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Introspection Quotes

Browse 585 quotes about Introspection.

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Introspection Quotes

“But when the self speaks to the self, who is speaking? The entombed soul, the spirit driven in, in, in to the central catacomb; the self that took the veil and left the world -- a coward perhaps, yet somehow beautiful, as it flits with its lantern restlessly up and down the dark corridors.”

WorldSoulSelfBeautifulSpiritLeftSpeakDarkDrivenCowardIntrospectionVeilsUp And DownCorridorsLanterns
Book:Monday or Tuesday: Eight Stories
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“Strange, when one thinks of all the other boys, infinite experimental kisses, test tube infatuations, crushes, pseudo-loves. All through this physical separation, through the testing and the trying of the others, there has been this peculiar rapport, comradeship, of us two so alike, so similar, but for science-boy and humanities-girl - the introspection, self examination, biannual deep summarizing conversations, and then the platonic parting.”

ThinkingTryingHas BeensTwoSelfHumanityGirlBoysStrangeConversationKissingTestsInfiniteSeparationCrushPeculiarIntrospectionTestingInfatuationExaminationPartingTubesPseudoPlatonicRapportSelf-examinationComradeshipSummarizing
Author:Sylvia Plath
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“Our self discoveries make us each a microcosm of the larger pattern of history. The inertia of introspection leads toward recollection, for only through memory is the past recaptured and understood. In the fact of experiencing and making the present, we are all actors.”

SelfFactsPastActorsMemoriesUnderstoodDiscoveryPatternsSelf DiscoveryIntrospectionRecollectionInertiaMicrocosm
Book:True Hallucinations: And, the Archaic Revival
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“The thing is that I am a member of that sad, ever-dwindling minority... the child of an unbroken home. I have carried this albatross since the age of eleven, when I started at grammar school. Not a day would pass without somebody I knew turning out to be adopted or illegitimate, or to have mothers who were about to hare off with some bloke, or to have dead fathers and shabby stepfathers. What busy lives they led. How I envied their excuses for introspection, their ear-marked receptacles for every just antagonism and noble loyalty.”

ChildrenHomeAgeSchoolMotherFatherMembersEarsBusyExcuseNobleLoyaltyMinoritiesIntrospectionAdoptedGrammarElevenUnbrokenEnviedHaresAntagonismBusy LifeBlokesShabbyGrammar SchoolStepfathersAlbatrossDead Father
Book:The Rachel papers
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“Anyone who does not see the vanity of the world is very vain himself. So who does not see it, apart from young people whose lives are all noise, diversions, and thoughts for the future? But take away their diversion and you will see them bored to extinction. Then they feel their nullity without recognizing it, for nothing could be more wretched than to be intolerably depressed as soon as one is reduced to introspection with no means of diversion.”

PeopleWorldFeelsMeanDoeYoungNoiseVanityVainBoredIntrospectionRecognizingWretchedExtinctionDiversion
Book:Human Happiness
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“The question is why one should be so inwardly preoccupied at all. Why not reach out to others in love and solidarity or peer into the natural world for some glimmer of understanding? Why retreat into anxious introspection when, as Emerson might have said, there is a vast world outside to explore? Why spend so much time working on oneself when there is so much real work to be done?”

WorldShouldSaidRealDoneMightUnderstandingNaturalOneselfWhy NotAnxiousReach OutSolidarityPeersIntrospectionRetreatNatural WorldReal WorkWork To Be DoneUnderstanding Why
Book:Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America
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“Made for spirituality, we wallow in introspection. Made for joy, we settle for pleasure. Made for justice, we clamor for vengeance. Made for relationship, we insist on our own way. Made for beauty, we are satisfied with sentiment. But new creation has already begun. The sun has begun to rise. Christians are called to leave behind, in the tomb of Jesus Christ, all that belongs to the brokenness and incompleteness of the present world ... That, quite simply, is what it means to be Christian: to follow Jesus Christ into the new world, God's new world, which he has thrown open before us.”

WorldWayMeanMadeChristianJoySpiritualityJesusChristJusticePleasureBehindsSunCreationJesus ChristSatisfiedSettlingThrownSentimentsNew WorldIntrospectionVengeanceTombsBrokennessClamorIncompleteness
Author:N. T. Wright
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“We forge gradually our greatest instrument for understanding the world - introspection. We discover that humanity may resemble us very considerably - that the best way of knowing the inwardness of our neighbors is to know ourselves.”

KnowsWorldWayMayHumanityUnderstandingKnowledgeKnowingInstrumentsNeighborBest WayIntrospectionUnderstanding The World
Book:The Essential Lippmann: A Political Philosophy for Liberal Democracy
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“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.”

FirstsMayWisdomThreeAttitudeKnowledgeLearningWiseCrazyWise WordsWords Of WisdomReflectionYogaExperienceThirdsMethodIntelligenceBitternessLife ExperienceImitationIntrospectionReflectingSecond ChanceSelf ReflectionBeing WiseWisestLearning From MistakesWise Man Once SaidLearning ExperienceLive And LearnKnowledge WisdomLifelong LearnerSuperior ManLife LearningKnowledge And WisdomConfucianismYou Live And You LearnChinese PhilosophyKnowledge And ExperienceReal KnowledgeWise WisdomChinese PhilosopherWisdom And ExperienceAge WisdomGreatest WisdomKnowledge ExperienceInspirational WisdomExperience And LearningMost WiseWisdom ExperienceMethods Of TeachingYou Live You LearnOld WisdomImitation Of LifeCritical ReflectionReflective Thinking
Author:Confucius
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“Moshe Sluhovsky's fascinating study links spirit possession, exorcism, and mystical practice in early modern Europe. Women and men, healers and priestly exorcisers are caught up in a new quest for truth and introspection as they try to figure out whether these dramas of body and soul come from the devil or God. A stunning feat of scholarship and interpretation.”

MenTryingSoulBodySpiritPracticeStudyModernFiguresDramaDevilMen And WomenEuropeCaughtPossessionFascinatingInterpretationLinksQuestsIntrospectionMysticalCaught UpScholarshipHealerStunningFeatsExorcism
Author:Natalie Zemon Davis
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“If you interrupt the writing of fast narrative with too much introspection and self-criticism, you will be lucky if you write 500 words a day and you will be disgusted with them into the bargain. By following my formula, you write 2,000 words a day and you aren’t disgusted with them until the book is finished, which will be in about six weeks.”

IfsWritingBookSelfToo MuchWeekLuckySixCriticismFollowingFinishedNarrativeFormulasIntrospectionBargainsDisgustedSelf Criticism
Author:Ian Fleming
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“The path to realizing our dreams is never smooth. Invariably we encounter bends, turns, detours, and roadblocks. Sometimes our frustrations make us want to give up the journey, but frustrations signal the need to pause for introspection and redirection. Frustrations are promptings from God to search our souls even more deeply to find our power and purpose, and to live it. Frustrations tell us that our thoughts and actions are not yet in harmony with our desires.”

WantNeedsGivingSoulSometimesDreamActionDesirePurposeTurnsRealizingPathJourneyGiving UpHarmonyEncountersFrustrationSmoothPausesOur ThoughtsIntrospectionSignalsOur DreamsDetoursThoughts And ActionsRoadblockRedirection
Book:Lessons in Living
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“No one seriously doubts Socrates' maxim: The unexamined life isn't worth living. Self-assessment and attempts at self-improvement are essential aspects of "the good life." Yes, we should engage in ruthless self-reflection and harsh scrutiny, but we should simultaneously acknowledge that such introspection will, at best, only result in a partial view of our minds at work. Complete objectivity is not an option.”

ShouldMindSelfResultsViewsDoubtHumilityEssentialsSelf ImprovementReflectionAspectImprovementAcknowledgeGood LifeHarshIntrospectionMaximsRuthlessSelf ReflectionWorth LivingObjectivityAssessmentScrutinySelf AssessmentUnexamined Life
Book:On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not
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“One receives as reward for much ennui, despondency, boredom -such as a solitude without friends, books, duties, passions must bring with it -those quarter-hours of profoundest contemplation within oneself and nature. He who completely entrenches himself against boredom also entrenches himself against himself: he will never get to drink the strongest refreshing draught from his own innermost fountain.”

BookPassionHoursDutyDrinkSolitudeRewardsOneselfContemplationBoredomStrongestQuartersIntrospectionFountainRefreshingEnnuiDraughtDespondencyWithout Friends
Author:Friedrich Nietzsche
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“Psychology, as the behaviorist views it, is a purely objective, experimental branch of natural science which needs introspection as little as do the sciences of chemistry and physics.... The position is taken here that the behavior of man and the behavior of animals must be considered in the same plane.”

MenNeedsLittlesNaturalAnimalViewsTakenPsychologyPositionBehaviorPhysicsObjectivesPlanesBranchesChemistryIntrospectionNatural Science
Author:John B. Watson
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