Quotes About Introspection

Reading is often thought of as a form of escapism, and it's a common turn of phrase to speak of getting lost in a book. But a book can also be where one finds oneself...

Leave the door open for the unknown, the door into the dark. That's where the most important things come from, where you yourself came from, and where you will go.

For [Jane Austen and the readers of Pride and Prejudice], as for Mr. Darcy, [Elizabeth Bennett's] solitary walks express the independence that literally takes the heroine out of the social sphere of the houses and their inhabitants, into a larger, lonelier world where she is free to think: walking articulates both physical and mental freedom.

to be lost is to be fully present, and to be fully present is to be capable of being in uncertainty and mystery. And one does not get lost but loses oneself, with the implication that it is a conscious choice, a chosen surrender...

Sometimes you never feel meaner than the moment you stop being mean.

Who's the real you? The person who did something awful, or the one who's horrified by the awful thing you did? Is one part of you allowed to forgive the other?

Dad is looking at the bookshelves, deep in thought, deciding which book should go where. Once, Mom came home from work and discovered that he had turned all the books around so that the bindings were against the wall and the pages faced out. He said it was calming not to have all those words floating around and "creating static." Mom made him turn them back. She said it was too hard to find a book when she couldn't read the titles. Then she poured herself a big glass of wine.

It was at that moment, standing next to her, that I figured out the truth. The truth was that Mom saw it too: the peeling paint, the cigarette butts on the stairs, everything. It soaked into me like water into sand, fast and heavy-making. But I still couldn't apologise for what I'd said. I wanted to, but I couldn't. I couldn't even smile at her.

Her lids tremble and her eyeballs look like they might disappear into her head.

Miriam says that sometimes, when we don't want to 'look hard at our behavior,' we look hard at everything else instead...

How are you supposed to know what you want?" […] "I think that when you don't know, you should just wait until you do.

Humanity is never more sphinxlike than when it is expressing itself

Writing has nothing to do with communication between person and person, only with communication between different parts of a person's mind.

Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us worthy evidence of the fact. —George Eliot

If you cannot find the truth where you are, Where do you expect to find it? —Master Dogen

I achieved what all artists dread: I had outlived most of my money and all of my talent.

When you feel the stitches holding the illusion of yourself together begin to stretch and pop, and you can't sew fast enough to keep the stuffing in.

In hindsight, I slid into arrogance based upon past success.

Blanche, prosaic in a pale yellow sweater and blue jeans, was wondering again if anything mattered—-life, faith--specifically, finishing homework assignments.

Pray about it before you talk about it,' Drew replied. 'Maybe I should try.' 'No maybes about it.

Reginald Hill

Buses and trains both set you thinking, but not in the same way. Trains give you a rhythm, sent you into dreams, cut you off from reality. Buses were always stopping and starting; traffic, road-junctions, lights; and of course, bus-stops. The world you passed through was observable. And real. So was the world inside your head. Buses were good places to worry on.

How come you still go on about your religion even after you gave it up?'...'It would be truer to say it gave me up, or rather it directed me to another path. But I still need it to tell me who I am. What about you Sam? Perhaps you are one of the lucky ones who are so sure who they are that external help isn't necessary.

quería una persona, quería que esa persona me quisiera y no pensaba que uno tenía que buscar, incesantemente, en otros cuerpos lo que ya había encontrado en uno solo (...)