Quotes About Self

Taking oneself to be the thinker of one's thoughts—that is, not recognizing the present thought to be a transitory appearance in consciousness—is a delusion that produces nearly every species of human conflict and unhappiness.

How could this next thought define your subjectivity at all?

The sense, therefore, that we are unified subjects—the unchanging thinkers of thoughts and experiencers of experience—is an illusion. The conventional self is a transitory appearance among transitory appearances, and it vanishes when looked for.

What you are calling "I" is itself a feeling that arises among the contents of consciousness. Consciousness is prior to it, a mere witness of it, and, therefore, free of it in principle.

Not learning how to read is not another style of literacy, and not learning to see others as ends in themselves is not another style of ethics. It is a failure of ethics.

In subjective terms, the search for the self seems to entail a paradox:we are, after all, looking for the very thing that is doing the looking. Thousands of years of human experience suggests, however, that the paradox here is only apparent: it is not merely that the component of our experience that we call I cannot be found; it is that it actually disappears when looked for in a rigorous way.

you are thinking without knowing you are thinking, you are confused about who and what you are.

We all nurture impulses which promise freedom from the demands of others, even if that freedom means death.

To remember oneself and to relax the body is something we have to do constantly.

I have only a general sense of the pain, of not being able to control my body and my thoughts. All I ever wanted was to have control- to be in charge of myself and the rest of the world.

I know I am sick, I just thought I was better.

Had Dr. Johnson written his own life, in conformity with the opinion which he has given, that every man's life may be best written by himself; had he employed in the preservation of his own history, that clearness of narration and elegance of language in which he has embalmed so many eminent persons, the world would probably have had the most perfect example of biography that was ever exhibited.

The measure of a person's psychological health and growth is not in the self, but in the quality of her or his relationships.

He who begins by loving Christianity more than Truth, will proceed by loving his sect or church better than Christianity, and end in loving himself better than all.

If you would stand well with a great mind, leave him with a favorable impression of yourself; if with a little mind, leave him with a favorable impression of himself.

And in Life's noisiest hour, There whispers still the ceaseless Love of Thee, The heart's Self-solace and soliloquy.

you can and should believe in yourself even when others don't;

I have a body, but I am not my body. I have a mind and thoughts, but I am not my mind. I have emotions and feelings, but I am not my emotions.

She expected people to accept her for who she was. But she never really accepted herself.

The hormonal imbalance is actually fertility. Fertility is the change. That's when a woman loses herself.

Your life isn't something you can leave behind or run away from, because you are it. People, on the other hand, are another matter altogether.

You are your life, so your life is wherever you are.

Your own body becomes used as evidence that the walls of which you speak are not there or are no longer there; as if you have eliminated the walls through your own progression. You got through, so they are not there.

complaining often means drawing attention to yourself at the very time you draw attention to structures.