Quotes About Introspection

They are proud in humility; proud in that they are not proud.

What physic, what chirurgery, what wealth, favor, authority can relieve, bear out, assuage, or expel a troubled conscience? A quiet mind cureth all.

T]hou canst not think worse of me than I do of myself.

He that increaseth wisdom, increaseth sorrow.

That which others hear or read of, I felt and practised myself; they get their knowledge by books, I mine by melancholizing.

The thoroughly guilty man has an advantage over all of us; he cannot be found more guilty of anything, since he has already found himself guilty of everything. This may sound like an absurdity - causing oneself extreme pain in order not to feel any number of little pains of lesser guilts and shames, but it has its own logic. A man more easily adapts to what he inflicts upon himself; as to his own judgement, he is already committed to it and willing to live with it.

He became reflective and, somehow, withdrawn [zamknutym]. He gave up games but not books, and would go off in a corner and read assiduously."[127] Thus, young Djugashvili began to show the reticence and brooding aloofness from others that would characterize him in later years.

Solitude shows us what should be; society shows us what we are.

Are you just a car salesman or are you a poet too?" "I've never been accused of poetry before.

Don't be upset. The world is full of surprises. We're all born strangers to ourselves and each other, and we're seldom formally introduced.

what if we could look within and see the source of our more troubling emotions and why they drive our behavior, often against our own wishes?

When I left him, I reasoned thus with myself: I am wiser than this man, for neither of us appears to know anything great and good; but he fancies he knows something, although he knows nothing; whereas I, as I do not know anything, so I do not fancy I do. In this trifling particular, then, I appear to be wiser than he, because I do not fancy I know what I do not know. —Socrates

Pindar wrote, "Become who you are by learning who you are.

talking endlessly about [ourselves] is eminently anti-seductive, revealing not self-sufficiency but insecurity.

The more we lose ourselves in predigested theories and past experiences, the more inappropriate and delusional our response.

But true Zen never stops, never congeals into such truths. That is why everyone must constantly be pushed to the abyss, starting over and feeling their utter worthlessness as a student. Without suffering and doubts, the mind will come to rest on clichés and stay there, until the spirit dies as well. Not even enlightenment is enough. You must continually start over and challenge yourself.

One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself. —LEONARDO DA VINCI

the degree of awareness represents the difference. Rational people can readily admit their own irrational tendencies and the need to be vigilant. On the other hand, irrational people become highly emotional when challenged about the emotional roots of their decisions. They are incapable of introspection and learning. Their mistakes

the degree of awareness represents the difference. Rational people can readily admit their own irrational tendencies and the need to be vigilant. On the other hand, irrational people become highly emotional when challenged about the emotional roots of their decisions. They are incapable of introspection and learning. Their mistakes make them increasingly defensive.

man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the luster of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his. In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty. —RALPH WALDO EMERSON

Going deeper into their Otherness, feeling what they feel, we can discover what makes them different and learn about human nature.

be aware of these illusions and façades and to train ourselves to look through them. We must scrutinize everybody for signs of their character, no matter the appearance they present or the position they occupy.

Return to the harder or softer sides of your character that you have lost or repressed.

Everything you see or hear is a sign for you to decode.