Quotes About Self-awareness

And it's a temptation for any intelligent person, and especially for perfectionists such as the ancients and ourselves, to try to murder the primitive, emotive, appetitive self. But that is a mistake.

Is it easy to see things in retrospect. But I was ignorant then of everything but my own happiness.

But while I have never considered myself a very good person, neither can I bring myself to believe that I am spectacularly bad one. Perhaps it's simply impossible to think of oneself in such a way.

It is a terrible thing to learn as a child that one is a being separate from all the world, that no one and no thing hurts along with one's burned tongues and skinned knees, that one's aches and pains are all one's own.

And as terrible as this is, I get it. We can't choose what we want and don't want and that's the hard lonely truth. Sometimes we want what we want even if we know it's going to kill us. We can't escape who we are.

Years ago, in an old notebook, I wrote: One of Julian's most attractive qualities is his inability to see anyone, or anything, in its true light. And under it, in a different ink, maybe one of my most attractive qualities, as well(?) -Richard

Un grande dolore, che comincio a comprendere solo adesso: il cuore non si sceglie. Non possiamo obbligarci a desiderare ciò che è bene per noi o per gli altri. Non siamo noi a determinare il tipo di persone che siamo.

We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others, that in the end, we become disguised to ourselves. — FRANÇOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD

Why am I made the way I am? Why do I care about all the wrong things, and nothing at all for the right ones?»

we don't get to choose our own hearts. We can't make ourselves want what's good for us or what's good for other people. We don't get to choose the people we are.

As terrible as this is, I get it. WE can't choose what we want and don't want and that's the hard lonely truth. Sometimes we want what we want even if we know it's going to kill us. We can't escape who we are

Whatever teaches us to talk to ourselves is important: whatever teaches us to sing ourselves out of despair.

All of the above.

Maturity requires a final accommodation between our aspirations and our limitations.

The mature nation, like the mature man, is one which has made a workable accommodation between its aspirations and its limitations.

People aren't carved out of marble. We're all works in progress. The trick is to define ourselves, rather than let outside influences define us.

Happiness isn't about what you do, Jack. It's about how you feel about what you do.

Each of us is the hero in the movie of our life. The only difference is that some of us are better at justifying our actions to ourselves, while others beat themselves up for every mistake they make.

Guard your thoughts, and there will be little fear about your actions.

We shall do well to remember that, when we make our own miserably imperfect knowledge and consciousness the measure of our sinfulness, we are on very dangerous ground.

La ignorancia y la inexperiencia son el pedestal del orgullo; quítale el pedestal, y el orgullo pronto caerá.

Cuanta más luz espiritual han disfrutado, mejor han visto sus innumerables defectos y faltas. Más gracia han tenido, más han sido revestidos "de humildad" (1 Pe. 5:5).

For another thing, let us be certain of our own condition and never rest until we feel and know that we are sanctified ourselves. What are our tastes, choices, likings, and inclinations? This is the great test question. It matters little what we wish and hope and desire to be before we die. Where are we now? What are we doing? Are we sanctified or not? If not, the fault is all our own.

Recordemos que cuando medimos lo pecadores que somos según nuestro propio conocimiento y conciencia, miserablemente imperfectos, pisamos un terreno muy peligroso.