Consciousness and Self-Knowledge

By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart.

One man cannot do right in one department of life whilst he is occupied in doing wrong in any other department. Life is one indivisible whole.

The mind, ever the willing servant, will respond to boldness, for boldness, in effect, is a command to deliver mental resources.

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world.

Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.

Self-knowledge is best learned, not by contemplation, but by action. Strive to do your duty and you will soon discover of what stuff you are made.

Mediocre minds usually dismiss anything which reaches beyond their own understanding.

Be vigilant; guard your mind against negative thoughts.

A great many people think they are thinking when they are rearranging their prejudices.

Bad habits are like chains that are too light to feel until they are too heavy to carry.

Do not be embarrassed by your mistakes. Nothing can teach us better than our understanding of them. This is one of the best ways of self-education.

Habit is stronger than reason.

Genius means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way.

Curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.

As for myself, I always willingly acknowledge my own self as the principal cause of every good and of every evil which may befall me; therefore I have always found myself capable of being my own pupil, and ready to love my teacher.

What I am looking for is not out there … it’s in me.

I deny nothing, but doubt everything.

The wisest is he that knows only that he knows nothing.

Men may change their climate, but they cannot change their nature. A man that goes out a fool cannot ride or sail himself into common sense.

My first act of free will shall be to believe in free will.

A thought which does not result in an action is nothing much, and an action which does not proceed from a thought is nothing at all.

A fool’s paradise is a wise man’s hell!

Change your thoughts and you Change your world.

You only lose energy when life becomes dull in your mind. Your mind gets bored and therefore tired of doing nothing. Get interested in something! Get absolutely enthralled with something! Get out of yourself! Be somebody! Do something! The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have.