Return
Home
The
Credits
The
Cast
Act
1
Act
2
Act
3
The
Reviews
     
 
SELF --- SELF-CONFIDENCE --- SELF-CONTROL
SELF-DECEPTION --- SELF-DEFENSE
SELF-DESTRUCTION --- SELF-DETERMINATION
SELF-DISCIPLINE --- SELF-ESTEEM

.
.
.

SELF

see: "INDIVIDUALITY" for related links


My one regret in life is that I
am not someone else.
--Woody Allen [Allen Stewart Konigsberg] (1935— )
American actor, screenwriter, and director.
In Eric Lax _Woody Allen and his Comedy_ [1975].

I count him braver who overcomes his desires
than him who conquers his enemies; for the
hardest victory is over self.
--Aristotle (384—322 B.C.)
Greek philosopher.
In Thomas Benfield Harbottle
_Dictionary of Quotations_, p. 325 [1906].

The image of myself which I try to create in my own mind
in order that I may love myself is very different from
the image which I try to create in the minds of others
in order that they may love me.
--W.H. [Wystan Hugh] Auden (1907—1973)
English-born poet and man of letters.
_The Dyer's Hand_ [1963] "Hic et Ille"

One may understand the cosmos, but never the ego;
the self is more distant than any star.
--G.K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton (1874—1936)
English essayist, novelist, and poet.
_Orthodoxy_ [1908], "The Logic of Elfland"

What the superior man seeks is in himself.
What the mean man seeks is in others.
--Confucius (551—479 B.C.)
K'ung Ch'iu, Chinese philosopher.

To cure jealousy is to see it for what it is, a dissatisfaction with self.
--Joan Didion (b. 1934)
American journalist and novelist.
"Jealousy: Is It a Curable Illness?", _Vogue_ [June 1961].

Say nothing of yourself, either good, bad, or
indifferent; nothing good, for that is vanity;
nothing bad, for that is affectation; nothing
indifferent, for that is silly.
--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749—1832)
German poet, novelist, and playwright.

Every man has a mob self and an individual
self, in varying proportions.
--D.H. (David Herbert) Lawrence (1885—1930)
English novelist and poet.
_Pornography and Obscenity_ (essay) [1929]

When all is summed up, a man never speaks of
himself without loss; his accusations of himself
are always believed, his praises never.
--Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533—1592)
French moralist and essayist.
Attributed in Maturin M. Ballou _Treasury of Thought_ [10th ed. 1884].

There is an eagle in me that wants to soar and there is also
a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud.
--Carl Sandburg (1878—1967)
American poet.

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_ [1601]

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]

Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
--Walt Whitman (1819—1892)
American poet.
"Song of Myself" st. 51

Search thine own heart. What paineth thee
in others in thyself may be.
--John Greenleaf Whittier (1807—1892)
American poet.
_The Chapel of the Hermits_ [1853]

We are now in the Me Decade.
--Tom Wolfe (b. 1931)
American journalist and novelist.
_Mauve Gloves and Madmen_ "The Me Decade" [1976]

Each had his past shut in him like the leaves of a book
known to him by heart; and his friends could only read
the title.
--Virginia Woolf (1882—1941)
English novelist.
_Jacob's Room_ [1922]



Click picture to ZOOM
SELF-CONFIDENCE

.
.

see: "CONFIDENCE"
see: "SELF-ESTEEM" (below)
see: "EMOTIONS & FEELINGS" for other related links


Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.
--Bhagavad Gita (c. 5th c BC. — 2nd c AD.)
Hindu sacred text.

Doubt whom you will, but never yourself.
--Christian Nestell Bovee (1820—1904)
American writer.
Quoted in Maturin M. Ballou _Pearls of Thought_, p. 235 [1881].

-

Humans are overconfident creatures. Ninety-four percent of
college professors believe they are above average teachers,
and 90 percent of drivers believe they are above average
behind the wheel. Researchers Paul J.H. Schoemaker and
J. Edward Russo gave computer executives quizzes on their
industry. Afterward, the executives estimated that they had
gotten 5 percent of the answers wrong. In fact, they had
gotten 80 percent of the answers wrong.
--David Brooks (b. 1961)
Canadian-born American journalist.
"New Level of Overconfidence"
Reprinted in _Las Vegas Sun_ [28 October 2009].

& note:

93%: Percentage of managers who consider themselves
to be excellent or good bosses, according to a survey of
workers by the Hudson Institute.

67%: Pecentage of workers who rate their bosses favorably.

--in _Las Vegas Business Press_ [2 October 2006]

-

An individual's self-concept is the core of his personality.
It affects every aspect of human behavior: the ability to learn,
the capacity to grow and change [...] A strong, positive self-
image is the best possible preparation for success in life.
--Dr. Joyce Brothers [Joyce Diane Bauer] (b. 1927)
American psychologist and advice columnist.
Quoted in _Occupational Health Nursing_, Volume 27 [1979].

Of all unfortunate men one of the unhappiest is a middling
author endowed with too lively a sensibility for criticism.
--Isaac D'Israeli (1766—1848)
English author and the father of Benjamin Disraeli.
_Curiosities of Literature_, vol. 2 "Anecdotes of Authors Censured" [3 vols., 1824 ed.]

If you hear that someone is speaking ill of you, instead of trying to
defend yourself you should say: 'He obviously does not know me very
well, since there are so many other faults he could have mentioned.'
--Epictetus (55—135)
Greek philosopher.
_The Enchiridion_ [c. 135]

Man often becomes what he believes himself
to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot
do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end
by really becoming incapable of doing it. On
the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do
it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it
even if I may not have it at the beginning.
--Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869—1948)
Indian statesman and leader of the nationalistic
movement against British rule.
_Non-Violence in Peace and War_ [1942]

If you have no confidence in self you are twice
defeated in the race of life. With confidence,
you have won even before you have started.
--Marcus Garvey (1887—1940)
Jamaican born journalist, crusader for black nationalism.
In Amy Jacques Garvey (ed.)
_The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey_ [1967].

You gotta say this for the white race — its self-confidence knows
no bounds. Who else could go to a small island in the South Pacific
where there's no poverty, no crime, no unemployment, no war,
and no worry — and call it a 'primitive society?'
--Dick Gregory (1932— )
American comedian and social activist.
_From the Back of the Bus_ [1962]

A competent and self-confident person is incapable of jealously in
anything. Jealousy is invariably a symptom of neurotic insecurity.
--Robert Heinlein (1907—1988)
American science-fiction writer.
_Time Enough for Love_ [1973]

Those who believe they are exclusively in the right
are generally those who achieve something.
--Aldous Huxley (1894—1963)
English novelist {grandson of T.H. Huxley}.
_Proper Studies_ [1927] "Note on Dogma"

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowances for their doubting too. . . .
--Rudyard Kipling (1865—1936)
English writer and poet.
"If" in _Rewards and Fairies_ [1910]

Those only are despicable who fear to be despised.
--Franηois de La Rochefoucauld (1613—1680)
French classical author.
_Reflections; or, Sentences and Moral Maxims_, no. 322 [1678]

You must believe in yourself, my son, or no one
else will believe in you, Be self-confident, self-
reliant, and even if you don't make it, you will
know you have done your best. Now, go to it.
--Mary Hardy MacArthur,
advice to her son Douglas on the morning of
his West Point examination, quoted in
Douglas MacArthur _Reminiscences_ [1964].

Because your own strength is unequal to the task,
do not assume that it is beyond the powers of man;
but if anything is within the powers and province
of man, believe that it is within your own compass
also.
--Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121—180)
Roman emperor [161—180] and Stoic philosopher.
_Meditations_ trans. Gerald H. Rendall [1901]

Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with
our own private opinion. What a man thinks of
himself, that it is which determines, or rather
indicates, his fate.
--Henry David Thoreau (1817—1862)
American essayist, poet, and practical philosopher.
_Walden_ [1854]

-

They are able because they think they are able.
--Virgil (70—19 B.C.)
Roman poet.
_The Aeneid_, v. 231

& note the variant (improved?) translation:

They conquer who believe they can.
--John Dryden (1631—1700)
English poet, critic, and dramatist.
Quoted in "The Rambler" #25 [12 June 1750].

-

Do not attempt to do a thing unless you are
sure of yourself; but do not relinquish it simply
because someone else is not sure of you.
--Stewart E White (1873—1946)
American author.
"The Santa Fe Magazine", vol. 31 [1936]

-----

diffident (adjective) ['di-fi-dκnt]
Shy, bashful, or hesitant as a result
of a lack of self-confidence.



SELF-CONTROL

.
.

see: "ANGER"
see: "CAUTION"
see: "PRUDENCE"
see: "CHARACTER" for other related links
see: "SUCCESS" for other related links


I count him braver who overcomes his desires
than him who conquers his enemies; for the
hardest victory is over self.
--Aristotle (384—322 B.C.)
Greek philosopher.
In Thomas Benfield Harbottle
_Dictionary of Quotations_, p. 325 [1906].

No man can humiliate me or disturb me.
I won't let him.
--Bernard Baruch (1870—1965)
American financier.

Those two great medicines: Diet and Self-Control.
--Max Bircher [Maximilian Oskar Bircher] (1867—1939)
Swiss physician.
In Gordon Young, _Doctors Without Drugs_ [1962].

A strong mind is one which does not lose
its balance even under the most violent
excitement.
--Karl von Clausewitz (1780—1831)
Prussian soldier and military theorist.
_On War_ [1832]

Industry, thrift and self-control are not sought because they
create wealth, but because they create character.
--Calvin Coolidge (1872—1933)
American Republican statesman and President [1923—1929].
_Foundations of the Republic_ [1926]

A man makes his inferiors his superiors by
heat. . . . Self-control is the rule.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—1882)
American philosopher and poet.
_Letters and Social Aims_ [1876]

No man is free who is not master of himself.
--Epictetus (55—135)
Greek philosopher.
In James Laughlin Hughes
_Froebel's Educational Laws for All Teachers_, p. 177 [1897].

Anyone who angers you, conquers you.
--Sister Elizabeth Kenny (1880—1952)
Australian bush nurse.
(As told to her by her mother.)

He that would govern others, first
should be the master of himself.
--Philip Massinger (1583—1640)
English Jacobean and Caroline playwright.
_The Bondman_ [1623]

How shall I be able to rule over others, that
have not full power and command of myself?
--Franηois Rabelais (c. 1494— c. 1553]
French humanist, satirist, and physician.
_Works_, bk. I, ch. iii

I must learn to love the fool in me the one who feels
too much, talks too much, takes too many chances,
wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control,
loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and
breaks promises, laughs and cries.
--Theodore Isaac Rubin (1923— )
American psychiatrist and author.

The greatest remedy for anger is delay.
--Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 B.C.— 65 A.D.)
Roman philosopher and poet.
_On Anger_ {De Ira}
In William Braxton _On Desire:Why We Want What We Want_[2005], p. 243.

Self-control is the best of all vows. Sweetness of
speech, benevolence, absence of malice, anger, and
hatred, forgiveness, patience, forbearance, non-
violence, modesty, courtesy, good behavior, Truth,
straight-forwardness, and firmness — the combination
of all these constitutes self-control.
--Swami Sivananda (1887—1963)
Hindu leader.

The happiness of man in this life does not consist
in the absence, but in the mastery, of his passions.
--Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809—1892)
English poet.
--French proverb, as quoted in D. E. MacDonnel
_A Dictionary of Quotations in Most Frequent Use..._ [1809 ed.].

Educate your children to self-control, to the habit
of holding passion and prejudice and evil tendencies
to an upright and reasoning will, and you have done
much to abolish misery from their future lives and
crimes from society.
--Daniel Webster (1782—1852)
American orator and politician.
Quoted in Tryon Edwards _A Dictionary of Thoughts_, p. 135 [1908 ed.].

-----

forbearance (noun) [fawr-'bair-uh ns]
The act of refraining or abstaining, showing self-control.



SELF-DECEPTION

.
.

see: "DECEPTION"
see: "ILLUSIONS"


The first and worst of all frauds is to cheat one's self.
--Philip James Bailey (1816—1902)
English poet.
_Festus_ [1839]

Many an honest man practices on himself an amount of deceit,
sufficient, if practiced on another, and in a little different way,
to send him to the State prison.
--Christian Nestell Bovee (1820—1904)
American writer.
Quoted in Tryon Edwards _A Dictionary of Thoughts_, p. 107 [1891].

-

Self-deception once yielded to, *all* other
deceptions follow naturally more and more.
--Thomas Carlyle (1795—1881)
Scottish historian and political philosopher.
"The Hero as King" in
_On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History_ [1841]


The greatest of all faults, I should say,
is to be conscious of none.
--Thomas Carlyle (1795—1881)
Scottish historian and political philosopher.
_On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History_, Lecture II [1841]

-

Too high an appreciation of our own talents
is the chief cause why experience preaches
to us all in vain.
--C.C. Colton (1780—1832)
English clergyman and writer.
_Lacon: or, Many Things in Few Words_, XXV [1826 ed.]

Nothing is easier than self-deceit. For what each
man wishes, that he also believes to be true.
--Demosthenes (c.364—c.322 B.C.)
Athenian orator and statesman.
_Third Olynthiac_, sec. 19

We swallow at one gulp a lie which flatters
us, but only drop by drop a truth which is
bitter to us.
--Denis Diderot (1713—1784)
French writer and philosopher.
Attributed in Rev. James Wood (ed.)
_Dictionary of Quotations_, p. 529 [1893].

Lying to ourselves is more deeply
ingrained than lying to others.
--attributed to Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821—1881)
Russian novelist, journalist, and short story writer.

The first principle is that you must not
fool yourself — and you are the easiest
person to fool.
--Richard Feynman (1918—1988)
American theoretical physicist.
Commencement address at Caltech, Pasadena, Cal. [1974]

One of the great discoveries a man makes, one of his
great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid
he couldn't do.
--Henry Ford (1863—1947)
American car manufacturer.
Quoted in _The American Magazine_, vol. 131 [1941].

No man was ever so much deceived by another as by himself.
--Fulke Greville (1554—1628)
English philosophical poet.
In _Maxims, Characters And Reflections_ [3rd ed., 1757].

Dishonest men conceal their faults from themselves as
well as others; honest men know and confess them.
--Franηois de La Rochefoucauld (1613—1680)
French classical author.
_Reflections; or, Sentences and Moral Maxims_ [1678]

Human beings seem to have an almost unlimited
capacity to deceive themselves and to deceive
themselves into taking their own lies for truth.
--R.D. Laing (1927—1989)
Scottish psychiatrist.
_The Politics of Experience_ [1967]

Earthly minds, like mud walls, resist the strongest
batteries: and though, perhaps, sometimes the
force of a clear argument may make some impression,
yet they nevertheless stand firm, and keep out the
enemy, truth, that would captivate or disturb them.
Tell a man passionately in love that he is jilted; bring
a score of witnesses of the falsehood of his mistress,
it is ten to one but three kind words of hers shall
invalidate all their testimonies.
--John Locke (1632—1704)
English political and educational philosopher.
_An Essay Concerning Human Understanding_ [1690],
bk. 4, ch. 20, "Of Wrong Assent, or Error"

The great deceivers of the world begin by deceiving
themselves. They have to, or they wouldn't be so
good at it.
--Jean Moliθre [Jean Baptiste Poquelin] (1622—1673)
French comic dramatist.
_Le Malade imaginaire_ [1673]

The ingenuity of self-deception is inexhaustible.
--Hannah More (1745—1833)
English religious writer.

The most common sort of lie is the one
uttered to one's self.
--Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844—1900)
German classical scholar, philosopher, and critic of culture.
_Twilight of the Idols_ [1888]

The worst of all deceptions is self-deception.
--Plato (427?—347 B.C.)
Greek philosopher.
_Cratylus_

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_ [1601], I, iii, 78




SELF-DEFENSE

.
.

see: "WAR & PEACE" for related links


After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away
from the people who didn't do it. I sure as hell wouldn't want to
live in a society where the only people allowed guns are the
police and the military.
--William S. Burroughs (1914—1997)
American author associated with the Beat Generation.
"The War Universe"
Taped conversation published in _Grand Street_ # 37

-

I'm not sure people understood a lot of what I was
writing about. I don't even know if I would understand
them if I believed everything that has been written
about them by imbeciles who wouldn't know the first
thing about writing songs. I've always said the
organized media propagated me as something I never
pretended to be . . . all this spokesman of conscience
thing. A lot of my songs were definitely misinterpreted
by people who didn't know any better, and it goes on
today.

Q: Give me an example of a song that has been widely
misinterpreted.

A: Take "Masters of War." Every time I sing it, someone
writes that it's an antiwar song. But there's no antiwar
sentiment in that song. I'm not a pacifist. I don't think
I've ever been one. If you look closely at the song, it's
about what Eisenhower was saying about the dangers of
the military-industrial complex in this country. I believe
strongly in everyone's right to defend themselves by
every means necessary.

--Bob Dylan [Robert Allen Zimmerman] (1941— )
American singer and songwriter.

-

Your enemy is never a villain in his own eyes. Keep this in mind;
it may offer a way to make him your friend. If not, you can kill
him without hate - and quickly.
--Robert Heinlein (1907—1988)
American science-fiction writer.
_Time Enough for Love_ [1973]

^^

In 1978 Sussex police launched a hunt for a 'six-foot, dark-
haired youth of about 20' who failed to mug a five-foot,
74-year-old grandmother.

The youth sprang upon Mrs Ethel West while she was walking
through Chichester Cathedral cloisters. The result should have
been a foregone conclusion. Surprisingly, however, when Mrs
West grabbed the mugger's wrist, he cried, 'Oh God! Oh no!
Stop!'

Encouraged by these pleas, she put him in an arm lock at which
the mugger cried, "Oh no! Oh Christ!" and ran away.

'If I hadn't been carrying my shopping, I would really have put
him on his back,' said Mrs West who took a course in judo when
younger.

'Before my husband died I used to practise throwing him at
Christmas,' she explained.

_The Folio Book of Humorous Anecdotes_
Introduced by Edward Leeson [2005], "Age — Mostly Old"

^^




SELF-DESTRUCTION

.
.

see: "SELF-SACRIFICE"
see: "FAILURE" for other related links


What is man's chief enemy?
Each man is his own.
--Anacharsis (600 BC)
Scythian prince.
"Stobstus, Plorilegium", ii. 43, as quoted in William S. Walsh
_The International Encyclopedia of Prose and Poetical Quotations_, p. 223 [1908].

Argue for your limitations and sure enough they're yours.
--Richard Bach (1936— )
American writer.
_Illusions_ [1977]

Yet is every man his greatest enemy, and,
as it were, his own executioner.
--Sir Thomas Browne (1605—1682)
English writer and physician.

Nobody's enemy but his own.
--Charles Dickens (1812—1870)
English novelist.
_David Copperfield_, ch. 25 [1850]

The jealous bring down the curse they fear upon their own heads.
--Dorothy Dix (1861—1951) [pseud. of Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer]
American journalist.
_Dorothy Dix, Her Book: Every-day Help for
Every-day People_ (based on her column) [1926]

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].

An Eastern proverb says that calamities sent by heaven
may be avoided but from those we bring on ourselves
there is no escape.
--Sir John Lubbock (1834—1913)
The First Lord and Baron Avebury who was a
British banker, politician, and archaeologist.
_The Pleasures of Life_, ch. IV "The Choice of Books" [1887]

To be angry, is to revenge the fault of others upon ourselves.
--Alexander Pope (1688—1744)
English poet.
_Thoughts on Various Subjects_ [1727]

Say nothing good of yourself, you will be distrusted;
say nothing bad of yourself, you will be taken at your
word.
--Joseph Roux (1834—1886)
French parish priest and writer.
_Meditations of a Parish Priest_, # 22 "Joy" [1886].

You can outdistance that which is running after
you, but not what is running inside you.
--Rwandan Proverb

Troubles hurt the most when they prove self-inflicted.
--Sophocles (496?—406 B.C.)
Greek dramatist.
_Oedipus Rex_ tr. David Grene [1942]

When you set yourself on fire, people love to come and see you burn.
--John Wesley (1703—1791)
English preacher and founder, with his brother Charles,
of the Methodist movement in the Church of England.
In Dayo Adeola _Winning Habits_ p. 20 [2008].



SELF-DETERMINATION

.
.

see: "FREEDOM" for related links


You have brains in your head. You have feet
in your shoes. You can steer yourself any
direction you choose.
--Theodor Seuss Geisel [Dr. Seuss] (1904—1991)
American writer and illustrator of children's books.

A wise man shall overrule his stars, and have a greater
influence upon his own content than all the constellations
and planets of the firmament.
--Jeremy Taylor (1613—1667)
English Anglican clergyman and writer.



SELF-DISCIPLINE

.
.

see: "CHARACTER"
see: "MODERATION"
see: "SELF-CONTROL" (above)

-

If you can win complete mastery over self,
you will easily master all else. To triumph
over self is the perfect victory.
--Thomas a' Kempis (1380—1471)
German ascetical writer.
_Imitation of Christ_ [c.1420]


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]

-

Make it a point to do something every day that you
don't want to do. This is the golden rule for acquiring
the habit of doing your duty without pain.
--Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835—1910)
American humorist, novelist, journalist, and river pilot.
_Following the Equator_ [1897]




SELF-ESTEEM

.
.

see: "SELF-CONFIDENCE" (above)
see: "RESPECT"
see: "SELF-RESPECT"
see: "EMOTIONS & FEELINGS" for other related links
see: "INDIVIDUALITY" for other related links


I'm the greatest.
--Muhammad Ali (Cassius Marcellus Clay) (1942— )
American heavyweight boxer.
Catch-phrase used from 1962,
in "Louisville Times" [16 November 1962].

Anything you can do, I can do better,
I can do anything better than you.
--Irving Berlin (1888—1989)
American songwriter.
"Anything You Can Do" [1946 song]

Pride goeth before destruction, and an
haughty spirit before a fall.
--Bible
"Proverbs" 16:18

That's it baby, when you've got it, flaunt it.
--Mel Brooks (1926— )
American actor, writer, and director.
"The Producers" [1968 film]

An individual's self-concept is the core of his personality. It affects
every aspect of human behavior: the ability to learn, the capacity
to grow and change. It is no exaggeration to say that a strong,
positive self-image is the best possible preparation for success
in life.
--attributed to Dr. Joyce Brothers [Joyce Diane Bauer] (b. 1927)
American psychologist and advice columnist.

Do what thy manhood bids thee do,
from none but self expect applause;
He noblest lives and noblest dies who
makes and keeps his self-made laws.
--Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821—1890)
English scholar-explorer and Orientalist.
The Kasidah of Haji Abdu El-Yezdi. or. “Lay of the Higher Law” [1880]

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_, ch. 2 [1981]

To cure jealousy is to see it for what
it is, a dissatisfaction with self.
--Joan Didion (b. 1934)
American journalist and novelist.
"Jealousy: Is It a Curable Illness?", _Vogue_ [June 1961].

You must stir it and stump it,
And blow your own trumpet,
Or trust me, you haven't a chance.
--W. S. Gilbert (1836—1911)
English writer of comic and satirical verse.
"Ruddigore" [1887]

A man has to live with himself, and he should
see to it that he always has good company.
--Charles Evans Hughes (1862—1948)
American professor of law, politician, and Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court [1930—1941].
Address to New York Y.M.C.A.; quoted in _The Homiletic Review_ [November 1907].

For fear of what it might do to me, you never paid a
compliment, and when other people did, you beat it
away from me with a stick. 'He certainly is looking
nice and grown up.' He'd look a lot nicer if he did
something about his skin. 'That's wonderful that he
got that job.' Yeah, well, we'll see how long it lasts.
You trained me so well, I now perform this service
for myself. I deflect every kind word directed to
me, and my denials are much more extravagant than
the praise. 'Good speech.' Oh, it was way too long,
I didn't know what I was talking about, I was just
blathering on and on, I was glad when it was over.
I do this under the impression that it is humility,
a becoming quality in a person. Actually, I am
starved for a good word, but after the long drought
of my youth, no word is quite good enough. 'Good'
isn't enough. Under this thin veneer of modesty
lies a monster of greed. I drive away faint
praise, beating my little chest, waiting to be
named Sun-God, King of America, Idol of Millions,
Bringer of Fire, The Great Haji, Thun-Dar the
Boy Giant. I don't want to say, 'Thanks, glad
you liked it.' I want to say, 'Rise, my people.
Remove your faces from the carpet, stand,
look me in the face.'
--Garrison Keillor (1942— )
American writer and radio host.
_Lake Wobegon Days_ [1985]

A man who finds no satisfaction in
himself seeks for it in vain elsewhere.
--Franηois de La Rochefoucauld (1613—1680)
French classical author.
_Maxims and Moral Reflections_, # 442 [G. & C. Carvill, New York, 1835]

You must believe in yourself, my son, or no one
else will believe in you, Be self-confident, self-
reliant, and even if you don't make it, you will
know you have done your best. Now, go to it.
--Mary Hardy MacArthur,
advice to her son Douglas on the morning of
his West Point examination, quoted in
Douglas MacArthur _Reminiscences_ [1964].

Our mistreatment was just not right,
and I was tired of it.
(On her refusal [1 December 1955] to surrender her seat
on a segregated bus in Alabama to a white man.)
--Rosa Parks (1913—2005)
Figure in the American civil rights movement.

He fell in love with himself at first sight
and it is a passion to which he has always
remained faithful.
--Anthony Powell (1905—2000)
English novelist.
_The Acceptance World_ [1955]

A truly selfish man cannot be affected by
the approval of others. He doesn't need it.
--Ayn Rand (1905—1982)
Russian-born American writer.
_The Fountainhead_, ch. 11 [1943]

No one can make you feel inferior without
your consent.
--Eleanor Roosevelt (1884—1962)
American human rights activist, diplomat, and
wife of U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Quoted in "Vidette-Messenger" (Valparaiso, Indiana) [7 June 1941].

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].

Be very wary of opinions that flatter your self-esteem.
--Bertrand Russell (1872—1970)
British philosopher, mathematician, and Nobel laureate.
_An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish_ [1943]

It is easy — terribly easy — to shake a man's
faith in himself. To take advantage of that
to break a man's spirit is devil's work.
--George Bernard Shaw (1856—1950)
Irish comic dramatist, literary critic, Socialist
propagandist, and winner of the Nobel Prize
for Literature in 1925 [he didn't accept it.]
_Candida_ [1898]

I have often wished I had time to cultivate
modesty. . . But I am too busy thinking
about myself.
--Dame Edith Sitwell (1887—1964)
British poet and critic.
In "Observer" [30 April 1950].

Every act of conscious learning requires the
willingness to suffer an injury to one's self-
esteem. That is why young children, before
they are aware of their own self-importance,
learn so easily; and why older persons,
especially if vain or important, cannot
learn at all.
--Thomas Szasz (b. 1920)
American psychiatrist.
_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]

Hobbes: So the secret to good self-esteem is to lower your
expectations to the point where they’re already met?
--Bill Watterson (b. 1958)
American comics writer.
"Calvin & Hobbes"


end page



| SACRED PLACES - SANTA CLAUS | SARCASM - SCHOOL | SCIENCE - SCULPTURE | SEA (THE) - SEEING | SELF - SELF-ESTEEM | SELF-EXAMINATION - SEMANTICS | SENATE (THE U.S.) - SERIOUSNESS | SEX | SEX SYMBOLS - SHEEP | SHIPS - SHYNESS | SICKNESS - SILENCE | SILLINESS - SINGING | SINGLE-MINDEDNESS - SKY | SLANDER - SLAVERY | SLEEP - SMILES | SMOKING - SOCIETY | SOLDIERS - SOPHISTICATION | SORROW - SOUTH SEA | SPACE - SPAM | SPEECH | SPEECHES - SPENDTHRIFTS | SPIDERS - SPY | SPORTS & SPORTSMANSHIP | STAGE (THE) - STERILIZATION | STOCK MARKET - STRANGERS | STRENGTH - SUBURBS | SUCCESS | SUFFERING - SUMMER | SUN - SUPREME COURT | SURPRISE - SYSTEM (THE) |
| R | S | T | U - END |
| Return Home | The Credits | The Cast | Act 1 | Act 2 | Act 3 | The Reviews |
 
     



Copyright © 2012, someworthwhilequotes.com. All rights reserved.