Self-Discovery quotes
Welcome to the Self-Discovery quotes page! This category is dedicated to capturing the essence and wisdom of the journey of self-discovery. Self-discovery is a deeply personal and transformative process that allows us to delve into the depths of our being, uncovering our true selves and understanding what brings us joy, fulfillment, and purpose in life.
In this collection of quotes, you will find inspiration, guidance, and encouragement to embark on your own path of self-discovery. Whether you are seeking to understand your passions, uncover your strengths, or gain a deeper understanding of your values and beliefs, these quotes will resonate with your own unique journey. They have been carefully curated to offer insights into the complexities of self-discovery and the liberation that comes from embracing your authentic self.
Self-discovery is not a destination but a lifelong adventure, and these quotes remind us that it is never too late to embark on this transformative journey. From renowned philosophers and authors to spiritual leaders and everyday individuals, these voices from diverse backgrounds will guide you towards a greater understanding of yourself and unveil the beauty of self-discovery.
So take a moment, immerse yourself in these powerful words, and let them ignite the spark within you to embark on a journey of self-discovery. Explore this collection and discover the wisdom that lies within, inspiring you to embrace your true self and live a life of authenticity, purpose, and fulfillment.
Kathryn Stockett
— Novelist....I realized I actually had a choice in what I could believe.
Joyce Carol Oates
— AuthorI did not consider that I would lead a literary life. I'd thought initially, as a young girl, that I would be a teacher, since I so admired many of my teachers. And though I loved writing, I did not ever think of myself as a writer.
Jorge Luis Borges
— WriterAny life, however long and complicated it may be, actually consists of a single moment — the moment when a man knows forever more who he is.
Antonio Machado
— PoetTravelers, there is no path, paths are made by walking.
E. B. White
— Versatile Writer & Author of Beloved ClassicsOnce in everyone's life there is apt to be a period when he is fully awake, instead of half-asleep.
Rebecca Godfrey
— Intriguing Author & Investigative JournalistI saw this girl dancing, and I moved closer to her because I liked the way she looked, haughty and sexy but not in a slutty way, and when I got closer to her, I realized she was me and I was looking at my reflection in the mirror. I looked like the kind of girl I'd always wanted to befriend.
Diana Krall
— Acclaimed Jazz Vocalist & PianistBut the greatest thing about music is putting it out there for people to figure out. You want the listener to find the song on their own. If you give too much away, it takes away from the imagination.
Russell Hoban
— Versatile Author & Creative StorytellerAn idea is an eye given by God for the seeing of God. Some of these eyes we cannot bear to look out of; we blind them as quickly as possible.
D.T. Suzuki
— Pioneer of Zen Buddhism in the WestUnless it grows out of yourself no knowledge is really yours, it is only borrowed plumage.
Peter Deunov
— Spiritual Teacher & PhilosopherDo not look for happiness outside yourself. The awakened seek happiness inside.
Harvey Mackay
— Business Guru & Motivational SpeakerA mediocre person tells. A good person explains. A superior person demonstrates. A great person inspires others to see for themselves.
Daniel Craig
— Iconic James Bond ActorIf I was being perfectly honest, which I'm not going to be, I think the movie touches on a lot of things that we all went through... the first kiss, which was more than a first kiss for Harry [Eden], and those electrifying moments when you're a teenager that form who you are as a human being. I think those, for me, are what Baillie captured so well.
M. F. K. Fisher
— Pioneering Food WriterIt is all a question of weeding out what you yourself like best to do, so that you can live most agreeably in a world full of an increasing number of disagreeable surprises.
Ricky Martin
— MusicianFor many years I thought I was bisexual. And then I would ask myself, 'What is bisexual? Does that even exist?'
Timothy Leary
— American psychologist and authorThe aim of human life is to know thyself. Think for yourself. Question authority. Think with your friends. Create, create new realities. Philosophy is a team sport. Philosophy is the ultimate, the ultimate aphrodisiac pleasure. Learning how to operate your brain, learning how to operate your mind, learning how to redesign chaos
Aisha Tyler
— American actress, comedian, director, and talk show hostI'm just going to be the best version of me that I could possibly be and be as funny as I possibly can. I've just got to be myself and hopefully people will find me. And my audience did find me.
Neil Patrick Harris
— American actor, singer, writer, producer, and television hostIt's really something for people who are approaching 30 to take a look at what that means to them. I think turning 30 is a chance to re-identify with yourself.
Will Ferrell
— American actor, comedian, producer, and writerI don't know about living on an automatic pilot, but I've had times where I've decided to just test myself and my mettle, and for no good reason other than it's what life is. Even before I was acting, I had, like, one day in high school I decided to just show them my pajamas, just for no good reason.
Reba McEntire
— American country music singer, actress and businesswomanI have learned a lot about myself and come to deal with a lot of things that, at first, bothered me.
Craig Stone
— English footballerThe question should be who do we want to be when we grow up, not what.
Niecy Nash
— American actress, comedian and television hostI was always funny, but I didn't know being funny was a gift.
Ken Page
— American actor and cabaret singerOur deepest wounds surround our greatest gifts.
Eli Roth
— American film director, producer, and actorI want an iPhone 5, someone said something nasty on twitter, or my boyfriend isn't texting me back, like whatever the thing is that seems so major in your life, when a real disaster hits you suddenly strips it all away and you see what's really important and who you really are.
Adrienne Rich
— American PoetA thinking woman sleeps with monsters.
Alia Bhatt
— British ActressAs actors, we are always playing other characters. It's so exhausting and time consuming to figure them out, so when you get the time to be yourself, you should take it.
Alan Alda
— American ActorYou can't get there by bus, only by hard work and risk and by not quite knowing what you're doing. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover will be yourself.
Al Roker
— American EntertainerAlways be yourself. At the end of the day, that's all you've really got; when you strip everything down, that's all you've got, so always be yourself.
Ada Hegerberg
— Norwegian AthleteI know what I want and know my values, and therefore, it's easy to take hard choices when you know what the ambitions are and what values you stand for, so it's all about staying true to yourself, be yourself.
Kathryn Stockett
— NovelistI haven’t had the chance to look at too many men’s faces up close. And I noticed how his skin was thicker than mine, and a gorgeous shade of toast. The stiff blond hairs on his cheeks and chin seemed to be growing before my eyes. He smelled like starch. Like pine. His nose wasn’t so pointy afterall. …And out of the blue, he kissed me. Right in the middle of the Robert E. Lee Hotel Restaurant, he kissed me so slowly with an open mouth and every single thing in my body-my skin, my collarbone, the hollow backs of my knees, everything inside of me filled up with light.
Joyce Carol Oates
— AuthorLater, her first intense, serious love affair, yes then she'd lost something more tangible, if undefinable: her heart? her independence? her control of, definition of, self? That first true loss, the furious bafflement of it. And never again quite so assured, confident.
Jorge Luis Borges
— WriterI, who have been so many men in vain, want to be one man, myself alone. From out of a whirlwind the voice of God replied: I am not, either. I dreamed the world the way you dreamed your work, my Shakespeare: one of the forms of my dream was you, who, like me, are many and one.
Antonio Machado
— PoetTraveler, there is no path, the path must be
forged as you walk.
Diana Krall
— Acclaimed Jazz Vocalist & PianistI'm not really on a mission to tell anybody anything. I'd rather be figured out.
D.T. Suzuki
— Pioneer of Zen Buddhism in the WestIf you have attained something, this is the surest proof that you have gone astray. Therefore, not to have is to have, silence is thunder, ignorance is enlightenment.
Peter Deunov
— Spiritual Teacher & PhilosopherA person is able to understand only when he solves the problem by himself.
Daniel Craig
— Iconic James Bond ActorI have never played a role in which someone's dark side shouldn't be explored.
M. F. K. Fisher
— Pioneering Food WriterIt was there [Dijon], I now understand, that I started to grow up, to study, to make love, to eat and drink, to be me and not what I was expected to be. It was there that I learned it is blessed to receive, as well as that every human being, no matter how base, is worthy of my respect and even my envy because he knows something that I may never be old or wise or kind or tender enough to know.
Timothy Leary
— American psychologist and authorMy favorite three words in the English language are: ’I don’t know’, because every time I say them, I learn something new.
Will Ferrell
— American actor, comedian, producer, and writerBy the time I was ready for college, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I think I secretly wanted a show business career, but I was suppressing it.
Reba McEntire
— American country music singer, actress and businesswomanI use all my skills that I can muster up, but the fun thing is that I find some untapped skills every once in a while. I get that from my daddy.
Craig Stone
— English footballerWhen someone falls asleep on your chest, but the one really falling is you.
Kathryn Stockett
— NovelistTruth. It feels cool, like water washing over my sticky-hot body. Cooling a heat that's been burning me up all my life. Truth, I say inside my head again, just for that feeling.
Joyce Carol Oates
— AuthorNone of the rest of my life figures here.
Jorge Luis Borges
— WriterA man sets out to draw the world. As the years go by, he peoples a space with images of provinces, kingdoms, mountains, bays, ships, islands, fishes, rooms, instruments, stars, horses, and individuals. A short time before he dies, he discovers that the patient labyrinth of lines traces the lineaments of his own face.
Antonio Machado
— PoetWhat the poet is searching for
is not the fundamental I
but the deep you.
D.T. Suzuki
— Pioneer of Zen Buddhism in the WestBecause since the beginningless past we are running after objects, not knowing where our Self is, we lose track of the Original Mind and are tormented all the time by the threatening objective world, regarding it as good or bad, true or false, agreeable or disagreeable. We are thus slaves of things and circumstances.
Peter Deunov
— Spiritual Teacher & PhilosopherWhat sort of love is permeated by jealousy? You are jealous because you are unaware that everything you need is inside you.
M. F. K. Fisher
— Pioneering Food WriterI cannot count the good people I know who to my mind would be even better if they bent their spirits to the study of their own hungers.
Timothy Leary
— American psychologist and authorWhen you get the message, hang up the phone.
Reba McEntire
— American country music singer, actress and businesswomanHow was I to know that I'd be ok? I thought I'd lose it all when you walked away. How was I to know that I'd be this strong? I had what it takes all along. How was I to know?
Craig Stone
— English footballerNobody has to do anything wrong to end up living a life that feels like it’s not their own, all they have to do is take a step back, and hope for the best.
Joyce Carol Oates
— AuthorI'm nobody's daughter now. I'm through with that.
Jorge Luis Borges
— WriterA man sets himself the task of portraying the world. Shortly before he dies he discovers that this patient labyrinth of lines is a drawing of his own face.
Antonio Machado
— PoetXXIX Traveler, there is no path. The path is made by walking. Traveller, the path is your tracks And nothing more. Traveller, there is no path The path is made by walking. By walking you make a path And turning, you look back At a way you will never tread again Traveller, there is no road Only wakes in the sea.
D.T. Suzuki
— Pioneer of Zen Buddhism in the WestWe can see unmistakeably that there is an inner relationship between Zen and the warrior's life.
Timothy Leary
— American psychologist and authorDrop Out--detach yourself from the external social drama which is as dehydrated and ersatz as TV. Turn On--find a sacrament which returns you to the temple of God, your own body. Go out of your mind. Get high. Tune In--be reborn. Drop back in to express it. Start a new sequence of behavior that reflects your vision.
Joyce Carol Oates
— AuthorIt's where we go, and what we do when we get there, that tells us who we really are.
Antonio Machado
— PoetWanderer, your footsteps are the road, and nothing more; wanderer, there is no road, the road is made by walking. By walking one makes the road, and upon glancing behind one sees the path. . .
D.T. Suzuki
— Pioneer of Zen Buddhism in the WestUnless we die to ourselves, we can never be alive again.
Timothy Leary
— American psychologist and authorOne cannot understand the rhythms and meanings of the outer world until one has mastered the dialects of the body.
Joyce Carol Oates
— AuthorIs there any mystery like who you finally turn out to be.
Antonio Machado
— PoetLast night as I was sleeping, I dreamt - marvellous error! - That it was God I had here inside my heart.
D.T. Suzuki
— Pioneer of Zen Buddhism in the WestWe teach ourselves; Zen merely points the way.
Joyce Carol Oates
— AuthorI never really knew I wanted to 'be' a writer, but I was always writing from a very young age. It became more conscious as an ideal when I was in my twenties.
Antonio Machado
— PoetI. Don't trace out your profile-- forget your side view-- all that is outer stuff. II. Look for your other half who walks always next to you and tends to be who you aren't.
D.T. Suzuki
— Pioneer of Zen Buddhism in the WestIf I am asked If I am asked, then, what Zen teaches, I would answer, Zen teaches nothing. Whatever teachings there are in Zen, they come out of one's own mind. We teach ourselves; Zen merely points the way.
Antonio Machado
— PoetThere is no way; we make the road by walking it.
Antonio Machado
— PoetThere is no road, the road is made by walking.
Antonio Machado
— PoetWayfarer, the only way is your footsteps, there is no other. Wayfarer, there is no way, you make the way as you go. As you go, you make the way and stopping to look behind, you see the path that your feet will never travel again. Wayfarer, there is no way- Only foam trails to the sea.
Antonio Machado
— PoetPathmaker, there is no path;
You make the path by walking,
By walking you make the Path
Antonio Machado
— PoetBy walking one makes the road, and upon glancing behind sees the path