quotes, quotations and passages about self

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There's only one corner of
the universe you can be
certain of improving, and
that's your own self.

Aldous Huxley

Remember always that you have not only the right to be an individual; you have an obligation to be one. You cannot make any useful contribution in life unless you do this. Eleanor Roosevelt

All of us have to seek in our own way to make our own selves more noble and to realize our own true worth. Albert Schweitzer

We all have choices to make about the quality of our presence and how we will affect those around us. The quality of our presence is dependent not on what we can or cannot “do” but on the essence of who we are and how we relate to others. Becoming the presence we would like to be is an intentional work. It grows while we make peace with ourselves and with life. Sallirae Henderson

Take a look at how you may be limiting your life with self-imposed boxes. We've all done it: we mark our boxes male, female, white, Hispanic, American. We have boxes for how thin we are-- or aren't-- and how much money we make. We have boxes marked for our professions and where we live. . . . I have created a life by stepping out of the box of other people's limitations. I call it zigging when others are zagging. Oprah Winfrey

It is healthy to accept myself as I am, to like myself, and to
love myself. It is okay for me to accept a compliment or
praise. Because I am just as deserving and worthy as anyone
else, I may treat myself as well as I treat others, live my own
life, and enjoy my life. There is a difference between being
unselfish and being a martyr or a victim. There is a time for
putting myself first so that I may take care of myself
and my needs.

Jill Wolf

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When mind soars in pursuit of things conceived in space, it
pursues emptiness. But when we dive deep within
ourselves, we experience the fullness of existence.

Meher Baba

People of understanding have lost nothing, if they have--if they own--themselves.
The greatest thing in the world is to know how to be--to belong to--oneself.

Michel de Montaigne

Alas, everything that people say to one another is alike; the ideas they
exchange are almost always the same, in their conversation. But inside
all those isolated machines, what hidden recesses, what secret
compartments! It is an entire world that each one carries within him
or her, an unknown world that is born and dies in silence!
What solitudes all these human bodies are!

Alfred de Musset
Fantasio

There is a dangerous threat in the air these days—the threat of our being thought for,
ruled, regulated, pushed around, made into Things. There is only one weapon against
that. The weapon is the Self—the unique and incalculable reality that is a human soul.

Eric Manners (1953)

Somewhere along the line of development we discover what we
really are, and then we make our real decision for which we are
responsible. Make that decision primarily for yourself, because
you can never really live anyone else's life, not even your own
child's. The influence you exert is through your
own life and what you become yourself.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Everybody is unique.
Compare not yourself with anybody else
lest you spoil God's curriculum.

Baal Shem Tov

self - self 2 - self 3 - self 4

I often hear people say "I have to find myself."
What they really mean is "I have to make myself."
Life is an endlessly creative experience, and we are
making ourselves every moment by every decision we make.

Kent Nerburn

Deep in the soul, below pain, below all the distraction of life, is a silence
vast and grand--an infinite ocean of calm, which nothing can disturb;
nature's own exceeding peace, which "passes understanding." That
which we seek with passionate longing, here and there, upward
and outward; we find at last within ourselves.

C.M.C.

You owe no one as much as you owe yourself. You owe to yourself the action
that opens for you the doors to the goodness, the variety, and the excitement of
effort and success, of battle and victory. Making payment on this debt to
yourself is the exact opposite of selfishness. You can best pay your debt to
society, that has made you what you are, by being just yourself with all your
might and as a matter of course. . . . You fulfill the promise that lies latent
within you by keeping your promises to yourself.

David Harold Fink

Believe in yourself, learn, and never stop wanting to build a better world.

Mary McLeod Bethune

It's easy to see and notice what we like in other people. Sometimes,
it's not as easy to see the attributes and beauty in ourselves.
It's good to see the beauty in others. But sometimes, take a
moment and get excited when you notice what's
beautiful in yourself, too.

Melody Beattie

We usually look outside ourselves for heroes and teachers. It has not
occurred to most people that they may already be the role model they seek.
The wholeness they are looking for may be trapped within themselves by
beliefs, attitudes, and self-doubt. But our wholeness exists in us now.
Trapped though it may be, it can be called upon for guidance, direction,
and most fundamentally, comfort. It can be remembered.
Eventually we may come to live by it.

Rachel Naomi Remen

This self should never be lost sight of. It is the one thing of supreme importance,
the greatest factor even in the life of the greatest service. Being always and
necessarily precedes doing; having always and necessarily precedes giving. But
this law also holds: That when there is the being, it is all the more increased
by the doing; when there is the having, it is all the more increased by the giving.
Keeping to oneself dwarfs and stultifies. Hoarding brings loss: using brings even
greater gain. In brief, the more we are, the more we can do; the more we have,
the more we can give. The most truly successful, the most powerful and valuable life,
then, is the life that is first founded upon this great, immutable law of love and
service, and that then becomes supremely self-centred--supremely self-centred
that it may become all the more supremely unself-centred; in other words, the life
that looks well to self, that there may be the ever greater self,
in order that there may be the ever greater service.

Ralph Waldo Trine

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Nobody is so miserable as the person who longs to be somebody and
something other than the person he or she is in body and mind.

Angelo Patri

You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness
of your intuition. . . what you'll discover will be wonderful.
What you'll discover will be yourself.

Alan Alda

You are something new in this world. Be glad of it. Make the most of what
nature gave you. In the last analysis, all art is autobiographical. You can sing
only what you are. You can paint only what you are. You must be what your
experiences, your environment, and your heredity have made you. For better
or for worse, you must cultivate your own little garden. For better or for worse,
you must play your own little instrument in the orchestra of life.

Dale Carnegie

self - self 2 - self 3 - self 4

To set us on a clear path, it is important to communicate well, at least
with ourselves. To know what we want, to know what we mean, and
to learn to express ourselves clearly, with as little confusion as possible.
If you are confused about yourself, you can expect to be misunderstood
by those around you. You have to set your mind straight,
and that is a task that no one else can undertake for you.

Rosemary Altea

You cannot fail at being yourself. A cat doesn't try to be a tiger,
and you shouldn't try to be something you aren't. You are a
process, not a product. Your job is to discover what you are
and to create that creature. You still won't be perfect, but
success isn't about perfection-- it is about authenticity. You
are a success if you are being your real, authentic self.

Bernie Siegel

Contentment. . . comes as the infallible result of great acceptances,
great humilities—of not trying to make ourselves this or that (to
conform to some dramatized version of ourselves), but of surrendering
ourselves to the fullness of life—of letting life flow through us.

David Grayson

We can spend our entire lives betraying ourselves and choosing fitting
in over standing alone. But once we've stood up for ourselves and our
beliefs, the bar is higher. A wild heart fights fitting in and grieves betrayal.

Brené Brown
Braving the Wilderness

Personally, I haven't grown up with influences that focused on
my personal power and potential, so I've had a hard time
focusing on it as an adult. It's a lot of work, to be honest,
but work that's well worth it. You are a very valuable person,
just as valuable as world leaders and doctors and lawyers and
other people who are constantly in the news. Your value
may not manifest itself in the world arena, but when it does
manifest itself, you can be sure that it provides a great boost
to people other than yourself. Strive to reach your potential,
not just for yourself, but for the others who will be
positively affected by your actions when you've
acknowledged just how valuable you truly are.

tom walsh

You walk outside and it is snowing. You carelessly shake the
snow from your sleeves. It attracts your attention: a lacy
snowflake glistens in your hand. You can't help looking at it.
See how it sparkles in a wonderfully intricate pattern. Then it
quivers, and the delicate needles of which it consists contract.
It melts and lies dead in your hand. It is no more. The snowflake
which fluttered down from infinite space upon your hand, where
it sparkled and quivered and died-- that is yourself.
Wherever you see life-- that is yourself!

Albert Schweitzer

There is an Indian proverb or axiom that says that everyone is a house
with four rooms--a physical, a mental, an emotional, and a spiritual.
Most of us tend to live in one room most of the time, but unless
we go into every room every day, even if only to keep
it aired, we are not a complete person.

Rumer Godden

We must not allow other people’s limited perceptions to define us.

Virginia Satir

How I feel about and behave toward myself is the basic determinant of
most of my behavior. If I improve my self-regard, I will find that dozens
of behaviors change automatically. If, for example, I increase my feelings
of self-competence, I will probably be less defensive, less angered by
criticism, less devastated if I do not get a raise, less anxious when I come
to work, better able to make decisions, and more able
to appreciate and praise other people.

Will Schultz