Consciousness and Self-Knowledge

He who is plenteously provided for from within, needs but little from without.

The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.

Enlightenment means taking full responsibility for your life.

I can usually judge a fellow by what he laughs at.

Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one's values.

We have to understand that the world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation. The hand is more important than the eye... The hand is the cutting edge of the mind.

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

Man is the only creature that refuses to be what he is.

One's real life is often the life that one does not lead.

The secret of living is to find...the pivot of a concept on which you can make your stand.

The more you listen to the voice within you, the better you will hear what is sounding outside.

Explore your higher latitudes . . . be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you, open new channels, not of trade but of thought.

My importance to the world is relatively small. On the other hand, my importance to myself is tremendous. I am all I have to work with, to play with, to suffer and to enjoy. It is not the eyes of others that I am wary of, but of my own. I do not intend to let myself down more than I can possibly help, and I find that the fewer illusions I have about myself or the world around me, the better company I am for myself.

Duties are not performed for duties' sake, but because their neglect would make the man uncomfortable. A man performs but one duty, the duty of contenting his spirit, the duty of making himself agreeable to himself.

To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.

Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, "This is the real me." And then you have found that attitude, follow it.

There is only one journey. Going inside yourself.

Circumstances do not make the man; they merely reveal him to himself.

What one great thing would you dare to dream if you knew you could not fail? The easiest person to deceive is one's own self.

We must ask where we are and whither we are tending.

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.

I like a person who knows his own mind and sticks to it; who sees at once what, in given circumstances, is to be done, and does it.

I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.

You, who have gotten under the skin of so many people and, indeed, of humanity, have had no occasion to slip under mine.