Quotes About Self-preservation

The decision to leave his family behind was either an act of monumental self-sacrifice, or one of selfish self-preservation, or both. He told himself he had no choice, which is what we all tell ourselves when forced to make a terrible choice.

Kühlenthal perfectly exemplified the qualities that John Godfrey had identified as the two most dangerous flaws in a spy: "wishfulness" and "yesmanship." He would believe anything he was fed, and he would do whatever he could to suck up to the boss and preserve his own skin.

I was trying to protect my wife, I was trying to protect myself from shame, and I really regret it.

I'm petrified of reincarnation because, you know, I like being me.

Since women ask me about male motives all the time, I can offer a bit of advice. If you feel like you're going to get hurt then you shouldn't be there in the first place. That's the way I look at relationships.

It's my nature to run from relationships, because I have never seen a good one.

In hindsight, most of us are also limited with our resources, one has to think about themselves too. So I put it out there that I'm open to collaborations on social media, for brands too, if they deposit money directly into the account of an NGO, I send them.

I got to start limiting the hits I take on myself.

I'm more proud of how many times I haven't jumped than how many times I have jumped. Sometimes walking down, I've saved my life.

Human nature is you get carried away, so we have to protect ourselves from ourselves.

Sometimes if you let people do things to you, you're really doing it to them," Amma said, pulling another Blow Pop from her pocket. Cherry. "Know what I mean? If someone wants to do fucked-up things to you, and you let them, you're making them more fucked up. Then you have the control. As long as you don't go crazy.

I like checking days off a calendar—151 days crossed and nothing truly horrible has happened. 152 and the world isn't ruined. 153 and I haven't destroyed anyone. 154 and no one really hates me. Sometimes I think I won't ever feel safe until I can count my last days on one hand. Three more days to get through until I don't have to worry about life anymore.

Little Libby Day just discovered her angle. Call it survival instinct, or call it what it was: greed.

I made a mental note to take a smiling, pretty photo of myself in case I ever disappeared.

You can't convince me that I'm obligated to save you from yourself.

That was my first instinct -- to protect him. It never occurred to me that there was a greater need to protect myself. Innocence always calls mutely for protection when we would be so much wiser to guard ourselves against it: innocence is like a dumb leper who has lost his bell, wandering the world, meaning no harm.

Tacitamente, l'innocenza chiede sempre protezione, quando invece sarebbe molto più saggio se fossimo noi a proteggerci da essa. L'innocenza è come un lebbroso istupidito che ha perso il suo campanello, e che vaga per il mondo senza l'intenzione di far del male a nessuno.

Getting and keeping my immunity became very important to me. For I needed to take care of myself and my family. No one else was worried about me.

The thing I was always most protective of was my mystery. I worried that if I gave too much of myself, then I would limit the characters I could fall into.

I build a wall around myself. I'm hard to get to know. Any trait you have, it gets worse as you go along.

I don't like people; I don't let too many people into my life.

There is nothing worse for a bowler than knowing you cannot give your all. If you try to, you can mess yourself up for the future, so you are torn between that and protecting your body. You simply cannot do both.

I'm not interested in promoting myself or revealing to total strangers anything about me. That's not my job.

Paranoia might leave you loveless and alone, Raoul once said, but it'll keep you alive. Paranoia is your best friend.