Self Understanding Quotes

• Without self knowledge, without understanding the working and functions of his machine, man cannot be free, he cannot govern himself and he will always remain a slave.

  G. I. Gurdjieff

  Spiritual, Knowledge, Acceptance

  "In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching". Book by Pyotr Ouspensky, 1949.

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• Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Wisdom, Travel, Character

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• Human self-understanding changes with time, and so also human consciousness deepens.

  Pope Francis

  Self, Understanding, Consciousness

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• Self-understanding rather than self-condemnation is the way to inner peace and mature conscience.

  Joshua L. Liebman

  Self, Inner Peace, Understanding

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• We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

  Will Durant

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

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  Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.

  Carl Jung

  Relationship, Leadership, Spiritual

  Carl Gustav Jung (1973). “Memories, dreams, reflections”, Random House Inc

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• To deny our pasts is to burn the bridge we must cross to self-understanding.

  Richard Paul Evans

  Past, Self, Bridges

  Richard Paul Evans (2015). “Walking on Water: A Novel”, p.231, Simon and Schuster

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• Unless you really understand others, you can hardly attain your own self-understanding.

  Miyamoto Musashi

  Self, Understanding

  Miyamoto Musashi, Musashi Miyamoto, Thomas F. Cleary (2005). “The Book of Five Rings”, p.13, Shambhala Publications

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• How could I have been anyone other than me?

  Dave Matthews

  Has Beens

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• We read books to find out who we are. What other people, real or imaginary, do and think and feel... is an essential guide to our understanding of what we ourselves are and may become.

  Ursula K. Le Guin

  Inspirational, Real, Book

  Ursula K. Le Guin, Susan Wood (1980). “The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction”, p.31, Ultramarine Publishing

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• We read books to find out who we are.

  Ursula K. Le Guin

  Book, Discovery, Who We Are

  Ursula K. Le Guin, Susan Wood (1980). “The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction”, p.31, Ultramarine Publishing

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• When you act on your impulses to play, when you are open to the possibilities in each moment, you replace your fears with self-understanding, self-esteem, and personal strength.

  Sandra Magsamen

  Self Esteem, Play, Moments

  Sandra Magsamen (2013). “Living Artfully: A Heart-full Guide of Ideas and Inspirations That Celebrate Life, Love, and Moments That Matter”, p.96, Simon and Schuster

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• Most perfect self-understanding is the capability to directly (immediately) transcend dilemma, all problems, all seeking.

  Adi Da

  Wisdom, Self, Perfect

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• But finding a voice-let's be clear-is a political act. It defines a moment of presence, of being awake; and it involves not only self-understanding, but the ability to transmit that selfunderstanding to others...To experience yourself as "voiceless" is a definition of depression, subjugation, and being counted out. .

  Mary Rose O'Reilley

  Self, Voice, Political

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• Therapy really did prepare me to become an empathic songwriter. As far as advice goes, it's a matter of self understanding first.

  William Fitzsimmons

  Self, Advice, Understanding

  Source: mousertime.blogspot.com

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• For what is a poem but a hazardous attempt at self-understanding: it is the deepest part of autobiography.

  Robert Penn Warren

  Self, Poetry, Understanding

  1985 In the New York Times, 12 May.

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• It is that the individual has within him or herself vast resources for self-understanding, for altering the self-concept basic attitudes, and his or her self-directed behavior - and that these resources can be tapped if only a definable climate of facilitative psychological attitudes can be provided

  Carl Rogers

  Attitude, Self, Understanding

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• The testimony of the greatest humans who have ever lived is that the way to make the most of ourselves is by transcending ourselves. We must learn to move beyond self-centeredness to make room within ourselves for others. When you transcend yourself, the fact will be confirmed by the quality of your life. We will attain - even if only momentarily - a transparency and a radiance of being which results from living both within and beyond yourself. This is the promise and the excitement of self-understanding.

  Don Richard Riso

  Moving, Self, Understanding

  Don Richard Riso, Russ Hudson (2000). “Understanding the Enneagram: The Practical Guide to Personality Types”, p.370, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• Psychiatry is a strange field because, unlike any other field of medicine, you never really finish. Your greatest instrument is you, yourself, and the work of self-understanding is endless. I'm still learning.

  Irvin D. Yalom

  Self, Medicine, Understanding

  Irvin D. Yalom (2012). “The Spinoza Problem: A Novel”, p.167, Basic Books

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• As a teacher I realize that what one learns in school doesn't serve for very much at all, that the only thing one can really learn is self understanding and this is something that can't be taught.

  Laura Esquivel

  Teacher, School, Self

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• Human existence may be simpler than we thought. There is no predestination, no unfathomed mystery of life. Demons and gods do not vie for our allegiance. Instead, we are self-made, independent, alone, and fragile, a biological species adapted to live in a biological world. What counts for long-term survival is intelligent self-understanding, based upon a greater independence of thought than that tolerated today even in our most advanced democratic societies.

  E. O. Wilson

  Independent, Intelligent, Self

  "The Meaning of Human Existence" by Keith Hess, www.huffingtonpost.com. February 25, 2016.

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• We humans are a hungry lot. We are driven by a craving to know who we are. Yet who we are is embedded in the heart of a holy God. Unless we seek for ourselves in the epicenter of God's grace, we will be forever condemned to walk the arid edges of self-understanding.

  Calvin Miller

  Heart, Self, Forever

  Calvin Miller (2010). “A Hunger for the Holy: Nuturing Intimacy with Christ”, p.5, Simon and Schuster

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• My hope and my prayer for people would be to find and gather themselves such that their self-understanding, their willingness to act in the face of fear, [imbibes and imbues them] with enough faith [that] is bigger than their fear.

  Rod Stryker

  Prayer, Self, People

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• It is facile to imply that smoking, alcoholism, overeating, or other ingrained patters can be upended without real effort. Genuine change requires work and self-understanding of the cravings driving behaviours.

  Charles Duhigg

  Real, Effort, Smoking

  "The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business". Book by Charles Duhigg, www.huffingtonpost.com. February 28, 2012.

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• Modern Man is the victim of the very instruments he values most. Every gain in power, every mastery of natural forces, every scientific addition to knowledge, has proved potentially dangerous, because it has not been accompanied by equal gains in self-understanding and self-discipline.

  Lewis Mumford

  Men, Self, Discipline

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