Quotes About Self-discovery

Big Mountains are a completely different world. You can not conquer them, only rise to their height for a short time; & for that they demand a great deal. The struggle is not with the enemy, or a competitor like in sports, but with yourself, with the feelings of weakness & inadequacy. That struggle appeals to me. It is why I became a mountaineer.

Be faithful to that which exists nowhere but in yourself- and thus make yourself indispensable.

There's no better cure for the fear of taking after one's father, than not to know who he is.

When I was younger, I used to make resolutions which imagined were virtuous. I was less anxious to be what I was, than to become what I wished to be. Now, I am not far from thinking that in irresolution lies the secret of not growing old.

Je ne me sens jamais vivre plus intensément que quand je m'échappe à moi-même pour devenir n'importe qui.

Jette mon livre; dis-toi bien que ce n'est là qu'une des mille postures possibles en face de la vie. Cherche la tienne. Ce qu'un autre aurait aussi bien fait que toi, ne le fais pas. Ce qu'un autre aurait aussi bien dit que toi, ne le dis pas, -- aussi bien écrit que toi, ne l'écris pas. Ne t'attache en toi qu'à ce que tu sens qui n'est nulle part ailleurs qu'en toi-même, et crée de toi, impatiemment ou patiemment, ah! le plus irremplaçable des êtres.

Aren't you strong enough to walk alone? We must each of us find God by ourselves.

A caterpillar who seeks to know himself would never become a butterfly

The self requires a story.

Connais toi-même. Maxime aussi pernicieuse que laide. Quiconque s'observe arrête son développement. La chenille qui chercherait à «bien se connaître» ne deviendrait jamais papillon.

Up until then I had lived for myself or at least inside of myself. I had gotten married without imagining that my wife was anything more than a comrade, without realizing precisely that because of our union my life could be changed.

Tik per savo meil? jai suvokiau es?s ir prad?jau iš tikr?j? gyventi.

et quand tu m'auras lu, jette ce livre - et sors. Je voudrais qu'il t'eût donné le désir de sortir - sortir de n'importe où, de ta ville, de ta famille, de ta chambre, de ta pensée. N'emporte pas mon livre avec toi. ... Que mon livre t'enseigne à t'intéresser plus à toi qu'a lui même, - puis à tout le reste plus qu'à toi.

Ne crois pas que ta vérité puisse être trouvé par quelque autre; plus que de tout, aie honte de cela.

Lo propio de un alma cristiana es imaginar batallas en uno; al cabo de poco tiempo no comprende uno muy bien por qué… Pues, en definitiva, sea quien sea el vencido, es siempre una parte de uno mismo; y es ésa una usura inútil. Me he pasado la juventud oponiendo en mí dos partes de mí, que quizá no pedían otra cosa que entenderse. Por amor al combate, imaginaba luchas y dividía mi naturaleza.

Few of us are granted the grace to know ourselves, and until we do, maybe the best we can do is be consistent.

How beautiful to dream. But dreams, I tell Gil, in one of our quiet moments are so damned tiring. He laughs. I can't promise you that you won't be tired, he says. But please know this. There's a lot of good waiting for you on the other side of tired. Get yourself tired, Andre. That's where you're going to know yourself. On the other side of tired.

I can't promise you that you won't be tired, he says. But please know this. There's a lot of good waiting for you on the other side of tired. Get yourself tired, Andre. That's where you're going to know yourself. On the other side of tired.

I felt more like me than I ever had, as if the years I'd lived so far had formed layers of skin and muscle over myself that others saw as me when the real one had been underneath all along, and writing—even writing badly—had peeled away those layers, and I knew then that if I wanted to stay this awake and alive, if I wanted to stay me, I would have to keep writing.

Throw away my book: you must understand that it represents only one of a thousand attitudes. You must find your own. If someone else could have done something as well as you, don't do it. If someone else could have said something as well as you, don't say it—or written something as well as you, don't write it. Grow fond only of that which you can find nowhere but in yourself, and create out of yourself, impatiently or patiently, ah! that most irreplaceable of beings.

The fear of finding oneself alone – that is what they suffer from – and so they don't find themselves at all.

It is only in adventure that some people succeed in knowing themselves - in finding themselves

We write in response to what we read and learn; and in the end we write out of our deepest selves.

Women have been taught that, for us, the earth is flat, and that if we venture out, we will fall off the edge.