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Self Centeredness Quotes

Browse 80 quotes about Self Centeredness.

Self Centeredness Quotes

“If I see God as nothing more than a caricature of history or imagination I cannot do anything less than make myself my own ‘god’. And once I realize that in doing so my rendition of being a ‘god’ is embarrassingly inferior to the very caricature I am mimicking, I quickly come to realize that maybe the only thing that can be ‘god’ is a God. And if that is the case, I suddenly find myself hounded by the stunning reality that God is not a caricature.”

GodRealityChristianJesusImaginationChristianityHistoryFailureEgoJesus ChristSelfishChristian LifeArroganceIdolsArrogantFailSelf CenteredNarcissisticIdolatrySelf CenterednessEgo CentricMimickingCaricature
Author:Craig D. Lounsbrough
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“Seeing myself or my church or my denomination as "the blessing" — like so many mission trips to help "those less fortunate than ourselves" — can easily descend into a blend of  benevolence and paternalism. We can start to see the "poor" as supporting characters in a big story about how noble, selfless, and helpful we are.”

PovertySelf CenterednessPaternalism
Book:Accidental Saints: Finding God in All the Wrong People
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“Failure to recognize one's own absolute significance is equivalent to a denial of human worth; this is a basic error and the origin of all unbelief. If one is so faint-hearted that he is powerless even to believe in himself, how can he believe in anything else? The basic falsehood and evil of egoism lie not in this absolute self-consciousness and self-evaluation of the subject, but in the fact that, ascribing to himself in all justice an absolute significance, he unjustly refuses to others this same significance. Recognizing himself as a centre of life (which as a matter of fact he is), he relegates others to the circumference of his own being and leaves them only an external and relative value.”

EvilEgoismSelf CenterednessHuman ValueHuman Worth
Book:The Meaning of Love
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“The Anatomy of Conflict: If there is no communication then there is no respect. If there is no respect then there is no caring. If there is no caring then there is no understanding. If there is no understanding then there is no compassion. If there is no compassion then there is no empathy. If there is no empathy then there is no forgiveness. If there is no forgiveness then there is no kindness. If there is no kindness then there is no honesty. If there is no honesty then there is no love. If there is no love then God doesn't reside there. If God doesn't reside there then there is no peace. If there is no peace then there is no happiness. If there is no happiness ----then there IS CONFLICT BECAUSE THERE IS NO COMMUNICATION!”

GodStoriesHappinessReligionPeaceUnderstandingLeadershipFreedomHealingTalkingTeachingPerspectiveListeningSpeechSolutionsRespectAdversityForgivingCaringUnhappinessLeadersLovingStrifeConnectingExplainingAdversity QuotesTaking ActionDiscussingCounselingConflict ResolutionResolutionsSelf CenterednessStaying PositiveSolving ProblemsMisunderstandingsLoving One AnotherDiscussionsHonesty LoveCommunication Is KeyStubbornessLoving Everyone
Author:Shannon L. Alder
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“The pain of the narcissist is that, to him, everything is really a threat. What doesn't surrender in reverence is blasphemous to a high opinion of oneself - the burden of self-importance. The narcissist reconstructs his own law of gravity which states that all things and all creatures must adhere to his personal satisfaction, but when they do not, the pain is far more intense than it is for one who is free from the clamors of 'I'.”

PainFearPsychologyEgoThreatSatisfactionBurdenNarcissismParanoiaIntimidationSelf Centeredness
Book:Killosophy
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“Would you rather a god who listens or a god who speaks?” Be careful with the answer. It’s as important as every word from Scheherazade’s mouth that saved her life. And everybody’s got an answer. A god who listens is like your best friend, who lets you tell him about all the people you don’t like. A god who speaks is like your best teacher, who tells Brandon Goff he has to leave the room if he’s going to call people falafel monkeys. A god who listens is your mom who lets you sit in a kitchen and tell her stories about castles in the mountains. A god who speaks is your dad who calls on the phone with advice for your life in America. There are gods all over the world who just want you to express yourself. Look inside and find whatever you think you are and that’s all it takes to be good. And there are gods who are so alien to us, with minds so clear, the only thing to do would be to sit at their feet and wait for them to speak, to tell us what is good. A god who listens is love. A god who speaks is law. At their worst, the people who want a god who listens are self-centered. They just want to live in the land of do-as-you-please. And the ones who want a god who speaks are cruel. They just want laws and justice to crush everything. I don’t have an answer for you. This is the kind of thing you live your whole life thinking about probably. Love is empty without justice. Justice is cruel without love. Oh, and in case it wasn't obvious, the answer is both. God should be both. If a god isn't, that is no God.”

LoveGodLawReligionJusticeListeningCrueltySpeakingSelf Centeredness
Book:Everything Sad Is Untrue
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“Anger gets you into trouble, ego keeps you in trouble.”

InspirationalWritingSelfPhilosophyProblemWisdomMotivationalQuotesKnowledgeTroublePrideSpeechEgoAngerWittyWitMovieStoryTemperRhetoricOffensiveWrathSayingsCreative WritingSlogansFuryAmit KalantriSelf CenteredAmit Kalantri QuotesPublic SpeakingProverbsOutrageAggravationSocial NetworkingBloggingCharactersAmit Kalantri WriterAnger ManagementAdageIndignationNovel WritingOffenceBook WritingEssayIrritationScriptAdvertisementBlogAnnoyanceMovie DialogueCoolScript WritingCatchphrasesAlliterationsTag LinesScriptwritingCatch LinesSpeechwritingPunchlineVexationSelf CenterednessDispleasureExasperationSpleenRoad RagePiqueIrritabilityBileDyspepsiaShort TemperedCrossnessIrascibilityResentment RageWaspishnessAir RageCholerIll HumourIll TemperTestinessTetchiness
Book:Wealth of Words
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“When I was a student, there wasn't a single thing we did that was unrelated to others. It was all for the Emperor, or parents, or the country, or society—everything was other-centered, which means that all educated men were hypocrites. When society changed, this hypocrisy ceased to work, and as a result, self-centeredness was gradually imported into thought and action, and egoism became enormously over-developed. Instead of the old hypocrites, now all we've got are out-and-out rogues. Do you see what I mean by that?”

LiteraturePoliticsFreedomNovelModernEnlightenmentTraditionWesternJapanIndividualismEgoismSelf CenterednessMeijiTurn Of The CenturyFin De SieclePolitical LiberationSocial Hegemony
Book:Sanshirō
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“Patriotism is the narcissism of countries.”

CountryHumorFunnyQuotesHumourPrideSelf LoveHumorousQuoteProfoundPhilosopherQuote Of The DayVanityArroganceThoughtfulPatriotismSatireThought ProvokingDeepInsightfulAphorismArrogantNarcissismSouth AfricaPatriotQuotationsAfricaMaximsSayingsEgotismSelf CenteredAdagesConceitProverbsNarcissisticAphorismsMake You ThinkEgoismAxiomsAdageCockyProverbSatiricalSayingEpigramsSwaggerAfricanQuotationSelf AbsorbedGnomeSatiristMaximEpigramGnomesProvoke ThoughtMade Me ThinkSelf AbsorptionAxiomDictumDictumsSelf CenterednessSelf ObsessionCountriesSouth AfricanSatiristsCockinessPatriotsBoastfulBoastfulnessSelf RegardBigheadBig HeadedBig HeadednessRodomontadeSelf Admiration
Book:The Use and Misuse of Children
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“It is time to center yourself. Pull your focus inward. To what you know you want and deserve. To respect, and reciprocity, and giving only to those who commit to the asking. Be discerning with your time, and your energy, and your tender heart. Be infinitely brave in owning your voice and speaking your needs and your truth. This work is hard, and it is holy, and it is so, so good. Because when you reside in your center, all there is left to do is expand. You have done this so many times before. You know what comes next. There's some serious power brewing here. You could say 'watch out world'. But it doesn't really matter if they do or if they don't. What comes next is just for you.”

Self EsteemSelf LoveSelf ImprovementSelf AwarenessSelf CenteredSelf Awareness QuotesSelf CenterednessPut Yourself FirstSelf FocusPutting Yourself First
Author:Jeanette LeBlanc
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“Noi fummo i Gattopardi, i Leoni; quelli che ci sostituiranno saranno gli sciacalletti, le iene; e tutti quanti gattopardi, sciacalli e pecore, continueremo a crederci il sale della terra." ("We were the Leopards, the Lions; those who'll take our place will be little jackals, hyenas; and the whole lot of us, Leopards, jackals, and sheep, we'll all go on thinking ourselves the salt of the earth.")”

ImportanceItalyGrandeurSelf ImageIllusionsSelf PerceptionSelf CenterednessSicilyLeopardGattopardi
Book:The Leopard
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“Alex Rodriguez seemed not to fit in with the rest of his Yankee teammates. For instance, he wanted a clubhouse attendant personally assigned to him, when there were four or five for the whole team. Seeing the rift between him and the rest of the team and how Rodriguez's major focus on how HE was perceived, Joe Torre suggested in the individual meeting that Rodriguez at least get his own coffee rather than send someone to get it for him. Later that day, Alex Rodriguez made a point of telling the manager that he got his own coffee – drawing attention to himself, even in what was meant to be just an example of how he could fit in with normal behavior.”

HumilityPrideSelf Centeredness
Book:The Yankee Years
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“They turned on the television and saw some news story about another goddamn humanitarian crisis, another goddamn civil war in some godforsaken place, and saw images of wounded people or starving children and felt a bright, bitter anger at the children for invading and ruining the only moments of relaxation and "me time" the neighbors had all day. The neighbors would get a little indignant here, about how their own lives were hard too, and yet nobody heard them complaining about it. everyone had problems - why couldn't they just quietly deal with them? On their own? With a bit of self-respect? Why did they have to get everyone else involved? It's not like the neighbors could do anything. It's not like civil wars were their fault.”

Self CenterednessLack Of Compassion
Book:The Nix
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“Self-centered people often get angry when someone tells them no. Stan said yes out of fear that he would lose love and that other people would get angry at him. These false motives and others keep us from setting boundaries:”

BoundariesSelf CenteredLoss Of LovePassivitySubmissiveSelf CenterednessControlling ParentsBoundaries QuotesControlling OthersControlling PeopleFear Of AbandonmentSelf Centered PeopleBoundary IssuesConfrontationalSubmittingRule By FearBoundarylessSelf Centered Man
Book:Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life
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“Cultivate the understanding that the self is not really an independently existing entity, and begin to view self instead in terms of it's dependent relation to others. Although it is difficult to say that merely reflecting on this will produce a profound spiritual realization, it will at least have some effect. Your mind will be more open. Something will begin to change within you. Therefore, even in the immediate term there is definitely a positive and beneficial effect in reversing these two attitudes and moving from self-centeredness to other-centeredness, from belief in self existence to belief in dependent origination.”

SelfSelf CenterednessSpiritual RealizationDependant OriginationOther Centeredness
Author:His Holiness the Dalai Lama
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“The only person that deserves a special place in your life is someone that never made you feel like you were an option in theirs.”

ChoicesGamesHurtSelf EsteemLiesAbuseHatedSelf RespectWomen EmpowermentEmbarrassedIgnoredSexual AbuseEmotional AbuseBulliedNot Good EnoughOverlookedHumiliatedTaken For GrantedDumpedPhysical AbuseOptionsSelf CenterednessNot PrettyVerbal AbuseBlamingCheated OnDaughter Of GodHurting YouLack Of RespectTorturedSons Of GodLied ToNot Nice
Author:Shannon L. Alder
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“So much of the world's suffering results from the sinful action or inaction of ourselves and others. For example, people look at a famine and wonder where God is, but the world produces enough food for each person to have 3,000 calories a day. It's our own irresponsibility and self-centeredness that prevents people from getting fed.”

PeopleWorldLooksPersonsSelfEnoughActionSufferingResultsWonderExampleProduceFedsInactionFamineCaloriesIrresponsibilitySelf CenterednessCenteredness
Author:Lee Strobel
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“When I awaken in the morning, I am thankful for a new day. I am thankful for everything that I have materially. I am thankful for everything I have spiritually. I thank God for allowing me to experience these things, even the experiences that may not seem so positive, such as developing an illness. I may not understand why I have the illness, but I sense that it is there for a purpose, and so I thank God for it. I ask Him to allow me to expand beyond my narrow-mindedness and self-centeredness so that I can see the good that comes from everything.”

MayI CanSelfSeemsPurposeAsksChristianityMorningIllnessDevelopingAllowingThank GodNew DayI Am ThankfulSelf CenterednessCenterednessNarrow Mindedness
Author:Betty Eadie
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“If love is the soul of Christian existence, it must be at the heart of every other Christian virtue. Thus, for example, justice without love is legalism; faith without love is ideology; hope without love is self-centeredness; forgiveness without love is self-abasement; fortitude without love is recklessness; generosity without love is extravagance; care without love is mere duty; fidelity without love is servitude. Every virtue is an expression of love. No virtue is really a virtue unless it is permeated, or informed, by love.”

IfsLoveHeartSoulSelfCareChristianJusticeLove IsExistenceVirtueExampleExpressionDutyMereTrue LoveIdeologyGenerosityFortitudeFidelityWithout LoveServitudeExtravaganceChristian LoveRecklessnessSelf CenterednessLegalismCenterednessReligious LoveExpressions Of LoveAbasement
Author:Richard Rohr
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“Introspection is self-improvement and therefore introspection is self-centeredness. Awareness is not self-improvement. On the contrary, it is the ending of the self, of the “I,” with all its peculiar idiosyncrasies, memories, demands, and pursuits. In introspection there is identification and condemnation. In awareness there is no condemnation or identification; therefore, there is no self-improvement. There is a vast difference between the two.”

TwoSelfDifferencesMemoriesAwarenessDemandSelf ImprovementContraryImprovementPursuitPeculiarIntrospectionIdentificationCondemnationIdiosyncrasiesSelf CenterednessCenteredness
Author:Jiddu Krishnamurti
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“The early symptoms of the disease [California Curse], which break out almost on arrival in Hollywood, are a sense of exaggerated self-importance and self-centeredness which naturally alienates all old friends. Next comes a great desire for and belief in the importance of money above all else, a loss of the normal sense of humor and proportion and finally, in extreme cases, the abandonment of all previous standards of moral value.”

SelfDesireValuesNextBeliefLossMoralBreakCasesDiseaseNormalStandardsHollywoodImportanceExtremesCaliforniaCurseProportionSense Of HumorSymptomsAbandonmentOld FriendsArrivalsExaggeratedBreak OutMoral ValuesSelf-importanceSelf CenterednessCenteredness
Author:Elinor Glyn
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“It is the Fourth Instinct (the spirit - RJ) that urges us to exceed ourselves ... by awakening our intuitive selves, and striving to be all that we were intended to be. It takes us beyond self-centeredness and enables us to resist the combined forces of indifference and meaninglessness. It awakens us to a sense of responsibility for those most in need of our society as well as for that world that future generations will inherit.”

WorldNeedsWellsSelfSpiritForceResponsibilityGenerationsInstinctStriveAwakeningIndifferenceOur SocietyUrgesFourthIntuitiveFuture GenerationExceedMeaninglessnessSense Of ResponsibilitySelf CenterednessCenteredness
Author:Arianna Huffington
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“Another reason for the increased self-centeredness of an adolescent is her susceptibility to humiliation. This brazen, defiant creature is also something tender, raw, thin-skinned, poignantly vulnerable. Her entire sense of personal worth can be shattered by a frown. An innocuous clarification of facts can be heard as a monumental criticism.”

SelfReasonFactsHeardCreaturesCriticismVulnerableAdolescenceHumiliationShatteredBrazenSelf CenterednessCenterednessSusceptibilityClarificationPersonal Worth
Book:Adolescence: The Farewell to Childhood
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“Adolescents, for all their self-involvement, are emerging from the self-centeredness of childhood. Their perception of other people has more depth. They are better equipped at appreciating others' reasons for action, or the basis of others' emotions. But this maturity functions in a piecemeal fashion. They show more understanding of their friends, but not of their teachers.”

PeopleSelfReasonShowsActionUnderstandingEmotionTeacherChildhoodFashionPerceptionAppreciateFunctionBasesDepthMaturityInvolvementEmergingSelf CenterednessCenterednessPerception Of Others
Author:Terri E Apter
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“Worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His Beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose - and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin.”

MindHeartSelfPurposeImaginationSinEmotionSourceWorshipCapableConscienceOriginalsSurrenderOpeningChiefsHolinessSelflessRemedySubmissionHis LoveAdorationNourishmentOriginal SinPurifyingSelf CenterednessCenterednessQuickeningWorship Music
Book:Readings in St. John's Gospel ...
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“Immensity is always there, but we so often become numb to it, or deceive ourselves into thinking our own lives and selves are what's large. Step into the ocean or walk on Mount Tamalpais, and that kind of amnesia and self-centeredness isn't possible. Enter the natural world at all, you see existence emerge, ripen, fall and continue, and you can't help but feel more tender towards self and others. That summoning into the large and the shared is what poems exist also to do.”

ThinkingWorldFeelsKindSelfHelpingFallNaturalWalksExistenceStepsOceanDeceivingNatural WorldNumbAmnesiaImmensitySelf CenterednessCenterednessSummoning
Author:Jane Hirshfield
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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.”

IfsWayHumansSelfFactsMovingUnderstandingRoomsResultsQualityPromiseExcitementTestimonyTransparencyRadianceTranscendingSelf UnderstandingSelf CenterednessCenteredness
Book:Understanding the Enneagram: The Practical Guide to Personality Types
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“The whole story of the Father's Christ-exalting plan of redeeming love, from eternity to eternity, must be told, or the radical reorientation of life for which the gospel calls will not be understood, and the required total shift from man-centeredness to God-centeredness, and more specifically from self-centeredness to Christ-centeredness, will not take place.”

MenSelfWholeStoriesFatherChristPlansUnderstoodEternityRadicalRedeemingSelf CenterednessCenterednessRedeeming Love
Author:J. I. Packer
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