Self Reflection Quotes

“The written word
Like a stone pillar
May last for centuries
Even if its meaning is forgotten.”
― Jack Borden

“Those who can self-reflect are able to change a little just by reading one book. Even those who can't - I believe that if they keep stimulating themselves by reading, one day they'll be able to reflect on themselves”
― Hwang Bo-Reum, Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop

“Hatred, as we’ve seen from Auschwitz, doesn’t pop up overnight, it starts with indifference. Our commitment to fighting it should go beyond just opposing big acts of discrimination, it’s also about breaking down the subtle biases that exist in our everyday lives. This involves self-reflection and a willingness to challenge our own prejudices. It also means fostering environments where open dialogue and mutual respect are encouraged.”
― Manit Dani, The Last Ride : Journey to Auschwitz-Birkenau

“Everything in my life unravels, thread by thread, yet I smile as if I'm weaving a masterpiece. I wait patiently for the day when all of it—my triumphs, my failures, even my name—dissolves into nothing, as if none of it ever mattered at all.”
― Jonathan Harnisch, Second Alibi: The Banality of Life

“It is important to know when to tune out of people, and when to tune into yourself.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson, Stamerenophobia

“The mirror reflects only the surface; to see the soul, close your eyes.”
― David Maze, If Nietzsche Wrote Meditations: Think Fight Club Vibes for The Self-Improvement Fanatic.

“I used to be frightened of wounds, but those scars made me who I am.”
― Sahul Hameed

“You are a manifestation of the stories you tell yourself. So, make sure to tell better ones.”
― Sayem Sarkar

“The years you will spend on being a child reflecting and correcting your mistakes is not up to the years you will spend as an adult looking for solution to the past you failed to correct.”
― Olabisi Okunnu-Adeyanju

“The first tenet of self-reflection through meditation is solitude.”
― Milan Kordestani, I'm Just Saying: A Guide to Maintaining Civil Discourse in an Increasingly Divided World

“Sometimes I think of all the things I am good at, I am the very best at breaking my own damn heart. ⁣⠀”
― Jeanette LeBlanc

“Once we become our own ghosts,
we constantly ask how we died
and who ultimately killed us—

we never recall the moment
when everything turned against us,
how we drowned in the demands of life.

Like someone waking from a dream,
suddenly wary-eyed and cold,
we finally remember that we

haunted others and fled our own souls
by imitating their lives nearly perfectly,
yet death eventually caught up with us.

Somehow, we ask ourselves
where everyone else has gone and how
nothing ever escaped the mind we now possess.”
― Laura Chouette

“People mess up. We lie, exaggerate, betray, hurt, and abandon each other. When we hear that this has happened, it makes sense to feel anger, pain, confusion, and sadness. But to move immediately to punishment means that we stay on the surface of what has happened.

To transform the conditions of the "wrongdoing", we have to ask ourselves and each other, "Why?"

Even--especially--when we are scared of the answer.

It's easy to decide a person or group is shady, evil, psychopathic. The hard truth (hard because there's no quick fix) is that long-term injustice creates most evil behavior. The percentage of psychopaths in the world is just not high enough to justify the ease with which we assign that condition to others.

In my mediations, "why?" is often the game-changing, possibility-opening question. That's because the answers rehumanize those we feel are perpetuating against us. "Why?" often leads us to grief, abuse, trauma, mental illness, difference, socialization, childhood, scarcity, loneliness.

Also, "Why?" makes it impossible to ignore that we might be capable of a similar transgression in similar circumstances.

We don't want to see that.”
― Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

“Why could he not retrain his thoughts and be a different sort of man, free of the darkness in the pit of his soul? Let the seed wither. Let the bat fly away. Why could he not root it out once and for all?”
― Cristina Henríquez, The Great Divide

“When the voices in your head keep you awake, and you can't silence them, you just have to find more noise to help you fall asleep.”
― Ika Natassa

“Why are you looking at that White boy? My father’s voice in my head made me blink and look away.”
― Scarlet Ibis James, Scarlet Yearnings: Stories of Love and Desire

“For the rest of us, self-directed speech can allow us to obtain different perspectives on ourselves and some critical distance from what we are doing.”
― Charles Fernyhough, The Voices Within

“When our eyes meet the world, and our minds weave stories within it, we are not merely observers but artists painting our fleeting masterpiece of existence. Embrace the brushstrokes of each moment, for life is a canvas meant to be cherished, not just viewed.”
― Jonathan Harnisch, Living Colorful Beauty

“Instead of denying a past that was like a nightmare I lived, it seemed more sensible to me to confront it and, if possible, make peace with it.”
― Aytekin Yılmaz, Yoldaşını Öldürmek

“I had learned how valuable it is to step out and look at what you have experienced from the outside.”
― Aytekin Yılmaz, Yoldaşını Öldürmek

“Gazing at the lake’s surface,
a heron’s wings stir quiet waves..
Splintered stars tremble below,
while the sky, unbroken above,
holds its still and endless expanse.”
― Monika Ajay Kaul

“It’s odd,” the Warrior of the Light says to himself. “I have met so many people who, at the first opportunity, try to show their very worst qualities. They hide their inner strength behind aggression and hide their fear of loneliness behind an air of independence. They do not believe in their own abilities, but are constantly trumpeting their virtues.”

A warrior reads these messages in many of the men and women he meets. He is never taken in by appearances and makes a point of remaining silent when people try to impress him. He uses these occasions to correct his own faults, for other people make an excellent mirror. A Warrior takes every opportunity to teach himself.”
― Paolo Coelho

“It’s odd,” the Warrior of the Light says to himself. “I have met so many people who, at the first opportunity, try to show their very worst qualities. They hide their inner strength behind aggression and hide their fear of loneliness behind an air of independence. They do not believe in their own abilities, but are constantly trumpeting their virtues.”

A warrior reads these messages in many of the men and women he meets. He is never taken in by appearances and makes a point of remaining silent when people try to impress him. He uses these occasions to correct his own faults, for other people make an excellent mirror.

A Warrior takes every opportunity to teach himself.”
― Paolo Coelho

“It's odd," the Warrior of the Light says to himself. "I have met so many people who, at the first opportunity, try to show their very worst qualities. They hide their inner strength behind aggression and hide their fear of loneliness behind an air of independence. They do no believe in their own abilities, but are constantly trumpeting their virtues."

A warrior reads these messages in many of the men and women he meets. He is never taken in by appearances and makes a point of remaining silent when people try to impress him. He uses these occasions to correct his own faults, for other people make an excellent mirror.

A Warrior takes every opportunity to teach himself.”
― Paulo Coelho, Warrior of the Light

“You are the ghost of your own making.”
― Madi Fiely

“When you pause and reflect, you realize that every challenge has been shaping you into who you’re meant to be.”
― Brenda Mapane, Awareness: Reclaim Your Eternal Essence, Your True Essence

“The chains you wear are the ones you forged yourself; only you hold the key to your freedom.”
― David Maze, If Nietzsche Wrote Meditations: Think Fight Club Vibes for The Self-Improvement Fanatic.

“I make a conscious decision to accept my limitations, no longer wishing to be anything other than what I am at this particular moment.”
― Audrey Szasz

“Hope is both a spark and a flame. A spark to ignite change and a flame to sustain it. Yet in its light, we must confront the darkness within ourselves, for only then can we truly illuminate the path to peace.”
― Pierre Lagrenat

“Trust the journey--it always knows the way.”
― Julie Tomlinson, 365 Days of Becoming