Best self & firsts Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings

“Moral decay first hampers and then strangles honest government, regular commerce, and even the ability to take genuine pleasure in the goods of this world. Compulsion is applied from above as self-discipline relaxes below, and the last liberties expire under the weight of a unitary state.... Since religion has lost its empire over the souls of men, the most prominent boundary that divided good from evil is overthrown; kings and nations are guided by chance and none can say where are the natural limits of despotism and the bound of license.”

“Sufis teach that we first must battle and destroy the evil within ourselves by shining upon it the good within, and then we learn to battle the evil in others by helping their higher selves gain control of their lower selves.”

Firsts Self Helping Evil Teach Higher Battle Gains Shining Sufi Higher Self Evil Within

Author:Feisal Abdul Rauf

“If I had my child to raise all over again,I'd finger paint more, and point the finger less.I'd do less correcting, and more connecting.I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.I would care to know less, and know to care more.I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play.I'd run through more fields, and gaze at more stars.I'd do more hugging, and less tugging.I would be firm less often, and affirm much more.I'd build self esteem first, and the house later.I'd teach less about the love of power, and more about the power of love.”

“He who devoutly strives to attain wisdom and is on his guard against the invisible powers, should pray that both natural discrimination - whose light is but limited - and the illuminating grace of the Spirit abide in him. The first by means of practice trains the flesh in virtue, the second illuminates the intellect so that it chooses above all else companionship with wisdom; and through wisdom it destroys the strongholds of evil and pulls down 'all the self-esteem that exalts itself against the knowledge of God' (II Cor. 10:5).”

“Indeed, the very first acknowledgment (as far as I am aware) of the attraction of mutilated bodies occurs in a founding description of mental conflict. It is a passage in The Republic, Book IV, where Plato’s Socrates describes how our reason may be overwhelmed by an unworthy desire, which drives the self to become angry with a part of its nature.”

Firsts May Book Self Reason Body Desire Conflict Angry Attraction Description Republic Passages Plato Founding Overwhelmed Unworthy Acknowledgment Plato S

Book:Regarding the Pain of Others

Source: Regarding the Pain of Others

“I always make it a rule to let the other fellow fire first. If a man wants to fight, I argue the question with him and try to show him how foolish it would be. If he can't be dissuaded, why then the fun begins but I always let him have first crack. Then when I fire, you see, I have the verdict of self-defence on my side. I know that he is pretty certain in his hurry, to miss. I never do.”

Ifs Knows Men Want Trying Firsts Self Shows Would Be Certain Fighting Fun Sides Fire Missing Fellows Arguing Foolish Cracks Defence Verdict Self Defence

Author:Ben Thompson

“Singing is my passion, my first love and the secret of my energy. Music to me is like finding my inner self, my soul. It gives me a great joy to see audiences enjoying with me. I have given my heart to singing. When I sing, I can feel romance in everything around me.”

Giving Feels Firsts Heart I Can Soul Self Romance Joy Passion Energy Given Enjoy Secret Audience My Heart Findings Singing Give Me My Soul First Love My Passion Inner Self Great Joy

Author:Kailash Kher

“I got my first guitar in October of 1968. I'm self-taught.”

Firsts Self Taught Guitar October Self Taught

Author:Ernie Isley

“THE FIRST STEP in changing the future is Desire, that is, define your objective - know definitely what you want. SECOND: construct an event which you believe you would encounter following the fulfillment of your desire - an event which implies fulfillment of your desire - something which will have the action of Self predominant.”

Knows Want Firsts Believe Self Action Desire Steps Events Following What You Want Objectives Fulfillment Encounters First Steps Constructs

Book:The Neville Goddard Collection

Source: The Neville Goddard Collection

“Created man cannot become a son of God and god by grace through deification, unless he is first through his own free choice begotten in the Spirit by means of the self-loving and independent power dwelling naturally in him.”

Men Firsts Mean Self Spiritual Spirit Choices Grace Son Independent Dwelling Free Choice Self Loving

Author:Maximus the Confessor

“Restraint never ruins one's health. What ruins it,is not restraint but outward suppression. A really self-restrained person grows every day from strength to strength and from peace to more peace. The very first step in self-restraint is the restraint of thoughts.”

Firsts Persons Self Grows Steps Ruins First Steps Restraint Suppression Self Restraint

Book:The Way to God: Selected Writings from Mahatma Gandhi

Source: The Way to God: Selected Writings from Mahatma Gandhi

“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.”

Ifs Way Firsts Persons Long Self Effort Impossible Development Demand Tasks Importance Strive Intensity Self Knowledge Self Development Seriousness Trifles Old Ways

Author:G. I. Gurdjieff

“If there is one thing that will make a man peculiarly and insufferable self-conceited, it is to have his stomach behave itself, the first day at sea, when nearly all his comrades are seasick.”

Ifs Men Firsts Self One Thing Sea Behave Stomach Conceit Comrade Conceited Insufferable

Author:Mark Twain

“I have a clear view of 12 years of history of my inner self. First the cramped self, that self with big blinkers, then the disappearance of the blinkers and the self, now gradually the reemergence of a self without blinkers.”

Years Firsts Self Character Bigs Views Clear Inner Self Disappearance Clear View Blinkers

Author:Paul Klee

“The first requisite of a good citizen in this Republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his weight; that he shall not be a mere passenger, but shall do his share in the work that each generation of us finds ready to hand; and, furthermore, that in doing his work he shall show, not only the capacity for sturdy self-help, but also self-respecting regard for the rights of others.”

Firsts Self Helping Shows Hands Able Rights Generations Share Self Help Willing Ready Citizens Capacity Weight Regard Mere Republic Passengers Good Citizen Sturdy

Author:Theodore Roosevelt

“When I first met Adèle I was like, ‘Wow, this girl has a strong character!’ She has something very free about her. I’m not used to it. Some actresses are too self-aware, they strike a pose. Adèle is a force of nature.”

Firsts Self Character Used Girl Strong Force Mets Actresses Strikes Ads Wow Forces Of Nature This Girl Strong Character

Author:Lea Seydoux

“I think it is now time for social scientists to step out of the shadow and to establish an advanced social sciences methodology that integrates science (third-person view) social transformation (second-person view) and the evolution of self (first-person view) into a coherent framework of consciousness-based action research”

“First, what does truth require? It requires us to face the facts as they are, not to involve ourselves in self-deception; to refuse to think merely in slogans. If we are to work for the future of the city, let us deal with the realities as they actually are, not as they might have been, and not as we wish they were.”

Ifs Thinking Firsts Doe Has Beens Self Facts Reality Might Truth Faces Dies Wish Deals Cities Refuse Deception Might Have Been Slogans Self Deception

Author:John F. Kennedy

“I am never very forward in offering spiritual consolation to any one in distress or disease. I believe that such resources, to be of any service, must be self-evolved in the first instance. I am something of the Quaker's mind in this, and am inclined to wait for the spirit.”

Mind Firsts Believe Self Spiritual Spirit I Believe Waiting Disease Resources Instance Offering Distress Consolation Quaker

Book:Specimens of the Table Talk of Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Source: Specimens of the Table Talk of Samuel Taylor Coleridge

“The first Degree of Folly, is to conceit one's self wise; the second to profess it; the third to despise Counsel.”

Firsts Self Wise Degrees Thirds Folly Despise Conceit

Book:Poor Richard's Almanack

Source: Poor Richard's Almanack

“A man is first reverent about himself, and self-respect is the first stage in reverence for all things.”

Men Firsts Self Stage All Things Self Respect Reverence

Book:Sex & Character

Source: Sex & Character

“The first half of the 1960s was the apogee of what might be termed the Age of Cool - as defined by that quality of being simultaneously with-it and disengaged, in control but nonchalant, knowing but ironically self-aware, and above all inscrutably undemonstrative.”

Firsts Self Might Age Half Quality Knowing Defined 1960s Nonchalant

Author:Martin Filler

“We need examples of people who, leaving Heaven to decide whether they are to rise in the world, decide for themselves that they will be happy in it, and have resolved to seek not greater wealth, but simpler pleasure; not higher fortune, but deeper felicity; making the first of possessions, self-possession; and honouring themselves in the harmless pride and calm pursuits of peace.”

People World Needs Firsts Self Heaven Wealth Pleasure Greater Example Pride Higher Fortune Leaving Calm Possession Deeper Pursuit Felicity

Book:The Two Paths

Source: The Two Paths

“To answer oppression with appropriate resistance requires knowledge of two kinds: in the first place, self-knowledge by the victim, which means awareness that oppression exists, an awareness that the victim has fallen from a great height of glory or promise into the present depths; secondly, the victim must know who the enemy is. He must know his oppressor's real name, not an alias, a pseudonym, or a nom de plume!”

Source: The Education of a British-Protected Child

“In an ideal world we would all learn in childhood to love ourselves. We would grow, being secure in our worth and value, spreading love wherever we went, letting our light shine. If we did not learn self-love in our youth, there is still hope. The light of love is always in us, no matter how cold the flame. It is always present, waiting for the spark to ignite, waiting for the heart to awaken and call us back to the first memory of being the life force inside a dark place waiting to be born - waiting to see the light.”

“The mother's love is at first an absorbing delight, blunting all other sensibilities; it is an expansion of the animal existence; it enlarges the imagined range for self to move in: but in after years it can only continue to be joy on the same terms as other long-lived love--that is, by much suppression of self, and power of living in the experience of another.”

Years Firsts Long Self Moving Joy Mother Term Love Is Animal Existence Delight Range Sensibility Expansion Absorbing Suppression Mother's Love

Book:Felix Holt: The Radical

Source: Felix Holt: The Radical

“For just as the first general precepts of the law of nature are self-evident to one in possession of natural reason, and have no need of promulgation, so also that of believing in God is primary and self-evident to one who has faith: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is.”

Needs Firsts Believe Self Reason Law Faith Natural Possession Primaries Believe In God Have Faith Evident Laws Of Nature

Author:Thomas Aquinas

“The first discipline modernity's originators imposed upon themselves was that of self-restraint, learning to live with vulgarity. Their high expectations for effectiveness were made possible by low expectations of what was to be.”

Firsts Made Self Discipline Lows Expectations Restraint Effectiveness Modernity Vulgarity Self Restraint High Expectations Low Expectations

Author:Allan Bloom

“These are thy glorious works Parent of Good, Almighty, thine this universal Frame, Thus wondrous fair; thy self how wondrous then! Unspeakable, who sitst above these Heavens To us invisible or dimly seen In these thy lowest works, yet these declare Thy goodness beyond thought, and Power Divine: Speak ye who best can tell, ye Sons of light, Angels, for ye behold him, and with songs And choral symphonies, Day without Night, Circle his Throne rejoicing, ye in Heav'n, On Earth join all ye Creatures to extoll Him first, him last, him midst, and without end.”

“Very little comes easily to our poor, benighted species (the first creature, after all, to experiment with the novel evolutionary inventions of self-conscious philosophy and art). Even the most "obvious," "accurate," and "natural" style of thinking or drawing must be regulated by history and won by struggle. Solutions must therefore arise within a social context and record the complex interactions of mind and environment that define the possibility of human improvement.”

Source: Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms

“We may be sure that it is the love of God only that can make us come out of self. If His powerful hand did not sustain us, we should not know how to take the first step in that direction.”

Ifs Knows Should Firsts May Self Hands Powerful Steps Know How God Love First Steps

Book:Spiritual Progress

Source: Spiritual Progress

“The reputation of a Don Juan gives to a man the most dangerous power. Wise virgins resist it, but foolish virgins frequently yield to the desire to take a celebrated lover from a rival - even from a friend. This emotion is a complex one, mad up of vanity, respect for another woman's taste, and the need to establish self-assurance by winning a difficult victory. Don Juan chose his first mistresses; later he was chosen.”

“Twenty-one years ago, when I first heard Mia Farrow had accused me of child molestation, I found the idea so ludicrous I didn't give it a second thought. We were involved in a terribly acrimonious breakup, with great enmity between us and a custody battle slowly gathering energy. The self-serving transparency of her malevolence seemed so obvious I didn't even hire a lawyer to defend myself. It was my show business attorney who told me she was bringing the accusation to the police and I would need a criminal lawyer.”

“The relations between parents and children are certainly not only those of constraint. There is spontaneous mutual affection, which from the first prompts the child to acts of generosity and even of self-sacrifice, to very touching demonstrations which are in no way prescribed. And here no doubt is the starting point for that morality of good which we shall see developing alongside of the morality of right or duty, and which in some persons completely replaces it.”

Source: The Moral Judgement of the Child

“It would seem that the full meaning of the word marriage can never be known by those who, at their first outspring into life, are surrounded by all that money can give. It requires the single sitting-room, the single fire, the necessary little efforts of self-devotion, the inward declaration that some struggle shall be made for that other one.”

Giving Firsts Littles Made Self Seems Rooms Effort Known Struggle Fire Sitting Devotion Inward Declaration

Book:The Bertrams: A Novel

Source: The Bertrams: A Novel

“I guess the very first thing is to own your true self, and that includes achieving the point of not lying to others; the first step should be not lying to yourself.”

Should Firsts Self Lying Steps Achieve First Steps True Self Lying To Yourself

Author:Ayumi Hamasaki

“Every time feels like my first time. And I just find that the process of it feeds into one's own self-obsession.”

Feels Firsts Self Process First Time Obsession Self Obsession

Author:Ben Harper

“I can't imagine where I'd be without the opportunities provided to me in sports. Sports taught me that gender isn't an issue; in fact, when people talk about me being the first female governor, I'm a little absent from that discussion, because I've never thought of gender as an issue. In sports, you learn self-discipline, healthy competition, to be gracious in victory and defeat, and the importance of being part of a team and understanding what part you play on that team. You all work together to reach a goal, and I think all of those factors come into play in my role as governor.”

“Mankind's self-alienation has reached such a degree that it can experience its own destruction as an aesthetic pleasure of the first order.”

Firsts Self Order Pleasure Virtue Mankind Degrees Destruction Aesthetic Alienation

Author:Jerry Mander

“It is in self-limitation that a master first shows himself.”

Firsts Self Shows Masters Limitation Favourite

Author:Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Firsts Self Government Might Democratic Unity Socialism Transition Bureaucracy Owing

Author:Salvador Allende

“I think the idea that you know who your inner self is on a daily basis, because... you know. What's good for you 25 years ago may not be good for you now. So, to keep in touch with that, I think that's the first ingredient for success. Because if you're a successful human being, everything else is gravy, I think.”

Ifs Thinking Knows Years Firsts Humans May Ideas Self Human Beings Successful Years Ago Bases Be Good Ingredients Inner Self Gravy

Author:Whoopi Goldberg

“For a company to excel, employees must be reassured that self-interest, not the company's, is their foremost priority. We believe an employee who puts himself first will be motivated to perform.”

Firsts Believe Self Interest Company Priorities Employee Motivated Self Interest

Book:The Seven-Day Weekend: Changing the Way Work Works

Source: The Seven-Day Weekend: Changing the Way Work Works

“The first essential responsibility of the state is control of the market-place: there must be some official charged with the duty of seeing that honest dealing and good order prevail. For one of the well-nigh essential activities of all states is the buying and selling of goods to meet their mutual basic needs; this is the quickest way to self-sufficiency, which seems to be what moves men to combine under a single constitution.”

“How can you develop a self-concept linked to your untapped potential? First, you can decide on the kind of life you would like to lead in ten or fifteen years. This will give you a standard for making decisions about current activities and will reduce the inclination to compare yourself unfavorably to others. Learn to ask, "How would I handle this situation were I the person I hope to become?" And then take action in line with your vision.”

“Self-trust is the first secret of success, the belief that if you are here the authorities of the universe put you here, and for cause, or with some task strictly appointed you in your constitution, and so long as you work at that you are well and successful”

Ifs Firsts Wells Long Self Universe Belief Causes Secret Successful Authority Tasks Constitution Secret To Success Self Trust

Book:The Spiritual Emerson: Essential Works by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Source: The Spiritual Emerson: Essential Works by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Self Quotes

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Self Quotes