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SELF-EXAMINATION
SELF-IMPROVEMENT -- SELF-INTEREST
SELF-KNOWLEDGE -- SELF-LOVE --- SELF-PITY
SELF-RESPECT -- SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS
SELF-SACRIFICE -- SELFISH
SELLING OUT
SEMANTICS

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SELF-EXAMINATION

see: "KNOWING (ONESELF)"


I've often said, the only thing standing between me and greatness is me.
--Woody Allen [Allen Stewart Konigsberg] (1935— )
American actor, screenwriter, and director.
Quoted in Renee Evenson
_Award-Winning Customer Service_, p, 134 [2007].

How good it would be if we could learn to be rigorous
in judgment of ourselves, and gentle in our judgment
of our neighbors! In remedying defects, kindness works
best with others, sternness with ourselves. It is easy to
make allowances for our faults, but dangerous; hard to
make allowances for others' faults, but wise.
--Maltbie Davenport Babcock (1858—1901)
American clergyman.
_Thoughts For Everyday Living: From The Spoken And
Written Words Of Maltbie Davenport Babcock_ [1901]

I may not be totally perfect, but parts of me are excellent.
--Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933)
British-born American writer and artist.
Title of book [1978]

When we see persons of worth, we should think of
equaling them; when we see persons of a contrary
character, we should turn inwards and examine
ourselves.
--Confucius (551—479 B.C.)
K'ung Ch'iu, Chinese philosopher.

The very purpose of existence is to reconcile the glowing
opinion we have of ourselves with the appalling things that
other people think about us.
--Quentin Crisp [Denis Pratt] (1908—1999)
English writer.
_How to Become a Virgin_ [1981], ch. 2

The profound thinker always suspects that he is superficial.
--Benjamin Disraeli (1804—1881)
British Tory statesman, novelist, and Prime Minister [1868, 1874—1880].
_Contarini Fleming_ [1832], pt. IV, ch. 5

Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal
virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people
that I have ever known.
--F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896—1940)
American novelist.
_The Great Gatsby_, ch. 3 [1925]

You've no idea of what a poor opinion I have
of myself — and how little I deserve it.
--W. S. Gilbert (1836—1911)
English writer of comic and satirical verse.
_Ruddigore_, act I [1887]

Whenever I dwell for any length of time on my own shortcomings, they
gradually begin to seem mild, harmless, rather engaging little things,
not at all like the staring defects in other people's characters.
--Margaret Halsey (1910—1997)
American author.
_With Malice Toward Some_, pt. I "June 15" [1938]

Knowing what
thou knowest not
is in a sense
Omniscience.
--Piet Hein (1905—1996)
Danish poet and mathematician.
_Grooks_ [Cambridge, MIT Press, 1967]

Of those that spin out life in trifles, and die without a
memorial, many flatter themselves with high opinions
of their own importance, and imagine that they are
every day adding some improvement to human life.
--Samuel Johnson (1709—1784)
English poet, critic, and lexicographer.
_The Idler_ (essays in the newspaper "The Universal Chronicle"
from 1758—1760) [Issue of 5 August 1758]

Be charitable and indulgent to every one but yourself.
--Joseph Joubert (1754—1824)
French philosopher.
Attributed in Maturin M. Ballou
_Treasury of Thought_, p. 73 [10th ed. 1884].

It is always a mistake not to close one's eyes,
whether to forgive or to look better into oneself.
--Maurice Maeterlinck (1862—1949)
Belgium poet and playwright.
_Pellιas et Mιlisande_ [1892]

We can talk frankly about our defects
only to those who recognize our qualities.
--attributed to Andrι Maurois (1885—1967)
(pseudonym of Ιmile Salomon Wilhelm Herzog)
French author.

If one man says to thee, "Thou art a donkey," do not mind;
if two speak thus, purchase a saddle for thyself.
--Midrash (4th cent. B.C.—A.D. 12th cent.)

Let us believe neither half of the good people
tell us of ourselves, nor half the evil they say
of others.
--Jean-Antoine Petit-Senn (1792—1870)
French-Swiss lyric poet.
Quoted in Julia B. Hoitt
_Excellent Quotations For Home and School_, p. 149 [1890].

Pardon others often, thyself never.
--Publilius Syrus (85—43 B.C.)
Latin writer of mimes who was originally a slave.
Attributed in _The Cottager's Monthly Visitor_, vol. XII [1832].

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_Julius Caesar_, act 1, sc. 2, l. 138 [1599]

Never speak ill of yourself; your friends
will always say enough on that subject.
--Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Pιrigord (1754—1838)
French statesman.
Attributed in Herbert Victor Prochnow
_Speaker's Handbook of Epigrams and Witticisms_[1955].

Interviewer: "When was the last tournament that you won?
... I know it's been a while. I don't mean to bring up a sore
subject."
Watson: "That's all right. I'm not very good."
--Bubba Watson (b. 1978)
American professional golfer.
Interview during the 2007 U.S. Open in Oakmont, Pennsylvania.

Neither human applause nor human censure is to be taken
as the test of truth. ... but either the one or the other should
set us upon careful self-examination.
--Richard Whately (1787—1863)
English philosopher and theologian.
"Discourse on the Treason of Judas Iscariot" in
_Essays On Some Of The Dangers To Christian Faith_ [1839]

There is luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves,
we feel no one else has a right to blame us.
--Oscar Wilde (1854—1900)
Anglo-Irish dramatist and poet.
_The Picture of Dorian Gray_, ch. 8 [1891]



SELF-IMPROVEMENT

.
.

see: "DISCIPLINE"
see: "IMPROVEMENT"
see: "KNOWING (ONESELF)"


God lives to help him who strives to help himself.
--Aeschylus (525—456 B.C.)
Greek tragic dramatist.
Fragment 223

To conquer oneself is a greater task than conquering others.
--attributed to Buddha [Gautama] (c. 6th—4th century B.C.)
Founder of Buddhism.

To reform a world, to reform a nation, no wise man
will undertake; and all but foolish men know, that
the only solid, though a far slower reformation,
is what each begins and perfects on *himself*.
--Thomas Carlyle (1795—1881)
Scottish historian and political philosopher.
"Signs of the Times" [1829]

I'll turn over a new leaf.
--Miguel de Cervantes (1547—1616)
Spanish novelist.
_Don Quixote de la Mancha_, pt. II, bk. iii, ch. xiii [1615]

Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better.
--Ιmile Couι (1857—1926)
French psychologist and pharmacist.
_How to Practice Suggestion and Autosuggestion_ [1923]

How few there are who have courage enough to
own their faults, or resolution enough to mend
them.
--Benjamin Franklin (1706—1790)
American politician, inventor, and scientist.
_Poor Richard's Almanack_ [January 1743]

He's turned his life around. He used to be depressed
and miserable. Now he's miserable and depressed.
--attributed to Sir David Paradine Frost (b. 1939)
British television host.

Self-knowledge is the beginning of self-improvement.
--Baltasar Graciαn (1601—1658)
Spanish Jesuit philosopher.
_The Art of Worldly Wisdom_ [1647]

There is nothing noble about being superior
to some other men. The true nobility is in
being superior to your previous self.
--Hindustani Proverb
In _A Conspectus of American Biography_, p. 726 [1906],
compiled by George Derby.

There's only one corner of the universe you can
be certain of improving, and that's your own self.
--Aldous Huxley (1894—1963)
English novelist {grandson of T.H. Huxley}.
_Time Must Have a Stop_ [1944]

-

In the village churchyard she lies,
Dust is in her beautiful eyes,
No more she breathes, nor feels, nor stirs;
At her feet and at her head
Lies a slave to attend the dead,
But their dust is white as hers.

Was she a lady of high degree,
So much in love with the vanity
And foolish pomp of this world of ours?
Or was it Christian charity,
And lowliness and humility,
The richest and rarest of all dowers?

Who shall tell us? No one speaks;
No color shoots into those cheeks,
Either of anger or of pride,
At the rude question we have asked;
Nor will the mystery be unmasked
By those who are sleeping at her side.

Hereafter?--And do you think to look
On the terrible pages of that Book
To find her failings, faults, and errors?
Ah, you will then have other cares,
In your own short-comings and despairs,
In your own secret sins and terrors!

--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807—1882)
American poet.
"In the Churchyard at Cambridge" in _Birds of Passage_ [1858]

-

Withdraw into yourself and look. And if you do not find yourself
beautiful yet, act as does the creator of a statue that is to be made
beautiful: he cuts away here, he smoothes there, he makes this line
lighter, this other purer, until a lovely face has grown upon his work.
So do you also: cut away all that is excessive, straighten all that is
crooked, bring light to all that is overcast, labor to make all one glow
with beauty and never cease chiseling your statue, until there shall
shine out on you the godlike splendor of virtue, until you shall see
the final goodness surely established in the stainless shrine.
--Plotinus (205—270)
Greek philosopher.
_The Enneads_

'Do not spill thy soul' in running hither and yon
grieving over the misfortunes the mistakes and
the vices of others. The one person whom it
is most necessary in this world to reform is
yourself.
--Dorothy Quigley
_Success Is For You_, ch. XIV [1897]

-

Lucy:
Do you think anybody ever really changes?

Linus:
I've changed a lot in the last year.

Lucy:
I mean for the better.

--Charles Schulz (1922—2000)
American cartoonist.
("Peanuts" comic strip.)

-

He that does good to another does good also to himself,
not only in the consequence, but in the very act; for the
consciousness of well-doing is in itself ample reward.
--Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 B.C.— 65 A.D.)
Roman philosopher and poet.

God helps those who help themselves.
--Algernon Sidney (1622—1683)
English Whig politician.
_Discourses Concerning Government_ [1698], Ch. 2

There is an idea abroad among moral people
that they should make their neighbors good.
One person I have to make good: myself.
--Robert Louis Stevenson (1850—1894)
Scottish essayist, poet, and novelist.
"A Christmas Sermon" in _Scribner's Magazine_ [December 1888].

-

Who has a fiercer struggle than he who strives to
conquer himself? Yet this must be our chief
concern — to conquer self, and by daily growing
stronger than self, to advance in holiness.
--Thomas a' Kempis (1380—1471)
German ascetical writer.
_The Imitation of Christ_ [c. 1420],
Book 1, Chapter 3: "On The Teaching Of Truth"


Be not angry that you cannot make others as you
wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself
as you wish to be.
--Thomas a' Kempis (1380—1471)
German ascetical writer.
_Imitation of Christ_, bk. I, ch. 16 [c.1420]

-



SELF-INTEREST

.
.

see: "MOTIVATION"


We are all practical in our own interest
and idealists when it concerns others.
--Kahlil Gibran (1883—1931)
Lebanese poet.

Never appeal to a man's "better nature." He may not have
one. Invoking his self-interest gives you more leverage.
--Robert Heinlein (1907—1988)
American science-fiction writer.
_Time Enough for Love_ [1973]

A man should be careful never to tell tales of himself to his
own disadvantage. People may be amused and laugh at the
time, but they will be remembered, and brought out against
him upon some subsequent occasion.
--Samuel Johnson (1709—1784)
English poet, critic, and lexicographer.
In James Boswell _The Life of Samuel Johnson_
"25 March 1776" [1791].

Fourteen heart attacks and he had
to die in my week. In MY week.
{when ex-President Eisenhower's death prevented her
photograph appearing on the cover of "Newsweek" - ODTQ}
--Janis Joplin (1943—1970)
American singer.
In "New Musical Express" [12 April 1969].

What proposition is there respecting human nature which is absolutely
and universally true? We know of only one, and that is not only true,
but identical; that men always act from self-interest.
--Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800—1859)
English politician and historian.
"Mill's Essay on Government" [1829]

Men alter their demeanor and sentiments
just as fast as their interest changes.
--Arthur Schopenhauer (1788—1860)
German philosopher.
"Counsels and Maxims" in
_Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer_, tr. T. Bailey Saunders

We are now in the Me Decade — seeing the upward roll of
. . . the third great religious wave in American history . . .
and this one has the mightiest, holiest roll of all, the beat
that goes. . . Me. . . Me. . . Me. . . Me.
--Tom Wolfe (1931— )
American journalist and novelist.
_Mauve Gloves and Madmen_ [1976]

-----

potlatch (noun) ['pat-lζch]
A social event, especially one given to express the wealth and
generosity of the host in expectation of something in return.
The word is used mainly in the Northwestern U.S..



SELF-KNOWLEDGE

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.

see: "KNOWING (ONESELF)"



SELF-LOVE

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.

see: "VANITY"
see: "EMOTIONS & FEELINGS" for other related links


Esteeming others merely for their agreement with us
in religion, opinion, and manner of living is only a
less offensive kind of self-adoration.
--Thomas Adam (1701—1784)
England clergyman and religious writer.
_Private Thoughts on Religion_ [pub. 1824 from his diary]

That favourite subject, Myself.
--James Boswell (1740—1795)
Scottish lawyer, diarist, and author.
Letter to William Temple. [26 July 1763].

^^

Once when Noλl Coward was crossing from Britain to the United States
by ocean liner, the company in the cocktail lounge included a rather
pompous English gentleman who was complaining bitterly of a recent
occasion on which he had not been treated with the respect he clearly
felt he deserved. "They didn't seem to know who I was!' he protested.

'And who *were* you?' enquired Coward politely.

_The Folio Book of Humorous Anecdotes_
Introduced by Edward Leeson [2005], "Actors and the Theatre"

^^

He was like a cock who thought the
sun had risen to hear him crow.
--George Eliot [Mary Ann Evans] (1819—1880)
English novelist.
_Adam Bede_, vol. 2, ch. XXXIII [1859]

He that falls in love with Himself, will have no Rivals.
--Benjamin Franklin (1706—1790)
American politician, inventor, and scientist.
_Poor Richard's Almanack_ [May 1738]

If it is a virtue to love my neighbor as a human
being, it must be a virtue — and not a vice — to
love myself, since I am a human being too.
--Erich Fromm (1900—1980)
American philosopher and psychologist.
_The Art of Loving_ [1956]

A beautiful woman should break her mirror early.
--attributed to Baltasar Graciαn (1601—1658)
Spanish Jesuit philosopher.

After all, what is vanity? If it means only a certain innocent wish
to look one's best, is it not another name for self-respect? [...] If it
means inordinate self-admiration (very rare among persons with
some occupation), it is less wicked than absurd.
--Mary Eliza Joy Haweis (1848—1898)
British journalist and author.
_The Art of Beauty_, 4th book, ch. I [1878]

Talk about conceit as much as you like, it is to human character
what salt is to the ocean; it keeps it sweet and renders it endurable.
Say rather it is like the natural unguent of the seafowl's plumage,
which enables him to shed the rain that falls on him and the
wave in which he dips. When one has had all his conceit taken
out of him, when he has lost all his illusions, his feathers will
soon soak through, and he will fly no more.
--Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809—1894)
American physician, poet, and essayist.
Quoted in Rev. Elon Foster
_New Cyclopaedia of Prose Illustrations_, Second Series [1877].

Every man is prompted by the love of himself to imagine
that he possesses some qualities superior, either in kind
or degree, to those which he sees allotted to the rest of
the world.
--Samuel Johnson (1709—1784)
English poet, critic, and lexicographer.
29 May 1750 issue of _The Rambler_
(English twice-weekly journal pub. 1750—1752).

In jealousy there is more self-love than love.
--Franηois de La Rochefoucauld (1613—1680)
French classical author.
_Maxims_, #324 [1665]

He who is enamored of himself will at least
have the advantage of being inconvenienced
by few rivals.
--Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742—1799)
German scientist and drama critic.
"Notebook H." aph. 10 (written 1765-99), as quoted in Robert
Andrews _The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations_ [1993].

A town that boasts inhabitants like me
Can have no lack of good society!
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807—1882)
American poet.
"The Birds of Killingworth"
_Tales of a Wayside Inn_ [1863]

The affair between Margot Asquith and Margot Asquith
will live as one of the prettiest love stories in all literature.
--Dorothy Parker (1893—1967)
American critic and humorist.
"New Yorker" [22 October 1927]

He fell in love with himself at first sight and
it is a passion to which he has always remained
faithful. Self love seems so often unrequited.
--Anthony Powell (1905—2000)
English novelist.

The ablest man I ever met is the man you think you are.
--attributed to Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882—1945)
American Democratic statesman and President [1933—1945].

Good breeding consists in concealing how
much we think of ourselves and how little
we think of the other person.
--Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835—1910)
American humorist, novelist, journalist, and river pilot.
_Notebooks_ [1935]

To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.
--Oscar Wilde (1854—1900)
Anglo-Irish dramatist and poet.
_Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young_ [1894]

-----

narcissism [NAHR-suh-siz-em], noun:
Excessive love or admiration for oneself; in
psychoanalysis, gratification manifested in
admiration and love of oneself.
[From Greek Narkissos, beautiful youth in mythology
(Ovid, "Metamorphosis," iii.370) who fell in love with
his own reflection in a spring and was turned to the
flower narcissus.]



SELF-PITY

.
.

see: "PITY"
see: "EMOTIONS & FEELINGS" for other related links
see: "FAILURE" for other related links


Quite often, people who mean well will inquire of
me whether I ever ask myself, in the face of my
diseases, "Why me?" I never do. If I ask "Why
me?" as I am assaulted by heart disease and
AIDS, I must ask "Why me?"about my blessings,
and question my right to enjoy them. The morning
after I won Wimbledon in 1975 I should have asked
"Why me?" and doubted that I deserved the victory.
If I don't ask "Why me?" after my victories, I cannot
ask "Why me?" after my setbacks and disasters.
--Arthur Ashe (1943—1993)
American tennis player and the first black winner of a
major men's single championship.
_Days of Grace: A Memoir by Arthur Ashe, Arnold Rampersad_, p. 326

The more we feel sorry for ourselves, the less sorry others will
feel for us. People don't waste their small store of sympathy
on those who can provide it so richly for themselves.
--Gerald Brenan (1894—1987)
British travel writer and novelist.
_Thoughts in a Dry Season: A Miscellany_ [1978]

I never complained that my birthday was overlooked;
people were even surprised, with a touch of admiration,
by my discretion on this subject. But the reason for
my disinterestedness was even more discrete: I longed to
be forgotten in order to be able to complain to myself.
--Albert Camus (1913—1960)
French novelist, dramatist, and essayist who won
the 1957 Nobel Prize for Literature.
_The Fall_ [1956]

-

When my mother died, I didn't understand death.
Couldn't feature it. What do you mean she's gone
forever? I was 15, living at a school for the blind
160 miles away from home. She was all I had in the
world.

No, she couldn't be dead. She'd be back tomorrow.
Or the day after. Don't tell me about no death.
Death can't take this woman. I need her. Can't
make it without her.

That's when I saw what everyone sees — you can't
make a deal with death. No, sir. And you can't make
a deal with God. Death is cold-blooded, and maybe
God is too.

So I'm alone, and I'm going crazy, until Ma Beck,
a righteous Christian lady from the little country
town where I grew up, wakes me and shakes me and
says, "Boy, stop feeling sorry for yourself. You
gotta carry on."

Made me realize I had to depend on me. No one was
going to do sh*t for me. You hear me? No one. I
could praise Jesus till I'm blue in the face. I
could fall on my knees and plead. Pray till the
cows come home. But Mama ain't coming back.

So if Mama gave me religion, the religion said,
"Believe in yourself."

--Ray Charles (1930—2004)
American pianist and soul singer.
_Brother Ray_ [2004], "The Last Days of Brother Ray"

-

Every man supposes himself not to be
fully understood or appreciated.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—1882)
American philosopher and poet.
_Journals_, entry of 6 May 1840 [pub. in 10 vols., 1910—1914]

The least pain in our little finger gives us more concern
and uneasiness than the destruction of millions of our
fellow-beings.
--William Hazlitt (1778—1830)
English essayist.
"American Literature—Dr. Channing," in _The Edinburgh Review_ [October 1829]

Self-pity is our worst enemy, and if we yield to
it, we can never do anything wise in the world.
--attributed to Helen Keller (1880—1968)
American author and educator who was blind and deaf.

Everybody in the world ought to be sorry for everybody
else. We all have our little private hell.
--Bettina von Hutten (1874—1957)
_The Halo_ [1907]

-----

pule [PYOOL], intransitive verb:
To whimper; to whine.
Ex.: The first lady initially flourished as a wronged wife precisely
because she endured her humiliation so stoically; she did not
whine or pule or treat her pain as license to behave badly.
--Michelle Cottle, "God Almighty",
_New Republic_ [6 September 1999]



SELF-RESPECT

.
.

see: "CONFIDENCE"
see: "DIGNITY"
see: "PRIDE"
see: "RESPECT"
see: "SELF-ESTEEM"
see: "CHARACTER" for other related links


Conceited men often seem a harmless kind of men,
who, by an overweening self-respect, relieve other
from the duty of respecting them at all.
--Henry Ward Beecher (1813—1887)
American Congregational minister; brother of
Harriet Beecher Stowe, son of Lyman Beecher.
In Henry Ward Beecher and Edna Dean Proctor, _Life Thoughts:
Gathered From the Extemporaneous Discourses of Henry Ward Beecher_ [1858]

That you may retain your self-respect, it is better
to displease the people by doing what you know
is right, than to temporarily please them by doing
what you know is wrong.
--Rev. William John Henry Boetcker (1873—1962)
German-born American minister and author.
Quoted in "Forbes" [1948].

If you want to be respected by others the great
thing is to respect yourself. Only by that, only by
self-respect will you compel others to respect you.
--Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821—1881)
Russian novelist, journalist, and short story writer.
_The Insulted and the Injured_ [1861]

I prefer to be true to myself, even at the
hazard of incurring the ridicule of others,
rather than to be false, and to incur my
own abhorrence.
--Frederick Douglass [Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey]
(c.1818—1895)
American abolitionist, reformer, and writer.

Regard not so much what the World thinks of thee,
as what thou thinkest of thyself.
--Thomas Fuller (1654—1734)
English writer and physician.
Comp., _Introductio ad Prudentiam_ [1731]

Respect yourself if you would have others respect you.
--Baltasar Graciαn (1601—1658)
Spanish Jesuit philosopher.
_The Art of Worldly Wisdom_, CCLXXXIV [1647]

-

I have to live with myself, and so,
I want to be fit for myself to know;
I want to be able as days go by,
Always to look myself straight in the eye;
I don't want to stand with the setting sun
And hate myself for the things I've done.

I don't want to keep on a closet shelf
A lot of secrets about myself,
And fool myself as I come and go
Into thinking that nobody else will know
The kind of man I really am;
I don't want to dress myself up in sham.

I want to go out with my head erect,
I want to deserve all men's respect;
But here in this struggle for fame and pelf,
I want to be able to like myself.
I don't want to think as I come and go
That I'm bluster and bluff and empty show.

I never can hide myself from me,
I see what others may never see,
I know what others may never know,
I never can fool myself— and so,
Whatever happens, I want to be
Self-respecting and conscience free.

--Edgar Guest (1881—1959)
American poet.
"Myself"

-

Self-respect is the fruit of discipline; the sense
of dignity grows with the ability to say No to
oneself.
--Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907—1972)
Jewish theologian and philosopher.
_The Insecurity of Freedom: Essays on Human Existence_, ch. 3 [1967]

He that respects himself is safe from others;
he wears a coat of mail that none can pierce.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807—1882)
American poet.
"Michael Angelo" [1872]

Self-respect: the secure feeling that
no one, as yet, is suspicious.
--H.L. (Henry Louis) Mencken (1880—1956)
American journalist and literary critic.
_A Book of Burlesques_ [1916], ch. 11

I care not so much what I am in the opinion of others as
what I am in my own; I would be rich of myself and not
by borrowing.
--Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533—1592)
French moralist and essayist.
_Essais_ (Essays) [pub. 1580—1588] "Of Glory"

Polonius:
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_Hamlet_, Act I, Scene iii.

Self-respect is to the soul as oxygen is
to the body. Deprive a person of oxygen
and you kill his body; deprive him of self-
respect and you kill his spirit.
--Thomas Szasz (1920— )
American psychiatrist.
"Social Relations" in _The Second Sin_ [1973]

A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.
--Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835—1910)
American humorist, novelist, journalist, and river pilot.
_What Is Man?_ [1906]



SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS

.
.

see: "CONCEIT"
see: "EGOTISM"
see: "HYPOCRISY"
see: "MORAL CERTAINTY"
see: "RIGHTEOUS"


Cant is the twin sister of hypocrisy.
--Henry Ward Beecher (1813—1887)
American Congregational minister;
[brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe, son of Lyman Beecher.]

-

I am holier than thou.
--Bible
"Isaiah" 65:5


Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy
brother's eye, but considerest not the beam
that is in thine own eye?
--Bible
"Matthew" 7:3

-

[T]he greatest menace to our civilization today is the conflict between
giant organized systems of self-righteousness — each system only too
delighted to find that the other is wicked — each only too glad that
the sins give it the pretext for still deeper hatred and animosity. The
effect of the whole situation is barbarizing.
--Herbert Butterfield (1900—1979)
British historian and religious thinker.
_Christianity, Diplomacy and War_, p. 43 [1953]

The louder he talked of his honor, the
faster we counted our spoons.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—1882)
American philosopher and poet.
_The Conduct of Life_ "Worship" [1860]

It is easier to declaim like an orator against a thousand sins in others than
to mortify one sin in ourselves; to be more industrious in our pulpits than
in our closets; to preach twenty sermons to our people than one to our
own hearts.
--John Flavel (1627—1691)
English Presbyterian clergyman.
Attributed in _Hogg's Weekly Instructor_ [7 November 1846].

Cant is the voluntary overcharging or prolongation of a real
sentiment; hypocrisy is the setting up a pretension to a feeling
you never had and have no wish for.
--William Hazlitt (1778—1830)
English essayist.

Self-righteousness is a manifestation of self-contempt.
--Eric Hoffer (1902—1983)
American longshoreman, philosopher,
and author who received the Presidential
Medal of Freedom in 1982.
_The Ordeal of Change_ [1964], ch. 11

A man sufficiently gifted with humor is in small danger of
succumbing to flattering delusions about himself, because
he cannot help perceiving what a pompous ass he would
become if he did.
--Konrad Lorenz (1903—1989)
Austrian zoologist.
_On Aggression_ [1963]

He who thinks himself wise, O heavens! is
a great fool.
--Voltaire (Franηois Marie Arouet) (1694—1778)
French writer and philosopher.
_Le Droit du Seigneur_, Act IV, Scene i



SELF-SACRIFICE

.
.

see: "SELF-DESTRUCTION"


If [Sydney Carton] had given any utterances to his
[last thoughts], . . . they would have been these: . . .
'It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have
ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to
than I have ever known.
--Charles Dickens (1812—1870)
English novelist.
Closing words of _A Tale of Two Cities_ [1859].



SELFISH

.
.

see: "AVARICE"
see: "GREED"


-

Abraham Lincoln and his law partner, William Herndon,
were arguing the question of whether or not any person
ever performs a completely unselfish act. They were riding
together through the country and came upon a pig caught
in a rail fence. Herndon pretended not to see the animal
and passed on by.

But Lincoln stopped, got down and waded through a
muddy ditch, pulled the rails apart and released the pig.
Herndon pointed triumphantly to Lincoln's muddy shoes
and spattered trousers, saying, "You see now I am right.
Men are capable of performing unselfish deeds."

"Oh no," replied Lincoln, "if I had left that pig in the fence,
I would have worried about him all night. I would have
been so busy wondering if someone had rescued him, or
if he was still held between those rails, that I would have
lost my sleep. For my own peace of mind, I had to rescue
the animal. So, you see, I was merely being selfish."

--Charles Livingston Allen (1913—2005)
American minister.
_The Greatest of These is Love_ [1986], "Love Overcomes Destructive Emotions"

-

Selfishness is that detestable vice which no one will
forgive in others, and no one is without in himself.
--Henry Ward Beecher (1813—1887)
American Congregational minister;
[brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe, son of Lyman Beecher.]

We are all selfish and I no more trust
myself than others with a good motive.
--Lord Byron [George Gordon Byron] (1788—1824)
English Romantic poet and satirist.
Letter to Lady Melbourne [28 September 1813].

Posthumous charities are the very essence of selfishness,
when bequeathed by those who, when alive, would part
with nothing.
--C.C. Colton (1780—1832)
English clergyman and writer.
_Lacon: or, Many Things in Few Words_, CCCXLI [1821 ed.]

The 'common good' of a collective — a race, a class, a state — was
the claim and justification of every tyranny ever established over
men. Every major horror of history was committed in the name of
an altruistic motive. Has any act of selfishness ever equaled the
carnage perpetrated by disciples of altruism? Does the fault lie in
men's hypocrisy or in the nature of the principle? The most dreadful
butchers were the most sincere. They believed in the perfect society
reached through the guillotine and the firing squad. Nobody questioned
their right to murder since they were murdering for an altruistic purpose.
It was accepted that man must be sacrificed for other men. Actors
change, but the course of the tragedy remains the same. A humanitarian
who starts with declarations of love for mankind and ends with a sea of
blood. It goes on and will go on so long as men believe that an action is
good if it is unselfish. That permits the altruist to act and forces his
victims to bear it. The leaders of collectivist movements ask nothing
for themselves. But observe the results.
--Ayn Rand (1905—1982)
Russian-born American writer.
_The Fountainhead_ [1943] pt. 4, "Howard Roark" Ch. XVIII

When we came to America, there were a few thousands Indians over
millions of miles, and I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great
country away from these people, taking their happy hunting grounds
away. There were great numbers of people who needed new land,
and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.
--John Wayne [Marion Michael Morrison] (1907—1979)
American motion-picture actor.
Interview in "Playboy" [May 1971].

A man is called selfish not for pursuing his own
good, but for neglecting his neighbor's.
--Richard Whately (1787—1863)
English philosopher and theologian.

Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to
live as one wishes them to live. And unselfishness is letting other
people's lives alone, not interfering with them. Selfishness always
aims at creating around it an absolute uniformity of type. Unselfishness
recognises infinite variety of type as a delightful thing, accepts it,
acquiesces in it, enjoys it. It is not selfish to think for oneself. A man
who does not think for himself does not think at all. It is grossly selfish
to require of one's neighbour that he should think in the same way,
and hold the same opinions. Why should he? If he can think, he will
probably think differently. If he cannot think, it is monstrous to require
thought of any kind from him. A red rose is not selfish because it wants
to be a red rose. It would be horribly selfish if it wanted all the other
flowers in the garden to be both red and roses.
--Oscar Wilde (1854—1900)
Anglo-Irish dramatist and poet.
"The Soul of Man under Socialism" [1891 essay]

Caution is the confidential agent of selfishness.
--Woodrow Wilson (1856—1924)
American Democratic statesman and President [1913—1921].
Speech in Chicago, Illinois [12 February 1909].




SELLING OUT

.
.

see: "DECEPTION" for related links
see: "IMMORALITY" for related links


Some can be bought for money
And some there are that glory can buy
Some yield their purity
In search of security
And some drown their dreams in a bottle of rye
--John La Touche (1914—1956)
American musician and writer.
"Mayor Hector's Song" from the 1954 play _The Golden Apple_.

Most people sell their souls, and live with
a good conscience on the proceeds.
--Logan Pearsall Smith (1865—1946)
American-born man of letters.
_Afterthoughts_ [1931], "Other People"

-----

venal [VEE-nuhl], adjective:
1. Capable of being bought or obtained for money or other valuable
consideration; held for sale; salable; purchasable.
2. Capable of being corrupted.
3. Marked by or associated with bribery and corrupt dealings.



SEMANTICS

.
.

see: "LANGUAGE" for related links


I used to think I was poor. Then they told me I
was not poor, I was needy. They told me it was
self-defeating to think of myself as needy, I was
deprived. They told me underprivileged was overused.
I was disadvantaged. I still do not have a dime but
I have a great vocabulary.
--Jules Feiffer (1929— )
American cartoonist and author.

-----

euphemism (noun) ['yu-fκ-mi-zm]
A less offensive word substituted for an offensive one.
janitor = custodian
crippled = impaired


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