561 Quotes About Self-knowledge

I call that man awake who, with conscious knowledge and understanding, can perceive the deep unreasoning powers in his soul, his whole innermost strength, desire and weakness, and knows how to reckon with himself.

Ask not of things to shed their veils. Unveil yourselves, and things will be unveiled.

The manic relief that comes from the fantasy that we can with one savage slash cut the chains of the past and rise like a phoenix, free of all history, is generally a tipping point into insanity, akin to believing that we can escape the endless constraints of gravity, and fly off a tall building. “I’m freeeee… SPLAT!”.

You have to pay a proportionate price to be able to get what you want.

You must remember what you are and what you have chosen to become, and the significance of what you are doing. There are wars and defeats and victories of the human race that are not military and that are not recorded in the annals of history. Remember that while you're trying to decide what to do.

When you go with first principles, a giant light goes off in what you think is a city and turns out to be an insane asylum.

Knowing yourself is even more important than knowing your enemies.

It is better to find yourself than to find a thousand pots of gold.

Spend your leisure time in cultivating an ear attentive to discourse, for in this way you will find that you learn with ease what others have found out with difficulty.