Quotes About Self-examination

Siempre se miraba al espejo con los ojos entrecerrados: no le agradaba que un desconocido entrara en su intimidad.

Se voi sapete ch'io abbia, per pusillanimità, per qualunque rispetto, trascurato qualche mio obbligo ditemelo, francamente, fattemi ravvedere; affinchè dov'è mancato l'esempio, supplisca almeno la confessione.

The mirror's light sparks in the eyes, And horrified, my lids drawn tight, I step back to that realm of night Where not a single exit lies... (Untitled: "I pass away this life of mine...")

I was examining my thoughts. I saw they had other forms. I was measuring my emotions. I found their close borders. I was testing my bodily movements. I determined their simple significance. I was losing my benevolence. I have no more concentration. Those who guess will guess. I have nothing left to guess.

If I wasn't an actor and I watched my films, I could easily be like 'This guy's a clown,' you know?

Every man is the architect of his own life. He builds it just the way he wants it. However, after he has built what he wants, he sometimes decides that he doesn't like what he has built and looks for someone or something to blame instead of changing himself.

Filmmaking is incredible introspective. It forces you to sort of examine yourself in new ways.

I never thought about my image. It interests me that there are people who do, that they seem to be methodical about it. Maybe things would have gone differently for me in some ways if I had.

When we cannot be delivered from ourselves, we delight in devouring ourselves.

For me, a poem is an opportunity to kind of interrogate myself a little bit.

No man shall be more exacting of me or my conduct than I am of myself.

The bigger confrontation is the one an individual has with itself.

The man who has no inner-life is a slave to his surroundings.

To live without philosophizing is in truth the same as keeping the eyes closed without attempting to open them.

Silence is the only conduct truly befitting a solipsist, the only one, however, that he cannot bring himself to adopt.

At last I will devote myself sincerely and without reservation to the general demolition of my opinions.

FEBRUARY 5 FOR DISCOVERING ONE'S true inner nature, I think one should try to take out some time, with quiet and relaxation, to think more inwardly and to investigate the inner world. That may help. Then sometimes when one is very much involved in hatred or attachment, if there is time or possibility during that very moment, just try to look inward and ask: 'What is attachment? What is the nature of anger?

THE IMAGE WE have of ourselves readily tends to be complacent. We look at ourselves with indulgence. When something unpleasant happens to us, we always have the tendency to cast the blame on others, or on fate, a demon, or a god. We shrink from descending into ourselves, as the Buddha recommended.

I do not ordinarily hunt for a cave in the middle of the biggest excitement and most intense action, but this seemed to hit me in a new spot or something, and anyhow there I was, trying to arrange my mind. Or maybe my feelings. All I knew was that something inside of me needed a little arranging.

God never saved any man for being a preacher, nor because he was an able preacher; but because he was a justified, sanctified man, and consequently faithful in his Master's work. Take heed, therefore, to yourselves first, that you be that which you persuade your hearers to be, and believe that which you persuade them to believe, and heartily entertain that Savior whom you offer to them.

The falseness of your own hearts, if you look not to them, may undo you(15).

O]ur applications are quicker about our sufferings, than our sins(77)[.]

Take heed to yourselves, lest your example contradict your doctrine, and lest you lay such stumbling–blocks before the blind, as may be the occasion of their ruin; lest you unsay with your lives, what you say with your tongues; and be the greatest hindrances of the success of your own labors. It

Of only one thing I am certain. If the manuscript is true, all of us had better examine our lives. Carefully.