Quotes About Introspection

Once she had thought that she might discover some key to her mother if only she could get her likeness right, but she has since learned that the mysteries of another person only deepen, the longer one looks.

I am often tongue-tied with strangers and have what the philosopher Monsieur Diderot calls l'esprit de l'escalier, staircase wit: only long after a remark is made to me will my imagination supply the thing I should have said in reply.

Valerie Sherwood, I said to myself, you're going to die.

One never really knew what went on inside the hearts of other people, even those hearts you thought you knew as well as your own.

Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.

a lonely old man.

I wasn't vegetarian yet -- I was young and my conscience still under construction. (Kelly Johnson)

One of the more curious facts about human beings is that they can spend a day of introspection without discovering what is obvious to anyone who has spent a half hour in their company.

The greatest achievement in life is to become your own best self. Nothing external can help with that.

Dunia tidak lagi sama. Hidup ini menjadi asing. Aku sedih untuk sesuatu yang tak kutahu. Aku galau untuk sesuatu yang tak ada. Dan jari ini ingin menunjuk sesuatu yang bisa menjadi sebab, tapi tak kutemukan apa-apa. Pada saat yang sama, seluruh sel tubuhku berkata lain. Mereka tahu sesuatu yang tak dapat digapai pikiran. Apa rasanya, jika tubuhmu sendiri menyimpan rahasia darimu?

Satu-satunya yang tidak diajarkan kepadamu adalah mengenal diri sendiri. Karena itu, kamu benci dan takut terhadap hidup

Tak ada yang lebih menarik daripada menyaksikan seseorang menyelam ke septic tank kotorannya sendiri.

I was stubborn like that, refusing to let my heart redefine how I operated. Looking back, there is a part of me that wants to replace the word 'stubborn' with 'reckless'; there are many things I would do differently now, but what good does it do to retrace your steps? Sometimes you simply do the things you do, and it doesn't necessarily help to pick on the "old you" by proclaiming how smart the new you is.

What must I say? What must I say? What must I say? What must I say? And finally, What must I say to you?

When you struggle with your partner, you are struggling with yourself. Every fault you see in them touches a denied weakness in yourself.

Don't let a day go by without asking who you are…each time you let a new ingredient to enter your awareness.

Curving back within myself I create the world around me...

The world 'out there' won't change until the world 'in here' does.

The willingness to reach inside every part of yourself opens the door to total understanding. You place your entire identity on the line, not just an isolated part. This may sound daunting, but actually it's the most natural way to approach any situation. When you hold some part of yourself in reserve you deny it exposure to life; you repress its energy and keep it form understanding what it needs to know.

I like to make a distinction between solitude and being alone. Alone signifies loneliness, whereas solitude means really connecting with yourself.

Practicing silence means making a commitment to take a certain amount of time to simply Be. Experiencing silence means periodically withdrawing from the activity of speech. It also means periodically withdrawing from such activities as watching television, listening to the radio, or reading a book. If you never give yourself the opportunity to experience silence, this creates turbulence in your internal dialogue.

Spend time pondering not what you see," Merlin advised Arthur, "but why you see it.

the silent witness is that level where you know yourself, without regard for what others think they know.

In becoming more fully your true self, you have to understand and embrace the less attractive qualities in yourself. The essential nature of the universe is the coexistence of opposite values. You cannot be brave if you do not have a coward inside you. You cannot be generous if you do not have a tight-fisted person inside you. You cannot be virtuous unless you also contain the capacity for evil.