Quotes About Introspection

You know of me only what I choose to tell.

Your pain defines you. Furthermore, those who are cushioned from pain are further from their truth than any other soul.

I know enough to know, that I don't know much

[W]riting is a product of silence and solitude.

It is not right that everyone should read the pages which follow; only a few will be able to savour this bitter fruit with impunity. Consequently, shrinking soul, turn on your heels and go back before penetrating further into such uncharted, perilous wastelands. Listen well to what I say: turn on your heels and go back, not forward,[...]

I am son of man and woman, so they tell me. That astounds me . . . I thought myself more!

At last it had come, the day when I should become a hog! I tried out my teeth on the bark of trees; I contemplated my snout with delight. There was not remaining the least morsel of divinity. I was capable of raising my soul up to the excessive elevation of that ineffable sensuality.

il dubbio è un omaggio reso alla speranza.

mais, mets-te le dans la tête, pour ne jamais l'oublier : les loups et les agneaux ne se regardent pas avec des yeux doux. » Que me fallait-il donc, à moi, qui rejetais, avec tant de dégoût, ce qu'il y avait de plus beau dans l'humanité! ce qu'il me fal-lait, je n'aurais pas su le dire. Je n'étais pas encore habitué à me rendre un compte rigou-reux des phénomènes de mon esprit, au moyen des méthodes que recommande la philosophie.

The soul does not fall.

The beauty is that through disappointment you can gain clarity, and with clarity comes conviction and true originality.

Disappointment leads to clarity, which leads to conviction and true originality.

I was drowning in spiritual texts and self-help books looking for answers everywhere outside myself.

If you look into your own heart, and you find nothing wrong there, what is there to worry about? What is there to fear?î

When you see a worthy person, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy person, then examine your inner self.

In the presence of a good man, think all the time how you may learn to equal him. In the presence of a bad man, turn your gaze within!

What the superior man seeks is in himself. What the mean man seeks is in others.

There are three methods to gaining wisdom. The first is reflection, which is the highest. The second is limitation, which is the easiest. The third is experience, which is the bitterest.

The demands that a gentleman makes are upon himself; those that a small man makes are upon others.

I will not be concerned at other men's not knowing meI will be concerned at my own want of ability.

The perfecting of one's self is the fundamental base of all progress and all moral development.

You hear not with the ears, but with the mind; not with the mind, but with your soul.

When you see a good person, think of becoming like her/him. When you see someone not so good, reflect on your own weak points.

Attack the evil that is within yourself, rather than attacking the evil that is in others.