Quotes About Clarity

The idea is simple, yet potent and universal.

the statement will be more revealing of the author than the information intended by him.

the way we always speak with modest words, we never use clear and urgent words, our words are gray, harmless, floating, and useless

Like all magnificent things, it's very simple.

The willingness to experience and accept our feelings carries no implication that emotions are to have the last word on what we do. I may not be in the mood to work today; I can acknowledge my feelings, experience them, accept them—and then go to work. I will work with a clearer mind because I have not begun the day with self-deception.

To live consciously means to seek to be aware of everything that bears on our actions, purposes, values, and goals—to the best of our ability, whatever that ability may be—and to behave in accordance with that which we see and know.

I cannot organize my behaviour optimally if my goal is merely to do my best. The assignment is too vague.

Living consciously implies that my first loyalty is to truth, not to making myself right.

To persevere with the will to understand in the face of obstacles is the heroism of consciousness.

Consciousness that is not translated into appropriate action is a betrayal of consciousness . . . Living consciously is living responsibly toward reality. We do not necessarily have to like what we see but we recognize that wishes or fears or denials do not alter facts.

If we are willing to take responsibility for that which is within our power, I think that frees us to see clearly that which is not, and to understand, therefore, the limits of our accountability. But if we too often fail to take such responsibility and feel vaguely guilty over our avoidance, the paradox is that in our confusion we often end up blaming ourselves for events beyond our control.

The protection of self-esteem requires a clear understanding of the limits of personal responsibility.

We hear a voice that tends to be modulated with an intensity appropriate to the situation and with clear pronunciation

Again, living purposefully entails living consciously.

To live consciously means to seek to be aware of everything that bears on our actions, purposes, values, and goals-to the best of our ability...

The more specifically targeted our praise, the more meaningful it is to the child. Praise that is generalized and abstract leaves the child wondering what exactly is being praised. It is not helpful.

To be in focus does not mean that one must be engaged in the task of problem-solving every moment of one's waking existence. It means that one must know what one's mind is doing.

To live consciously, I need to be sensitive to these distinctions. What I perceive, what I interpret it to mean, and how I feel about it are three separate questions. If I do not distinguish among them, my grounding in reality becomes the first casualty.

When an uninstructed multitude attempts to see with its eyes, it is exceedingly apt to be deceived.

Truth often finds its way to the mind close muffled in robes of sleep, and then speaks with uncompromising directness of matters in regard to which we practise an unconscious self-deception during our waking moments.

A pure hand needs no glove to cover it.

Yes! - these were her realities - all else had vanished!

It appears to me, said the daguerreotypist, smiling, that Uncle Venner has the principles of Fourier at the bottom of his wisdom; only they have not quite so much distinctness in his mind as in that of the systematizing Frenchman.

I find nothing so singular in life as that everything appears to lose its substance the instant one actually grapples with it.