Quotes About Introspection

To contemplate is to look at shadows.

By constant contemplation of excellence, we clear our selfhood of all dross and impurities.

Having no contemporaries left means you cannot say, 'Well, so-and-so will like this,' which you do when you're younger. You realize there is no so-and-so anymore. You are your own so-and-so. There is a bleak side to it.

I read very little contemporary anything.

In the contemporary world, artists are almost entirely self-referential.

What I have known with respect to myself, has tended much to lessen both my admiration, and my contempt, of others.

Being single is only sad if you have a problem with your own company. I'm content with mine.

The concept of loneliness and exile and self-sufficiency continually bucks me up.

Sometimes people ask, 'Does writing make you happy?' But I think that's beside the point. It makes you agitated, and continually in a state where you're off balance. You seldom feel serene or settled.

I think that we're all continually searching for who we are, and that's ever-evolving and changing.

I'm continually working on myself. Nothing ever actually works.

I think if someone is writing continuously for 10 years and has not changed their mind about something - there's something wrong with them. They're not really thinking.

There are times when your ego has to contract.

I always look for contradiction in a character.

It's quite hard for people to just accept that they're very contradictory.

Contrary to popular belief, I'm not always trying to stand out.

There is a huge contrast between what others think who I am and my real self.

Take the time today to understand your contribution to any bad event you've just been through.

If you want to control other people, first control yourself.

I was in a convent for a year.

One of Brando's problems is that he can't have a conversation with anyone.

When growing up, there were never any conversations about the past, because if you don't ask the questions, you never get the answers.

I'll write about myself, or people I know, or archetypal characters, but the goal is to get at some truth, not to necessarily convey my own experience as an individual to the world.

I digress a lot - it's how I experience the world. I would like to write in a way that will convey that to the reader, but also I need clarity.