Consciousness and Self-Knowledge

Man is not constituted to take pleasure in the same things always.

Look and you will find it - what is unsought will go undetected.

If my body is enslaved, still my mind is free.

Every man can see things far off but is blind to what is near.

There is no witness so terrible and no accuser so powerful as conscience which dwells within us.

The unexamined life is not worth living.

True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.

If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes.

Character is simply habit long continued.

Neither blame or praise yourself.

All men whilst they are awake are in one common world: but each of them, when he is asleep, is in a world of his own.

What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.

In words are seen the state of mind and character and disposition of the speaker.

Virtue is relative to the actions and ages of each of us in all that we do.

When the mind is thinking it is talking to itself.

We do not learn. And what we call learning is only a process of recollection.

How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?

The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself; to be conquered by yourself is of all things most shameful and vile.

Thinking: the talking of the soul with itself.

Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.

Learn what you are and be such.

'Know thyself' is a good saying, but not in all situations. In many it is better to say 'know others.'

The character of a man is known from his conversations.

The eyes are more exact witnesses than the ears.