Self Awareness Quotes

At 30 a man should know himself like the palm of his hand, know the exact number of his defects and qualities, know how far he can go, foretell his failures - be what he is. And, above all, accept these things.

~ Albert Camus

She was a wicked thing sometimes. All full of want. As if the shape of the world depended on her mood. As if she were important.

~ Patrick Rothfuss

It is not the the bruises on the body that hurt. It is the wounds of the heart and the scars on the mind.

~ Aisha Mirza

I will no longer wound myself with the thoughts and questions that have surrounded me like thorns: that is a penance You do not ask of me.

~ Thomas Merton

We are like water, aren’t we? We can be fluid, flexible when we have to be. But strong and destructive, too.” And something else, I think to myself. Like water, we mostly follow the path of least resistance.

~ Wally Lamb

[I]t doesn’t matter whom you love or where you move from or to, you always take yourself with you. If you don’t know who you are, or if you’ve forgotten or misplaced her, then you’ll always feel as if you don’t belong. Anywhere. (xiii)

~ Sarah Ban Breathnach

You need to remember that. If you’re to have decent lives, you have to know who you are and what lies ahead of you, every one of you.

~ Kazuo Ishiguro

If theater is ritual, then dance is too... It's as if the threads connecting us to the rest of the world were washed clean of preconceptions and fears. When you dance, you can enjoy the luxury of being you.

~ Paulo Coelho

By now he had learned enough to know that when he was getting annoyed at somebody else, it was usually because there was something that he himself should be doing, and he wasn't doing it.

~ Lev Grossman

From Wetness and WaterHow does a part of the world leave the world?How can wetness leave water?Do not try to put out a fireby throwing on more fire.Do not wash a wound with blood.No matter how fast you run,your shadow more than keeps up.Sometimes it's in front.Only full, overhead sundiminishes your shadow.But that shadow has been serving you.What hurts you blesses you.Darkness is your candle.Your boundaries are your quest.

~ Jalaluddin Rumi

A human being has so many skins inside, covering the depths of the heart. We know so many things, but we don't know ourselves! Why, thirty or forty skins or hides, as thick and hard as an ox's or bear's, cover the soul. Go into your own ground and learn to know yourself there.

~ Meister Eckhart

I like that: a little pressure on the understood boundaries of yourself. Sounded like something out of a self-awareness class, probably with yoga. See what kind of a pretzel you can tie yourself into and press on the understood... I was raving, if only to myself.

~ Robin Mckinley

There's a mess inside you: You clean the outside.

~ Anonymous

Being spontaneous is being able to respond with confidence; calmly trusting that, whatever the outcome, you will have a positive if challenging experience that will lead to greater self-awareness and success.

~ Sylvia Clare

She wasn't tracking down her father to learn more about him. She was tracking him down to learn more about herself.

~ Brad Meltzer

Self-awareness of one’s faults, far from being the first step to growth, is very often the second foot in the mud.

~ Bauvard

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

How to get rid of ego as dictator and turn it into messenger and servant and scout, to be in your service, is the trick.

~ Joseph Campbell

Even if you think you're doing well and have it all figured out, there is a voice you will always inevitably hear at some point which nags at you and says but wait... Don't ever dismiss it, listen to what it has to say. Life will never be close enough to perfect, and listening to that voice means stepping outside of yourself and considering your own wrongdoings and flaws.

~ Ashly Lorenzana

Now look at me! Take a good look! I was born and I knew I was alive and I knew what I wanted. What do you think is alive in me? Why do you think I'm alive? Because I have a stomach and eat and digest the food? Because I breathe and work and produce more food to digest? Or because I know what I want, and that something which knows how to want—isn't that life itself? And who—in this damned universe—who can tell me why I should live for anything but for that which I want?

~ Ayn Rand

Once you've recognized your own limits, you've raised yourself to a higher level of being, since you're closer to the real you...

~ Banana Yoshimoto

If we cant laugh at ourselves, do we have the right to laugh at others?

~ C.h. Hamel

The need to prove who you are will vanish once you know who you are.

~ Danielle Pierre

Look, there is nothing you can say about this show that I don't already know

~ Craig Ferguson

If I ever leave this place-I'll make sure I'm better HERE first.

~ Markus Zusak

Just take this as a warning. Know that there's always a price for not being yourself.

~ Benilde Little

Inner guidance is heard like soft music in the night by those who have learned to listen.

~ Vernon Howard

A kind of joy came upon him, as if borne in on a summer breeze. He dimly recalled that he had been thinking of failure--as if it mattered. It seemed to him now that such thoughts were mean, unworthy of what his life had been. Dim presences gathered at the edge of his consciousness; he could not see them, but he knew that they were there, gathering their forces toward a kind of palpability he could not see or hear. He was approaching them, he knew; but there was no need to hurry. He could ignore them if he wished; he had all the time there was.There was a softness around him, and a languor crept upon his limbs. A sense of his own identity came upon him with a sudden force, and he felt the power of it. He was himself, and he knew what he had been.

~ John Williams

She was looking for something I could never give her. Again his dark eyes bored into Julia's mind. You have something of the same about you, young woman. Take my advice: Don't think you will find it in another person. You won't. It's not there. You must find it in yourself.

~ Iain Pears

We stay busy so we don't have to admit we don't have all the answers. After long enough with our constant distractions, we end our search for them. And God. Soon enough, we'll all come to realize we can't be God. We'll settle for telling ourselves we can. Or we'll just make one up.

~ Brian Krans

Though you might conquer in battle A thousand times a thousand men,You're the greatest battle-winner If you conquer just one - yourself.

~ Anonymous

All we do is to look after the opinions and learning of others: we ought to make them our own.

~ Michel De Montaigne

When you believe you reflect what is holy and good, you can see more that is good in every stage of your life. (319)

~ Victoria Moran

The reasons that center on others are easy to manipulate. All hollow things are light.

~ David Foster Wallace

Are you repeating someone else's narrative, taking it for granted? Talk therapy sessions and 12-step recovery shares help develop the ability to present a coherent life narrative through the safe structure of clear rules of communication that support healthy self-expression and self-awareness.

~ Alexandra Katehakis

...She expected people to accept her for who she was. But she never really accepted herself.

~ Sandra Kitt

He impressed people. Unconsciously. Some people are like that. I'm not. There's something in those people that breaks down all the barriers, because they act completely the way they are, have nothing to hide, never shelter behind anything, are just themselves, straightforward.

~ Arnaldur Indriðason

If you were determined to get enjoyment out of every moment, you would learn to do whatever it took. What it takes is not listening to negative thoughts, yours or anyone else's. Disregarding negative thoughts isn't hiding our head in the sand, but simply not allowing the negative to clutter and influence over our experience of the present moment. The moment is never improved or helped by negativity, although we are programmed to think our negative thoughts, worries, and fears serve a useful function. When you really examine this idea, however, you see that negativity doesn't serve. Focusing on negativity and fears doesn't make anyone a better person, nor does doing that help us function better in the world. In fact, the truth is quite the opposite.

~ Gina Lake

Every day offers us simple gifts when we are willing to search our hearts for the place that's right for each of us. (January 15)

~ Sarah Ban Breathnach

Without awareness, we are not truly alive.

~ James F.t. Bugental