Quotes About Introspection

Alas, after a certain age every man is responsible for his face.

To know oneself, one should assert oneself.

We used to wonder where war lived, what it was that made it so vile. And now we realize that we know where it lives... inside ourselves.

The only real progress lies in learning to be wrong all alone.

A guilty conscience needs to confess. A work of art is a confession.

An intellectual is a person whose mind watches itself.

What do you see when you look and what do you hear when you read?

Ma souffrance est ma vengeance contre moi-même.

Dans les rues, je suis l'obsédé de ma morte, mornement regardant tous ces agités qui ne savent pas qu'ils vont mourir et que le bois de leur cercueil existe déjà dans une scierie ou dans une forêt, vaguement regardant ces jeunes et fardés futurs cadavres femelles qui rient avec leurs dents, annonce et commencement de leur squelette, qui montrent leurs trente-deux petits bouts de squelette et qui s'esclaffent comme s'ils ne devaient jamais mourir.

Como eu gostaria de poder tirar fora, como o desdentado que tira a dentadura para depositá-la num copo d'água junto ao leito, tirar meu cérebro para fora de sua caixa, tirar meu coração que bate demais, esse pobre infeliz que cumpre bem demais seu dever, tirar fora meu cérebro e meu coração para mergulhá-los, esses dois pobres milionários, em soluções refrescantes, enquanto eu dormisse como um menininho que nunca mais voltarei a ser.

I used to go away for weeks in a state of confusion.

Possessions, outward success, publicity, LUXURY -- to me these have always been contemptible. I assume that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best for both the body and the mind

When I was still a rather precocious young man, I already realized most vividly the futility of the hopes and aspirations that most men pursue throughout their lives.

When I study philosophical works I feel I am swallowing something which I don't have in my mouth.

A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving. A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be.

A storm broke loose in my mind.

He who joyfully marches in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice.

It is not that I'm so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer.

People got insights into what was bothering them, but they hardly did a damn thing to change.

To be a character who feels a deep emotion, one must go into the memory's vault and mix in a sad memory from one's own life.

And so it was that at the age of thirty-five or so I dismissed all interest in public affairs, and have regarded them ever since as a mere spectacle, mostly a comedy, rather squalid, rather hackneyed, whereof I already knew the plot from beginning to end. I have written a little about them now and then,

Don't waste your time asking somebody else's question.

It was really his fault—and he realized it now—that the man had made such a racket. Would the Master punish him? Perhaps. Humans have such odd ideas of Justice. He—

He knew, as by revelation, that his adoring dog now shunned him because Link was drunk. From the first, Chum's look of utter worship and his eagerly happy obedience had been a joy to Link. The subtly complete change in his worshiper's demeanor jarred sharply on the man's raw nerves. He felt vaguely unclean—shamed.