Quotes About Introspection

Ne te quaesiveris extra.

let him look into [fear's] eye and search its nature, inspect its origin, - see the whelping of this lion, - which lies no great way back; he will then find in himself a perfect comprehension of its nature and extent; he will have made his hands meet on the other side, and can henceforth defy it and pass on superior.

Let us honestly state the facts. Our America has a bad name for superficialness. Great men, great nations have not been boasters and buffoons, but perceivers of the terror of life, and have manned themselves to face it.

In the words of a great writer, we find our own neglected thoughts.

That which we object to in others is often experiment for ourselves.

The field cannot be well seen from within the field.

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you

There are no fixtures to men, if we appeal to consciousness. Every man supposed himself not to be fully understood; and if there is any truth in him, if he rests at last on the divine soul, I see not how it can be otherwise. The last chamber, the last closet, he must feel was never opened; there is always a residuum unknown, unanalyzed. That is, every man believes that he has a greater possibility.

Day and night, house and garden, a few books, a few actions, serve us as well as would all trades and all spectacles.

In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life,—no disgrace, no calamity, (leaving me my eyes,) which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare ground,—my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space,—all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate

own fire hath sadness in it.

None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone

What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.

We should judge society starting with ourselves and our own minds.

I hate quotes: tell me what you know.

In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts: they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty.

If a person is constantly reading and absorbing the thoughts of others, their growth will be stunted. In order to fully develop, we need periods of solitude, self-inquiry, and recovery.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I would put myself in the attitude to look in the eye an abstract truth, and I cannot. I blench and withdraw on this side and on that. I seem to know what he meant who said, No man can see God face to face and live.

If thou fill thy brain with Boston and New York, with fashion and covetousness, and wilt stimulate thy jaded senses with wine and French coffee, thou shalt find no radiance of wisdom in the lonely waste of the pinewoods.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

They are lonely; the spirit of their writing and conversation is lonely; they repel influences; they shun general society; they incline to shut themselves in their chamber in the house, to live in the country rather than in the town, and to find their tasks and amusements in solitude.

Our whole spiritual transformation brings us to the point where we realize that in our own being, we are enough.

I didn't arrive at my understanding of the fundamental laws of the universe through my rational mind."—A. Einstein