Quotes about Introspection

In the multitude of middle-aged men who go about their vocations in a daily course determined for them much in the same way as they tie their cravats, there is always a good number who once meant to shape their own deeds and alter the world a little.

We know only that we are living in these bodies and have a vague idea, because we have heard it, and because our faith tells us so, that we possess souls. As to what good qualities there may be in our souls, or who dwells within them, or how precious they are, those are things which we seldom consider and so we trouble little about carefully preserving the soul's beauty.

True happiness is of a retired nature and an enemy to pomp and noise; it arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one's self; and, in the next, from the friendship and conversations of a few select companions.

The secret of being miserable is to have leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not.

Whosoever would be a man must be a non-conformist.

Each man is his own absolute lawgiver and dispenser of glory or gloom to himself, the maker of his life, his reward, his punishment.

A man is a kind of inverted thermometer, the bulb uppermost, and the column of self-valuation is all the time going up and down.

If I cannot brag of knowing something, then I brag of not knowing it, at any rate, brag.

As a leader, the first person I need to lead is me. The first person that I should try to change is me.

First, I'm trying to prove to myself that I'm a person. Then maybe I'll convince myself that I'm an actress.

I was constantly looking for things outside of myself to make me feel good, and I think now that feeling can come from the inside, and that's why I meditate now twice a day.

It's not about getting what you want. It's about experiencing what you really need by becoming more.