223 Curated Quotes About Self-Discovery to Ponder and Share

Don’t look back -- you’re not going that way.

True self-discovery begins where your comfort zone ends.

Always be a first rate version of yourself and not a second rate version of someone else.

It is the individual who knows how little they know about themselves who stands the most reasonable chance of finding out something about themselves before they die.

We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing some of our own skin.

First find the man in yourself if you will inspire manliness in others.

Forgive many things in others; nothing in yourself.

The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.

How is it that little children are so intelligent and men so stupid? It must be education that does it.

We have to wake up. We have to refuse to be a clone.

Be faithful to that which exists within yourself.

The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere.

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

It is the mystery of the creative act that something other than our conscious self takes over.

If I have been of service, if I have glimpsed more of the nature and essence of ultimate good, if I am inspired to reach wider horizons of thought and action, if I am at peace with myself, it has been a successful day.

He that composes himself is wiser than he that composes a book.

Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.

To be one, to be united is a great thing. But to respect the right to be different is maybe even greater.

You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.

Take no thought of who is right or wrong or who is better than. Be not for or against.

The greatest self is a peaceful smile, that always sees the world smiling back.

Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.

What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.

The time when most of you should withdraw into yourself is when you are forced to be in a crowd.

The more you know yourself, the more patience you have for what you see in others.

All serious daring starts from within.

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.

Whoever despises himself nonetheless respects himself as one who despises.

When a hundred men stand together, each of them loses his mind and gets another one.

You just have to be yourself and go full with confidence and be courageous.

Beware of the man who does not return your blow: he neither forgives you nor allows you to forgive yourself.

Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness.

Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the purpose of instruction. No, read in order to live.

To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.

Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.

It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.

Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is.

For true success ask yourself these four questions: Why? Why not? Why not me? Why not now?

Cheating in school is a form of self-deception. We go to school to learn. We cheat ourselves when we coast on the efforts and scholarship of someone else.

We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be.

Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.

A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.

Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen.

If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise.

The self is not something ready-made, but something in continuous formation through choice of action.

Education begins the gentleman, but reading, good company and reflection must finish him.

The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.

I trust no one, not even myself.

You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.

Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.

Love who you are, embrace who you are. Love yourself. When you love yourself, people can kind of pick up on that: they can see confidence, they can see self-esteem, and naturally, people gravitate towards you.

We are all selfish and I no more trust myself than others with a good motive.

You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

Your self-worth has nothing to do with your craft or calling, and everything to do with how you treat yourself.

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.

Adapt yourself to the things among which your lot has been cast and love sincerely the fellow creatures with whom destiny has ordained that you shall live.

If you have no confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life.

Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and important, although difficult, is the highroad to pride, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction.

I have feelings too. I am still human. All I want is to be loved, for myself and for my talent.

If you make friends with yourself you will never be alone.

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.

I respect myself and insist upon it from everybody. And because I do it, I then respect everybody, too.

You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.

Lend yourself to others, but give yourself to yourself.

Not being able to govern events, I govern myself.

A wise man never loses anything, if he has himself.

I care not so much what I am to others as what I am to myself. I will be rich by myself, and not by borrowing.

The best way to sell yourself to others is first to sell the others to yourself.

Do not speak of your happiness to one less fortunate than yourself.

Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.

Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.

The keys to patience are acceptance and faith. Accept things as they are, and look realistically at the world around you. Have faith in yourself and in the direction you have chosen.

Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power.

A friend is a gift you give yourself.

Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.

Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.

Be gentle to all and stern with yourself.

If you have three people in your life that you can trust, you can consider yourself the luckiest person in the whole world.

The unexamined life is not worth living.

If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.

When you do something, you should burn yourself up completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.

One was a book I read by Mahatma Gandhi. In it was a passage where he said that religion, the pursuing of the inner journey, should not be separated from the pursuing of the outer and social journey, because we are not isolated beings.

Make yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure there is one less rascal in the world.

The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.

The more you like yourself, the less you are like anyone else, which makes you unique.

I celebrate myself, and sing myself.

To make mistakes is human; to stumble is commonplace; to be able to laugh at yourself is maturity.

I wanted to start a revolution, using art to build the sort of society I myself envisioned.

Envy is an insult to oneself.

Self-respect is the cornerstone of all virtue.

The most loving parents and relatives commit murder with smiles on their faces. They force us to destroy the person we really are: a subtle kind of murder.

Study the past if you would define the future.

Self-control is strength. Right thought is mastery. Calmness is power.

Man conquers the world by conquering himself.

There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.

Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.

Never apologize for being yourself.

The imitator dooms himself to hopeless mediocrity.

This above all: to thine own self be true.

My philosophy is: It's none of my business what people say of me and think of me. I am what I am and I do what I do. I expect nothing and accept everything. And it makes life so much easier.

Become who you are.

Our own life has to be our message.

Believe in yourself and you will be unstoppable.

You must always be prepared to place a bet on yourself, on your future, by heading in a direction that others seem to fear.

Only dead fish go with the flow.

Be the person your dog thinks you are.

As we go through life we gradually discover who we are, but the more we discover, the more we lose ourselves.

Remember: no attachment should grow, no clinging should grow. They are all against your independence, your freedom, your individuality.

I wanted to become me, totally me. The more me, the better. I instinctively knew this and I was right.

Everybody is identical in their secret unspoken belief that way deep down they are different from everyone else.

As much as I live I shall not imitate them or hate myself for being different to them.

A flower does not think of competing to the flower next to it. It just blooms.

The worst curse to befall anyone is stagnation, a banal existence, the quiet desperation that comes out of a need for conformity.

We deal with our mind from morning till evening, and it can be our best friend or our worst enemy.

A man who loves himself takes the first step towards real love.

If you foolishly ignore beauty, then you will soon find yourself without it.

Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.

The beauty you see in me is a reflection of you.

When people appear to be something other than good and decent, it is only because they are reacting to stress, pain, or the deprivation of basic human needs such as security, love, and self-esteem.

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.

I think the reward for conformity is that everyone likes you except yourself.

Step into the fire of self-discovery. This fire will not burn you, it will only burn what you are not.

You cannot change what you are, only what you do.

The quieter you become, the more you can hear.

The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence.

Progress is not achieved by luck or accident, but by working on yourself daily.

All types of knowledge, ultimately mean self knowledge.

I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.

Self-knowledge is no guarantee of happiness, but it is on the side of happiness and can supply the courage to fight for it.

Do something today that your future self will thank you for.

I have been and still am a seeker, but I have ceased to question stars and books; I have begun to listen to the teaching my blood whispers to me.

A year from now you will wish you had started today.

We established most of our self-beliefs during our childhood, but they were based on our limited understanding of the world around us. They are either flawed or have become outdated. We can't take these beliefs at face value anymore.

I find the best way to love someone is not to change them, but instead, help them reveal the greatest version of themselves.

When I was a child my mother said to me, ‘If you become a soldier, you'll be a general. If you become a monk, you'll be the pope.' Instead I became a painter and wound up as Picasso.

Follow your own star!

You are not a bad person because you are gay. You are you because you are you and you were meant to be you so be you proudly.

To shine your brightest light is to be who you truly are.

Why fit in when you were born to stand out?

People who fit don't seek. The seekers are those that don't fit.

Be who you are, and find yourself so you can be your own person and enjoy life with no regret.

Your real self may be hiding somewhere, look for it within, when you find yourself, you can freely be what you want to be.

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes but in having new eyes.

I think somehow we learn who we really are and then we live with that decision.

Man never knows what he wants; he aspires to penetrate mysteries and as soon as he has, he wants to reestablish them. Ignorance irritates him and knowledge cloys.

Becoming conscious is of course a sacrilege against nature; it is as though you had robbed the unconscious of something.

Find out who you are and do it on purpose.

I can last two months on a good compliment.

Our time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.

Sometimes we must lose ourselves to find ourselves.

The only journey is the journey within.

Be not afraid of being called un-fashionable.

Self-development is a higher duty than self-sacrifice.

One trend I see is the rejection of growth for self-discovery and the pursuit of authentic community. So we keep whittling our spiritual community to a smaller and smaller and more exclusive inner circle. The problem is if the diagnoses are wrong, so will be the cure.

I went to a motivational training course once, a course of self-discovery, and I found out after a week that my fear -- it was not a fear of not being accepted -- was a very violent fear of failure.

The delights of self-discovery are always available.

Every person above the ordinary has a certain mission that they are called to fulfill.

The greatest explorer on this earth never takes voyages as long as those of the man who descends to the depth of his heart.

If you can go through life without experiencing pain you probably haven't been born yet.

Nothing is so common-place as to wish to be remarkable.

A certain number of people seek power over other people in a desperate attempt to find themselves. They fail, for self-discovery is spiritual in nature, not social or political. Authoritatively telling other people what to do is their distraction from an inner emptiness they can never fill.

Begin challenging your own assumptions. Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in awhile, or the light won't come in.

Self-observation is the first step of inner unfolding.

If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place. Primary reality is within; secondary reality without.

Someone's opinion of you does not have to become your reality.

A wise man travels to discover himself.

There is no satisfaction that can compare with looking back across the years and finding you've grown in self-control, judgment, generosity, and unselfishness.

Maybe you have to live under cover for a while before you can find your true character.

We shall never learn to feel and respect our real calling and destiny, unless we have taught ourselves to consider every thing as moonshine, compared with the education of the heart.

You don't realize -- the great thing about change is how quickly we get used to it. So I'm not complaining. the more things change,the more they don't stay the same. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. They might not change everywhere all at once -- but there are moments when the impossible becomes the inevitable, and the rest is just a matter of time.

Put away the book, the description, the tradition, the authority, and take the journey of self-discovery.

A period of darkness is essential in order to expand personal awareness. Experiencing sadness and loss makes a person appreciative of life, more tenderhearted, and open to living life as an ecstatic journey of discovery.

A person must find the courage to live a complete and full life. We learn to live when we stop being afraid and by engaging in critical analysis of our own thoughts, motives, emotions, and behavior. A tolerant person who lives without fear extends charity to the entire world. Courage always precedes an act of human grace, which expresses the luminosity of the human soul.

This is the journey of your life. Don't try to explain it to others, because only you can see it.

The journey to a peaceful and blessed life begins when you take 100 percent responsibility for your life instead of blaming others.

The journey of life is not about the destination but about exploration.

Why do mythological heroes of past civilizations have a thousand faces? Is it because each one of us takes a heroic journey of self-discovery?

Everyone has a ticket to wherever they want to go. All they have to do is know where they are going. If you don't know where you're going, you can't go where you want. That's the ticket.

When we get distracted with someone else's goals, we get off track with our own higher purpose. And then there's a definite disconnect from our soul. Who has time for that?

The journey we're on is as vast and sacred as the stars in the night sky.

It is not how much you love someone, but who you are when you are with him.

I believe that self-discovery is an ongoing thing.

I'm an interior designer from the soul. It's not about just putting things in a room. It's much deeper and broader. It's about self-discovery.

I faced a certain amount of violence. It taught me that I had to learn to protect myself -- and it made me stronger. It could have made me step backwards with my self-discovery. Instead, it pushed me further.

It's important to let kids be themselves and to let them make mistakes. Self-discovery goes a long way.

I believe the arts are the best way to help people go on a journey of self-discovery toward their own compassion and empathy for humanity and themselves.

Be magic choose and believe that you can do anything you set your mind to believe. We are who we choose to be.

No man can teach another self-knowledge. He can only lead him or her up to self-discovery -- the source of truth.

Strive to close the eyes of the body and open those of the soul and look into your own heart.

In order to judge properly, one must get away somewhat from what one is judging, after having loved it. This is true of countries, of persons, and of oneself.

We discover in ourselves what others hide from us and we recognize in others what we hide from ourselves.

Each man's life represents a road toward himself.

If you aren't sure who you are, you might as well work on who you want to be.

No man remains quite what he was when he recognizes himself.

What is important in self-discovery is the person who keeps going, who has a smile, who is kind to others, who works hard at everything, and who keeps their mind on their own business and not everybody else's.

You've got to know yourself so you can at last be yourself.

All education is self-discovery.

One must know one's own secret.

If you would find gold, you must search where gold is.

Honor your seeing... digest your seeing... otherwise it becomes just another thing you file away in the mind's department of philosophy...you're here for much more than knowledge...you are here for self-discovery.

I am Western and I see no need or reason to change that. The Western lifestyle has many things to offer, as do the Eastern methods of self discovery. I think blending the two is very desirable.

Souls have different journeys. The best thing to know is, not what everybody else does, but what you do. Self-discovery essentially is finding your own dharma, your own rhythm.

You'll never be able to find yourself if you're lost in someone else.

You find out who you are by figuring out who and what you're not.

Funny, how it took a little bit of pain to remember that certain parts of yourself were alive.

In suffering we find our truest selves.

And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic nor popular -- but one must take it because it is right.

A journey is a gesture inscribed in space, it vanishes even as it's made. You go from one place to another place, and on to somewhere else again, and already behind you there is no trace that you were ever there.

Here is the truth about self-discovery: it is never without cost.

Gratification comes when you help someone else.

Sometimes a journey is not about the traveler. It is not about a destination. It is about the bringing together of worlds. It is about lighting a path.

We have stories to tell, stories that provide wisdom about the journey of life. What more have we to give one another than our 'truth' about our human adventure as honestly and as openly as we know how?

People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself. But the self is not something that one finds. It is something that one creates.

What you discover on your own is always more exciting than what someone else discovers for you-it's like the marriage between romantic love and an arranged marriage.

The more one forgives himself-by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love-the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself.

It is wisdom to know others; It is enlightenment to know one's self.

We all make mistakes, have struggles, and even regret things in our past. But you are not your mistakes, you are not your struggles, and you are here now with the power to shape your day and your future.

It's OK if you mess up, that's how you get wiser. Give yourself a break. And don't give up! Good things take time, and you're getting there.

No one has ever learned fully to know themselves.

Because that's the thing about mean people: They make you think that the world will never work, that there are divides that you will fall into if you approach. It takes a whole lot of good people to fill in the breach created by a single mean one.

Be Yourself. Life is precious as it is. All the elements for your happiness are already here. There is no need to run, strive, search, or struggle. Just Be.