Quotes About Self-discovery

Abituarsi a guardare la vita come una cosa d'altri, rubata per scherzo, da restituire domani. Convincersi ch'è uno sbaraglio per temerari, che la precauzione suprema è morire. La morte: un esilio? Un rimpatrio? Come s'affonda in un legno un chiodo, a piccoli colpi, la morte... Pena di doversi lasciare a metà, dopo aver fatto con se stessi così poca strada, curiosità di conoscere il séguito...

Con la Sicilia i miei rapporti sono di qualità schizofrenica. E tuttavia, più mi sforzo di sbucciarmi di dosso la pelle indigena e di promuovermi "totus europeus", più tendo a raccogliermi e ricucirmi dentro la mia terra e la mia civiltà. Intervista di Leonardo Sciascia 1981

The path to enlightenment, to find out who you truly are, has to be taken alone.

Por lo demás, me siento tan poco dispuesto a avergonzarme de mi pasión que, desde el instante en que la abracé no he dejado de felicitarme y me alegra sentir uno de esos afectos sin los cuales ignoramos la grandeza, saber que soy capaz de sufrimientos distintos a los del cuerpo y haber descubierto la ternura y la sensibilidad desmesurada de mi corazón.

All the dreams you show up in are not your own.

The doctrine of human equality reposes on this: that there is no man really clever who has not found that he is stupid. There is no big man who has not felt small. Some men never feel small; but these are the few men who are.

When a boy begins to notice that he is fonder of arithmetic, or less homesick, than are most of his acquaintances he is beginning to be self-conscious, in this enlarged sense.

To become imperceptible oneself, to have dismantled love in order to become capable of loving. To have dismantled one's self in order finally to be alone and meet the true double at the other end of the line. A clandestine passenger on a motionless voyage. To become like everybody else; but this, precisely, is a becoming only for one who knows how to be nobody, to no longer be anybody. To paint oneself gray on gray.

Compreende-se por que, numa sociedade de indivíduos destinados à autonomia privada o atrativo do Novo é tão vivo: ele é sentido como instrumento de "liberação" pessoal, como experiência a ser tentada e vivida, pequena aventura do Eu.

I just think some women aren't made to be mothers. And some women aren't made to be daughters.

I needed to bring my own gifts to my new home, not resist them, not sway to and fro like the tidal waters of the lagoon, but rather chart my own course through the shallows like an experienced boatman.

One year from now, a decade, a century, half a millennium, will things be different? Dare we dream it? When we are seen for ourselves, not just as the conduit of progeny, heirs, lineage, not just as beautiful objects to be protected, inspected, appreciated, but for who we are at the core . . .

I wake up every morning and I surprise myself. I wake up to a new me.

Embrace those parts of yourself that you've skillfully avoided until now. That's your true adventure.

What do you believe about who you are? About your capabilities? When was the last time you trusted yourself enough to test them?

To commune with your heart and soul, be willing to go out of your mind.

Travel in the direction of what you resist. On the way, you will meet a version of yourself who has been seeking you.

Few experiences are more satisfying than becoming someone we always imagined we could be.

A craving for company can yield the surprising discovery that the companionship we yearn for is with ourselves.

If you built the box, you can also break it down.

Do your fears warn of external dangers? Or, are they the kind that keep you from becoming more of your true self?

Feeling lonely? Wish you had a special someone to help fill the void? Reconsider your definition of romance, reconnect to your passions and be swept away.

The treasured vistas of our solo journeys are not always about the landscape.

In these pages, traveling "solo" does not necessarily mean "alone." The absence of other people often suggests regretful isolation. "Solo" by contrast, is a willful decision to be the architect of our own experience.