Quotes About Self-awareness

One way of feeling infallible is not to keep a diary

From ... the age of five or six, I knew that when I grew up I should be a writer. ... I tried to abandon this idea, but I did so with the consciousness that I was outraging my true nature and that sooner or later I should have to settle down and write books.

Now that he had recognized himself as a dead man it became important to stay alive as long as possible.

I HAD learned early in my career that one can do wrong against one's will, and before long I also learned that one can do wrong without ever discovering what one has done or why it was wrong. There were sins that were too subtle to be explained, and there were others that

The best books are those that tell you what you know already

If you're happy inside yourself, why should you get excited about Big Brother and the Three-Year Plans and the Two Minutes Hate and all the rest of their bloody rot?

One knew that it was all rubbish, so why let oneself be worried by it?

Je?li chce si? zachowa? tajemnic?, nale?y ukry? j? nawet przed sob?.

Como pode chamar a si mesmo um homem livre, quando sua própria fraqueza o trouxe à condição em que se acha? Se um homem tem dentro de si a alma de um escravo, não é exatamente nisso que se transforma, não obstante seu nascimento, assim como a água procura o seu nível?

I did think at first it was my own poor judgment that did cause me loss of many profitable trades. Later, I did credit it to my stubborn disposition.

Chacun pourrait s'intéresser au roman de sa propre vie, s'il l'avait compris...

Hayat? tan?mak yerine kendimden ÅŸüphe etmeyi öÄŸrendim.

To be happy you must have taken the measure of your powers, tasted the fruits of your passion, and learned your place in the world.

Never build your emotional life on the weaknesses of others.

Working with language is a means by which we can identify the bullshit within ourselves (and others).

I was back to feeling myself which, believe me, is no picnic.

Sometimes we might poop a bit if we are fresh. Which is just what I did, out on the cart that day: I pooped a bit while fresh, in my sick-box, out of rage, and what was the result? I have kept that poop with me all this time, and as a matter of fact—I hope you do not find this rude, young sir, or off-putting, I hope it does not impair our nascent friendship—that poop is still down there, at this moment, in my sick-box, albeit much dryer!

Had been bulky men, quietly content, who, in our first youth, had come to grasp our own unremarkableness and had, cheerfully (as if bemusedly accepting a heavy burden), shifted our life's focus; if we would not be great, we would be useful.

We left home, married, had children of our own, found the seeds of meanness blooming also within us.

So I suppose one danger is that we might get the idea that, you know, "to blurt, is to be." The idea that whatever comes out is good and is us. Whereas someone who has really worked with text realizes – well, that neither one is "really" you, but that the considered version might represent a "higher" you – brighter, less willing to coast or condescend, funnier, and (mysteriously) also, I think, kinder.

Working with language is a means by which we can identify the bullshit within ourselves (and others). If we learn what a truthful sentence looks like, a little flag goes up at a false one.

Once again I am only who I am.

In your life, there have been High Kindness periods and Low Kindness periods, and you know what inclined you toward the former and away from the latter.

In your life, there have been High Kindness periods and Low Kindness periods, and you know what inclined you toward the former and away from the latter. It's an exciting idea: Since we have observed that kindness is variable, we might also sensibly conclude that it is improvable; that is, there must be approaches and practices that can actually increase our ambient level of kindness.