 36

“Here then is the secret: You must give yourself, if you desire to find yourself. "Give up thy life if thou wouldst live."”

Gottfried de Purucker (1874–1942) Author, Theosophist

Give up the small life, the petty life, the mean life, the restricted life, the little personal life which shuts you in - give it up and follow the light of the Star within you.
The Masters and the Path of Occultism (1939)

Keiran Lee photo
Robert Graves photo
Kazi Nazrul Islam photo

“O heart, Ramadan has come to an end,
and the happy Eid knocks at the door for all,
Come, today give yourself away wholeheartedly,
heed the divine call.”

Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899–1976) Bengali poet

"Eid, At The End Of Fasting Of Ramadan", as translated by Mohammad Omar Farooq

Nagarjuna photo

“Even if you seek to harm an enemy,
You should remove your own defects and cultivate good qualities.
Through that you will help yourself,
And the enemy will be displeased.”

Nagarjuna (150–250) Indian philosopher

§ 132
Major attributed works, Ratnāvalī (Precious Garland)

Bernie Sanders photo

“We have a president right now who doesn't consider himself a socialist but people call him a socialist as an insult. Are you concerned at all about framing yourself as this?”

Bernie Sanders (1941) American politician, senator for Vermont

...
"Not if we have the opportunity to describe what democratic socialism means. ... You have countries like Denmark, Sweden, Norway ... which have had social democratic governments. ... In those countries, healthcare is a right for all people. ... Tuition is free. ... In those countries, governments are working for the middle class, rather than the billionaire class."

Late Night with Seth Meyers (2 June 2015) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFAq-4Vv5c0
2010s, 2015

William Faulkner photo
Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie photo

“Because we write fiction we mine our souls. Of course you put yourself into your fiction, your fiction is you.”

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie (1977) Nigerian writer

On the connection between the personal and fictional world in “Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: ‘This could be the beginning of a revolution’” https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/apr/28/chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-feminism-racism-sexism-gender-metoo in The Guardian (2018 Apr 28)

Maria Weston Chapman photo
Fiona Hill (presidential advisor) photo

“When you look at Russia today, you have to try to imagine to yourself "What would a country look like if it was run by a former KGB agent?"”

Fiona Hill (presidential advisor) (1965) American policy adviser

and I think what we're seeing today, with all kinds of clandestine activity, all kinds of mysterious men … taking over Crimea, the peninsula attached to Ukraine, and affecting the situation on the ground so that later Russia can annex it — and then the kind of speeches that we've heard coming out of President Vladimir Putin about the justification of Russia's takeover or Crimea, going back into the long history of grievances against the west, dating back to the collapse of the Soviet Union, and even going back many centuries before, really, a long perspective on Russian history, this is the kind of thing you would have imagined from someone who has seen themself as a servant of the state, and as someone from an institution that sees themselves as the defender of that state. The KGB used to think of itself as the sword and the shield of the system of the state, the Soviet State — and then the Russian state after it collapsed. That is the emblem of the KGB.

Global Perspectives Episode 168 (27 April 2014) https://www.pbs.org/video/global-perspectives-global-perspectives-fiona-hill/

Teal Swan photo
Ibn Hazm photo
Ibn Hazm photo
Ibn Hazm photo
Ibn Hazm photo

“Compare yourself, for wealth, status and health to those lower than you. For faith, science, and virtue, compare yourself to those who are higher than you.”

Ibn Hazm (994–1064) Arab theologian

Kitab al-Akhlaq wa’l Siyar ; Trsltd by N. Tomiche under the title: Epitre Morale, Collection UNESCO, Beyrouth, 1961, p. 21.

Simon Sinek photo

“When you compete against everyone else, no one wants to help you. But when you compete against yourself, everyone wants to help you.”

Simon Sinek (1973) British/American author and motivational speaker

Source: Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action

James K. Morrow photo
Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke photo

“You may observe yourself...what a difference there is between the true strength of this nation and the fictitious one of the Whigs. How much time, how many lucky incidents, how many strains of power, how much money must go to create a majority of the latter; on the other hand, take but off the opinion that the Crown is another way inclined, the church interest rises with redoubled force, and by its natural genuine strength.”

Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (1678–1751) English politician and Viscount

Letter to Mr. Drummond (10 November 1710), quoted in Gilbert Parke, Letters and Correspondence, Public and Private, of The Right Honourable Henry St. John, Lord Visc. Bolingbroke; during the Time he was Secretary of State to Queen Anne; with State Papers, Explanatory Notes, and a Translation of the Foreign Letters, &c.: Vol. I (1798), pp. 16–17

Zooey Deschanel photo

“It is the “battle of the beliefs”: hanging on to your belief that you are who you are despite how others may define you, while also challenging yourself not to compare your insides to other people’s outsides. It’s a constant effort to align yourself externally with how you feel internally.”

Ashlee Marie Preston American media personality, producer, and activist

On the topic of gender dysphoria, as quoted in [Man, Chella, What It’s Like to Be Trans and Live With Gender Dysphoria, https://www.teenvogue.com/story/what-its-like-to-be-trans-and-live-with-gender-dysphoria, 29 January 2019, Teen Vogue, September 21, 2018]

George Bernard Shaw photo
Wesley Clark photo
Lila Downs photo
Stephen Vincent Benét photo
Annie Besant photo
Adolf Hitler photo
Max Tegmark photo

“There's no better guarantee of failure than convincing yourself that success is impossible...”

Our Mathematical Universe: My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality (2014)

Joel Courtney photo

“I think it's important to learn boundaries for yourself and how much you have the right to place boundaries on others, I would say is a big thing.”

Joel Courtney (1996) American actor

'The Kissing Booth 2' star Joel Courtney breaks down all of his favorite scenes from the sequel https://www.insider.com/the-kissing-booth-2-joel-courtney-favorite-scenes-interview-2020-7 (July 24, 2020)

“Some days you go to your office and you're the only one who shows up, none of the characters show up, and you sit there by yourself, feeling like an idiot. And some days everybody shows up ready to work. You have to show up at your office every day. If an idea comes by, you want to be there to get it in.”

Thomas Harris (1940) American author and screenwriter

Hannibal Lecter’s Creator Cooks Up Something New (No Fava Beans or Chianti) https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/18/books/thomas-harris-new-book.html (May 18, 2019)

Richard Feynman photo

“Do not keep saying to yourself, if you can possibly avoid it, "But how can it be like that?"”

because you will get "down the drain", into a blind alley from which nobody has yet escaped. Nobody knows how it can be like that.
Concerning the apparent absurdities of quantum behavior.
Source: The Character of Physical Law (1965), chapter 6, “Probability and Uncertainty — the Quantum Mechanical View of Nature,” p. 129

Prevale photo

“Cancel space and time by nourishing yourself with love.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: Annullate spazio e tempo nutrendovi d'amore.
Source: prevale.net

Prevale photo

“Turn off your thoughts and feed yourself on music.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Spegnete i pensieri e nutritevi di musica.
Source: prevale.net

Prevale photo

“Believing in yourself is the greatest gift you can give to your life.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

From the Aphorisms http://www.prevale.net/aphorisms.html page of the official website of Prevale
Original: (it) Credere in te stesso è il regalo più grande che puoi fare alla tua vita.

Rumi photo
Kadda Sheekoff photo
Michelle Obama photo

“If you don't get out there and define yourself, you'll be quickly and inaccurately defined by others”

Michelle Obama (1964) lawyer, writer, wife of Barack Obama and former First Lady of the United States
Michael Bloomberg photo

“Don't be afraid to assert yourself, have confidence in your abilities.”

Michael Bloomberg (1942) American businessman and politician, former mayor of New York City
Tom Crean (basketball coach) photo
Arnold Schwarzenegger photo

“You have to see yourself winning before you win”

Arnold Schwarzenegger (1947) actor, businessman and politician of Austrian-American heritage
Isaac Mashman photo
Isaac Mashman photo
Leopold I of Belgium photo
Natalie Wynn photo
Lauren Jauregui photo
Jeff Danna photo

“I can do it. I earned it. It's something you have to remind yourself.”

Erika Jayne (1969) American singer, actress and television personality

Interview to L'Officiel (2018)

André Gide photo

“Believe those who seek the truth, doubt those who find it; doubt all, but do not doubt yourself.”

André Gide (1869–1951) French novelist and essayist

Ainsi soit-il; ou, Les Jeux sont faits
So be it; or, The chips are down
Gallimard
1952
174
Original: (fr) Croyez ceux qui cherchent la vérité, doutez de ceux qui la trouvent; doutez de tout, mais ne doutez pas de vous-même.

Odeya Rush photo
Trevor Noah photo
Ray Dalio photo

“Think for yourself to decide 1) what you want, 2) what is true, and 3) what you should do to achieve #1 in light of #2 ... and do that with humility and open-mindedness so that you can consider the best thinking available to you.”

Ray Dalio (1949) American businessman

Ray Dalio, [Principles: Life and Work, https://books.google.com/books?id=6LGuDgAAQBAJ&pg=PR7, xi, 19 September 2017, Simon & Schuster, 978-1-5011-2405-1]
Principles: Life and Work (2017)

Pam Ferris photo

“As someone who has been a carer, I can say that you will often find yourself at the end of your tether and ranting over cups of tea. You have to remember that and then you're fine, because no one pats themselves on the back at the end and says: "Good job."”

Pam Ferris (1948) British actress

This much I know: Pam Ferris https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/jan/22/this-much-i-know-pam-ferris (21 January 2012)

Arden Cho photo

“I love acting. Modeling is fun, too, but I feel like there is more room to stretch yourself and open yourself up to new experiences with acting. That's why I got into acting in the first place.”

Arden Cho (1985) Korean-American actress and singer

As quoted in "Interview: Rising Star Arden Cho Talks Joining “Teen Wolf” and Asian Representation in Hollywood" in Complex (6 January 2016) https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2014/01/arden-cho-teen-wolf-mtv

Benjamin Spock photo

“Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.”

Benjamin Spock (1903–1998) American pediatrician and author of Baby and Child Care
Gautama Buddha photo