The self and self-knowledge
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
— Plato, Apology
“That which does not kill him makes him stronger.”
— Nietzsche, Ecce Homo
“Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, until it repose in Thee.”
— Augustine, The Confessions of St. Augustine
“Men are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinions about the things.”
— Epictetus, A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion
“I think, therefore I am.”
Text from the included edition · French
“Je pense, donc je suis — "I think, therefore I am."”
— Descartes, Discours de la méthode
“All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts.”
— Dhammapada, The Dhammapada
“The best revenge is not to copy him that wronged you.”
— Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
“Nothing happens to any man which he is not formed by nature to bear.”
— Marcus Aurelius, Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
“Each soul is potentially divine.”
— Swami Vivekananda, Raja Yoga
“Birthless and deathless and changeless remaineth the spirit for ever.”
— Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavad Gita (The Song Celestial)
“Let him look upon reason as a monarch sitting on the throne of his heart.”
— Al-Ghazali, Some religious and moral teachings of Al-Ghazzali Being brief extracts from his
“The greatest thing in the world is for a man to know that he is his own.”
— Michel de Montaigne, Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete
“The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know.”
— Pascal, Pascal's Pensées
“People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.”
— Rousseau, Emile
“The man who is truly good and sensible bears all fortunes becomingly, and always does what is noblest under the circumstances.”
— Aristotle, The Nicomachean ethics of Aristotle
“We must cultivate our garden.”
— Voltaire, Candide
“Their esse is percipi — "their being is to be perceived."”
— George Berkeley, A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge
“The mind is not a vessel which calls for filling. It is a pile, which simply requires kindling-wood to start the flame of eagerness for original thought.”
— Plutarch, Selected Essays of Plutarch, Vol. I.
“We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.”
— Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Moral Letters to Lucilius (Epistulae Morales)
“Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are.”
— Machiavelli, The Prince
“Not to know what happened before one was born, is to be a boy all one's life.”
— Cicero, The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 4
“Life is a business, the proceeds of which are very far from covering the cost of it.”
— Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Idea (Vol. 3 of 3)
“There are things which are within our power, and there are things which are beyond our power.”
— Epictetus, The Enchiridion
“When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it — this is knowledge.”
— Confucius, The Analects of Confucius (from the Chinese Classics)
“To be great is to be misunderstood.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays — First Series
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays — First Series
“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays — First Series
“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”
— Henry David Thoreau, Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience
“Simplify, simplify.”
— Henry David Thoreau, Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience
“It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.”
— John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism
“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears.”
— Henry David Thoreau, Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience
“No evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death.”
— Plato, Apology
“It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.”
— Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Moral Letters to Lucilius (Epistulae Morales)
“He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee.”
— Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil
“There is always some madness in love. But there is always, also, some method in madness.”
— Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra A Book for All and None
“However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names.”
— Henry David Thoreau, Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience
“The years teach much which the days never know.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays — Second Series
“Envy is ignorance; imitation is suicide.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays — First Series
“I wish to persuade women to endeavour to acquire strength, both of mind and body.”
— Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
“Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.”
— Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Moral Letters to Lucilius (Epistulae Morales)
“The universe is transformation: life is opinion.”
— Marcus Aurelius, Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
“Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Philosophy begins in wonder.”
— Plato, Theaetetus
“The greatest loss of time is delay and expectation, which depend upon the future.”
— Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Seneca's Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency
“The worth of a State, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it.”
— John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
“Genius can only breathe freely in an atmosphere of freedom.”
— John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
“False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.”
— Plato, Phaedo
“We seldom think of what we have, but always of what we lack.”
— Arthur Schopenhauer, The Art of Controversy
“Obstinacy is the result of the will forcing itself into the place of the intellect.”
— Arthur Schopenhauer, The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; Religion, a Dialogue, Etc.
“The reward of a thing well done, is to have done it.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays — Second Series
“A great man is always willing to be little.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays — First Series
“He who lets the world, or his own portion of it, choose his plan of life for him, has no need of any other faculty than the ape-like one of imitation.”
— John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
“The world is but a school of inquisition: it is not who shall enter the ring, but who shall run the best courses.”
— Michel de Montaigne, Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete
“No wind serves him who addresses his voyage to no certain port.”
— Michel de Montaigne, Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete
“Who can make the muddy water clear? Let it be still, and it will gradually become clear.”
— Laozi, The Tao Teh King, or the Tao and its Characteristics
“As rain breaks through an ill-thatched house, passion will break through an unreflecting mind.”
— Dhammapada, The Dhammapada
“The fault of others is easily perceived, but that of oneself is difficult to perceive.”
— Dhammapada, The Dhammapada
“Not to blame, not to strike, to live restrained under the law, to be moderate in eating, to sleep and sit alone, and to dwell on the highest thoughts—this is the teaching of the Awakened.”
— Dhammapada, The Dhammapada
“Tat twam asi — "That thou art."”
— Upanishads, The Upanishads
“The individual is something quite new, and capable of creating new things. He is something absolute, and all his actions are quite his own.”
— Nietzsche, The Will to Power
“Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature; but he is a thinking reed.”
— Pascal, Pascal's Pensées
“The eternal silence of these infinite spaces frightens me.”
— Pascal, Pascal's Pensées
“Have no friends not equal to yourself. When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.”
— Confucius, The Analects of Confucius (from the Chinese Classics)
“The cautious seldom err.”
— Confucius, The Analects of Confucius (from the Chinese Classics)
“Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish; but wish the things which happen to be as they are, and you will have a tranquil flow of life.”
— Epictetus, A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion
“He who does wrong does wrong against himself. He who acts unjustly acts unjustly to himself, because he makes himself bad.”
— Marcus Aurelius, Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
“Adapt yourself to the things which your destiny has given you: love those with whom it is your lot to live, and love them with sincere affection.”
— Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
“Look inward. Within is the fountain of Good. Dig constantly and it will ever well forth.”
— Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
“As long as you live, keep learning how to live.”
— Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Moral Letters to Lucilius (Epistulae Morales)
“The initiation of all wise or noble things, comes and must come from individuals; generally at first from some one individual.”
— John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
“The amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigour, and moral courage which it contained.”
— John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
“Hitch your wagon to a star.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, Society and solitude Twelve chapters
“Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.”
— Henry David Thoreau, Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience
“He who fears death will never act as becomes a living man.”
— Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Of Peace of Mind
“A great step towards independence is a good-humoured stomach, one that is willing to endure rough treatment.”
— Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Moral Letters to Lucilius (Epistulae Morales)