Self Preservation Quotes

• When we quit thinking primarily about ourselves and our own self-preservation, we undergo a truly heroic transformation of consciousness.

  Joseph Campbell

  Hero, Thinking, Self

  Joseph Campbell, Bill D. Moyers (1988). “The Power of Myth”, Harmony

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• The law of self-preservation is higher than written law.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Self, Law, Preservation

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• Hunger, love, pain, fear are some of those inner forces which rule the individual's instinct for self preservation.

  Albert Einstein

  Love, Pain, Self

  Albert Einstein (2011). “Out of My Later Years: The Scientist, Philosopher, and Man Portrayed Through His Own Words”, p.15, Open Road Media

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• Self-preservation is the first law of nature.

  Samuel Butler

  Self, Law, Firsts

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• Whether they are defending the Soviet Union or bleating for Saddam Hussein, liberals are always against America. They are either traitors or idiots, and on the matter of America's self-preservation, the difference is irrelevant.

  Ann Coulter

  Differences, America, Self

  Ann Coulter (2003). “Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism”, p.28, Crown Forum

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• Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.

  Audre Lorde

  Caring, Compassion, Self

  Audre Lorde (2017). “A Burst of Light: And Other Essays”, p.130, Courier Dover Publications

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• After a traumatic experience, the human system of self-preservation seems to go onto permanent alert, as if the danger might return at any moment.

  Judith Lewis Herman

  Self, Might, Return

  Judith Lewis Herman (1997). “Trauma and Recovery”, p.35, Basic Books

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• A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the highest virtues of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self-preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation. To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written law would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absurdly sacrificing the end to the means.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Country, Freedom, Mean

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• Self love is the instrument of our preservation.

  Voltaire

  Love, Self, Anorexia

  Voltaire (1824). “A Philosophical Dictionary”, p.73

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• Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong - these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history.

  Winston Churchill

  Simple, Thinking, Self

  Winston Churchill, Robert Rhodes James (1980). “Churchill speaks: Winston S. Churchill in peace and war : collected speeches, 1897-1963”, Atheneum

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• I am a Muslim and . . . my religion makes me be against all forms of racism. It keeps me from judging any man by the color of his skin. It teaches me to judge him by his deeds and his conscious behavior. And it teaches me to be for the rights of all human beings, but especially the Afro-American human being, because my religion is a natural religion, and the first law of nature is self-preservation.

  Malcolm X

  Men, Rights, Self

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• There's so much that you can get mad about. Out of self-preservation, I focus on being grateful.

  Mariska Hargitay

  Grateful, Self, Mad

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• We have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Self, Justice, Ears

  On slavery in the United States, 1820, in J. C. Miller 'The Wolf by the Ears' (1977)

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• Living by faith includes the call to something greater than cowardly self-preservation.

  J. R. R. Tolkien

  Self, Heroism, Preservation

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• Luckily, I's learned at an early age that self-preservation was the only way to survive with your soul intact.

  Abbi Glines

  Self, Soul, Age

  Abbi Glines (2013). “While It Lasts”, p.210, Simon and Schuster

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• Self-Preservation is a full-time occupation.

  Ani DiFranco

  Self, Occupation, Preservation

  Song: Talk To Me Now, Album: Ani DiFranco

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• You can't be everybody's friend, you can't save the world, I learned this word: self-preservation. Once you do that, you can be friends with people, but how would you be a friend to anybody if you're not a friend to yourself.

  Mike Tyson

  Self, People, World

  Citizens Of Peace Magazine Interview, mag.citizensofhumanity.com. December 14, 2015.

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• The human instinct for self-preservation is strong. I know, because mine pulls at me, too, like the needle on a compass. And everybody - I've been reading some philosophy - everybody seems to agree that the instinct and responsibility of all humans is to take care of themselves first. You have the right to self-defense. You have the right to survive, if you can.

  Nancy Werlin

  Strong, Philosophy, Reading

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• Careers, children and homemaking all come above preserving your appearance. Self-preservation is at the bottom of the scale.

  Trinny Woodall

  Children, Self, Careers

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• He was gifted with the sly, sharp instinct for self-preservation that passes for wisdom among the rich.

  Evelyn Waugh

  Wisdom, Self, Rich

  "Scoop". Book by Evelyn Waugh, 1938.

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• Self-preservation, nature's first great law, all the creatures, except man, doth awe.

  Andrew Marvell

  Fear, Men, Self

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• As a matter of self-preservation, a man needs good friends or ardent enemies, for the former instruct him and the latter take him to task.

  Diogenes

  Friendship, Good Friend, Men

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• An insatiable appetite for glory leads to sacrifice and death, but innate instinct leads to self-preservation and life.

  Jose Marti

  Sacrifice, Self, Glory

  "Martí : Thoughts/Pensamientos" edited by Carlos Ripoll, 1994.

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• We are all ruled in what we do by impulses; and these impulses are so organized that our actions in general serve for our self preservation and that of the race.

  Edna St. Vincent Millay

  Race, Self, Our Actions

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• Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Life, Death, Suicide

  FaceBook post by Hunter S. Thompson from Nov 01, 2015

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