Quotes About Reflection

Why do you observe the splinter in your brother's eye and never notice the plank in your own?

The philosopher Karl Popper (1902–94) often remarked "We don't know anything" and believed that this was the most important philosophical truth.16

One of the many great sources of happiness is to get a glimpse, here and there, of a new aspect of the incredible world we live in and of our incredible role in it."17

When they have contemplated the world, human beings have always experienced a transcendence and mystery at the heart of existence.

The aim of this step is threefold: (1) to recognize and appreciate the unknown and unknowable, (2) to become sensitive to overconfident assertions of certainty in ourselves and other people, and (3) to make ourselves aware of the numinous mystery of each human being we encounter during the day. First

What do you think Socrates meant when he said, "The unexamined life is not worth living"? Third

man of the Axial Age, Confucius wanted people to become fully conscious of what they were doing. Performance of the li was

Si te consideras sabio, aseguraban, ¡puedes dar prácticamente por seguro que no lo eres!

And how could I hope to sense God's presence when I continually broke the silence, frequently had uncharitable thoughts, and above all, constantly yearned for human affection and wept when reprimanded?

Every day I examine myself on three counts: in what I have undertaken on another's behalf, have I failed to do my best? In my dealings with my friends, have I failed to be trustworthy in what I say? Have I passed on to others anything that I have not tried out myself?71

As the Daoists pointed out, we often identify with our ideas so strongly that we feel personally assaulted if these are criticized or corrected.

we may need to find a way of posing Socratic questions that lead to personal insight rather than simply repeating the facts as we see them yet again. We

the anonymous Chinese author we know as Laozi pointed out that no matter how good his intentions, violence always recoils upon the perpetrator.

the Golden Rule, which asks us to look into our own hearts, discover what gives us pain, and then refuse, under any circumstance whatsoever, to inflict that pain on anybody else.

For really, dreaming is the well-mannered people's way of committing suicide.

I turned to the animal world from the world of men; my heart was heavy with the tragedy of the night.

If I know a song of Africa,—I thought,—of the Giraffe, and the African new moon lying on her back, of the ploughs in the fields, and the sweaty faces of the coffee-pickers, does Africa know a song of me? Would the air over the plain quiver with a colour that I had had on, or the children invent a game in which my name was, or the full moon throw a shadow over the gravel of the drive that was like me, or would the eagles of Ngong look out for me? I

When I heard this I became very sad, but I thought that now I would indeed have to take him with me so that the Virgin herself could enlighten him.

Sì, pensavo io, la sua vita è di quelle che bisogna vivere due volte prima di poter dire che è stata veramente vissuta. Si può ripetere da capo un'arietta, ma non una composizione intera, una sinfonia e neanche una tragedia in cinque atti. Se la si ripete, vuol dire che non è andata come doveva.

Poi, prima di riprender sonno, mi chiedevo se, nei boschi, Lulu aveva mai sognato la sua campana.

One day I sold my table-glass, and then in the night thought better of it, so that in the morning I drove to Nairobi and asked the lady who had bought it to call off the deal. I had no place to put the glass, but the fingers and lips of many friends had touched it, they had given me excellent wine to drink out of it; it was keeping an echo of old table-talk, and I did not want to part with it. After all, I thought, it would be an easy thing to break.

Take the advice I sometimes have to give to myself: Don't say something permanently painful just because you are temporarily ticked off.

Set a guard over my mouth, LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips. (Psalm 141:3)

Even a fool when he holds his peace is considered wise; when he closes his lips he is esteemed a man of understanding" (Proverbs 17:28). Yes, sometimes the best thing to say is nothing at all. We