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Self Quotes

“When one gives up the Christian faith, one pulls the right to Christian morality out from under one's feet. This morality is by no means self-evident. Christianity is a system, a whole view of things thought out together. By breaking one main concept out of it, the faith in God, one breaks the whole. It stands or falls with faith in God.”

GivingMeanSelfWholeChristianTogetherFallViewsChristianityBreakFeetMoralityGiving UpConceptsFaith In GodEvidentChristian FaithChristian Morality
Book:Twilight of the Idols
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“I had rather munch a crust of brown bread and an onion in a corner, without any more ado or ceremony, than feed upon turkey at another man?s table, where one is fain to sit mincing and chewing his meat an hour together, drink little, be always wiping his fingers and his chops, and never dare to cough nor sneeze, though he has never so much a mind to it, nor do a many things which a body may do freely by one?s self.”

MenMindMayLittlesSelfBodyTogetherHoursDrinkTablesFingersDareCornersBreadMeatBrownCeremonyTurkeysAnother ManOnionsChewing
Author:Miguel de Cervantes
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“We must strive for freedom if we strive for self-knowledge. The task of self-knowledge and of further self-development is of such importance and seriousness, it demands such intensity of effort, that to attempt it any old way and amongst other things is impossible. The person who undertakes this task must put it first in his life, which is not so long that he can afford to squander it on trifles.”

IfsWayFirstsPersonsLongSelfEffortImpossibleDevelopmentDemandTasksImportanceStriveIntensitySelf KnowledgeSelf DevelopmentSeriousnessTriflesOld Ways
Author:G. I. Gurdjieff
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“In eloquence, the great triumphs of the art are when the orator is lifted above himself; when consciously he makes himself the mere tongue of the occasion and the hour, and says what cannot but be said. Hence the term "abandonment" to describe the self- surrender of the orator. Not his will, but the principle on which he is horsed, the great connection and crisis of events, thunder in the ear of the crowd.”

ArtSaidSelfTermHoursPrinciplesEventsConnectionsEarsCrisisMereCrowdsTongueSurrenderOccasionsTriumphThunderAbandonmentEloquenceOrators
Book:The Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Society and solitude
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“It would be foolish to despise tradition. But with our growing self-consciousness and increasing intelligence we must begin to control tradition and assume a critical attitude toward it, if human relations are ever to change for the better.”

IfsHumansSelfWould BeConsciousnessAttitudeGrowingTraditionRelationAssumingCriticalFoolishDespiseHuman RelationsSelf ConsciousnessChange For The Better
Book:Einstein on Politics: His Private Thoughts and Public Stands on Nationalism, Zionism, War, Peace, and the Bomb
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“A rising mass movement attracts and holds a following not by its doctrine and promises but by the refuge it offers from the anxieties, barrenness and meaningless of an individual existence. It cures the poignantly frustrated not by conferring upon them an absolute truth or by remedying the difficulties and abuses which made their lives miserable, but by freeing them from their ineffectual selves and it does this by enfolding and absorbing them into a closely knit and exultant corporate whole.”

DoeMadeSelfWholeIndividualExistenceSocietyMovementPromiseOffersAnxietyMassAbuseDifficultyAbsolutesFollowingDoctrineCuresMiserableCorporateRisingMeaninglessFrustratedRefugeAbsorbingAbsolute TruthTrue Believer
Book:Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
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“The untalented are more at ease in a society that gives them valid alibis for not achieving than in one where opportunities are abundant. In an affluent society, the alienated who clamor for power are largely untalented people who cannot make use of the unprecedented opportunities for self-realization, and cannot escape the confrontation with an ineffectual self.”

PeopleGivingSelfUseOpportunityAchieveSelf RealizationRealizationEaseConfrontationUnprecedentedAffluentClamorUntalentedAlibis
Author:Eric Hoffer
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“In man's life, the absence of an essential component usually leads to the adoption of a substitute. The substitute is usually embraced with vehemence and extremism, for we have to convince ourselves that what we took as second choice is the best there ever was. Thus blind faith is to a considerable extent a substitute for the lost faith in ourselves; insatiable desire a substitute for hope; accumulation a substitute for growth; fervent hustling a substitute for purposeful action; and pride a substitute for an unattainable self-respect.”

MenSelfActionDesireChoicesLostGrowthPrideEssentialsBlindAbsenceSelf RespectConvinceSubstitutesAdoptionComponentsAccumulationExtremismHustleInsatiableBlind FaithUnattainableFerventLost FaithVehemenceSecond Choice
Book:Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
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“The burning conviction that we have a holy duty towards others is often a way of attaching our drowning selves to a passing raft. What looks like a giving hand is often a holding on for dear life. Take away our holy duties and you leave our lives puny and meaningless. There is no doubt that in exchanging a self-centered for a selfless life we gain enormously in self-esteem. The vanity of the selfless, even those who practice utmost humility, is boundless.”

WayGivingLooksSelfHandsPracticeDoubtOur LivesSelf EsteemHumilityDutyHolyGainsDearConvictionPassingPassingsEsteemBurningVanityNo DoubtMeaninglessSelflessHolding OnDrowningSelf CenteredBoundlessExchangingDear Life
Book:Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
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“The chief burden of the frustrated is the consciousness of a blemished, ineffectual self, and their chief desire is to slough off the unwanted self and begin a new life. They try to realize this desire either by finding a new identity or by blurring and camouflaging their individual distinctness; and both these ends are reached by imitation.”

TryingEndsSelfDesireIndividualRealizingConsciousnessIdentityFindingsBurdenChiefsFrustratedImitationNew LifeUnwantedSlough
Book:THE TRUE BELIEVER
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“The most effective way to silence our guilty conscience is to convince ourselves and others that those we have sinned against are indeed depraved creatures, deserving every punishment, even extermination. We cannot pity those we have wronged, nor can we be indifferent toward them. We must hate and persecute them or else leave the door open to self-contempt.”

WaySelfHateSilenceDoorsCreaturesConsciencePunishmentPityGuiltyConvinceContemptIndifferentDeservingDepravedWrongedExterminationGuilty Conscience
Author:Eric Hoffer
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“Unlike the pattern which seems to prevail in the rest of life, in the human species the weak not only survive but often triumph over the strong. The self-hatred inherent in the weak unlocks energies far more formidable then those mobilized by an ordinary struggle for existence.”

HumansSelfSeemsEnergyStrongExistenceStruggleOrdinaryWeakHatredSpeciesPatternsTriumphInherentFormidableHuman SpeciesSelf HatredRest Of LifeStruggle For Existence
Book:Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
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“The weak are not a noble breed. Their sublime deeds of faith, daring, and self-sacrifice usually spring from questionable motives. The weak hate not wickedness but weakness; and one instance of their hatred of weakness is hatred of self. All the passionate pursuits of the weak are in some degree a striving to escape, blur, or disguise an unwanted self. It is a striving shot through with malice, envy, self-deception, and a host of petty impulses; yet it often culminates in superb achievements.”

SelfHateSacrificeDegreesAchievementSpringWeaknessShotsWeakHatredStrivePassionateDeedsEnvyNoblePursuitInstanceDeceptionImpulseMotiveHostDaringDisguiseSublimeWickednessPettyMaliceSelf DeceptionSelf SacrificeBlurUnwantedQuestionableSuperb
Book:The Ordeal of Change
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“Faith, enthusiasm, and passionate intensity in general are substitutes for the self-confidence born of experience and the possession of skill. Where there is the necessary skill to move mountains there is no need for the faith that moves mountains.”

NeedsSelfMovingBornSkillsMountainPassionatePossessionSelf ConfidenceEnthusiasmSubstitutesIntensityMove Mountains
Book:Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
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“The vigor of a mass movement stems from the propensity of its followers for united action and self-sacrifice. When we ascribe the success of a movement to its faith, doctrine, propaganda, leadership, ruthlessness and so on, we are but referring to instruments of unification and to means used to inculcate a readiness for self-sacrifice. It is perhaps impossible to understand the nature of a mass movement unless it is recognized that their chief preoccupation is to foster, perfect and perpetuate a facility for united action and self-sacrifice.”

MeanSelfActionUsedPerfectUnitedImpossibleSacrificeSocietyMovementMassInstrumentsDoctrineChiefsPropagandaFollowersStemFacilityReadinessSelf SacrificeVigorReferringPreoccupationPropensityUnificationRuthlessness
Book:THE TRUE BELIEVER
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“When our individual interests and prospects do not seem worth living for, we are in desperate need for something apart from us to live for. All forms of dedication, devotion, loyalty and self-surrender are in essence a desperate clinging to something which might give worth and meaning to our futile, spoiled lives.”

NeedsGivingSelfSeemsMightFormIndividualInterestSocietyEssenceLoyaltySurrenderDevotionDesperateDedicationWorth LivingSpoiledClingingProspects
Book:The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements
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