#elf

And then I notice the music flooding out of every part of the apartment at once — the couch, the walls, even the floor — and I know Bennies alone in Lou’s studio, pouring music down around us. A minute ago it was “Don’t Let Me Down”. Then it was Blondie’s “Heart of Glass”. Now it’s Iggy Pop’s “The Passenger”. Listening, I think, You will never know how much I understand you. ↗

— Jennifer Egan

#understanding-oneself-and-others #music

I just want to be someone, to mean something to anyone… ↗

— Charlotte Eriksson

#confused #empty-roads-broken-bottles #finding-yourself #lost #lyrics

Inner guidance is heard like soft music in the night by those who have learned to listen. ↗

— Vernon Howard

#guidance #inner-guidance #listening #self-awareness #music

When a man is penalized for honesty he learns to lie. ↗

— Criss Jami

#honesty #human-nature #lying #man #penalize

Son, never trust a man who doesn’t drink because he’s probably a self-righteous sort, a man who thinks he knows right from wrong all the time. Some of them are good men, but in the name of goodness, they cause most of the suffering in the world. They’re the judges, the meddlers. And, son, never trust a man who drinks but refuses to get drunk. They’re usually afraid of something deep down inside, either that they’re a coward or a fool or mean and violent. You can’t trust a man who’s afraid of himself. But sometimes, son, you can trust a man who occasionally kneels before a toilet. The chances are that he is learning something about humility and his natural human foolishness, about how to survive himself. It’s damned hard for a man to take himself too seriously when he’s heaving his guts into a dirty toilet bowl. ↗

— James Crumley

#drinking #humility #morality #philosophy #self-righteousness

As you become more aligned with the truth of who you are, the question of liking yourself goes away. It is a natural state of being. ↗

— Rachel Andrews

#self-esteem #nature

We are not of what we feel or believe to do, we are of what we do or fail to do. ↗

— Judith McNaught

#self #self-improvement #nature

If you are stealing people's thunder just by being around and standing there; you really can't expect people to like you. People want their own thunder to be heard loud and wide, not yours! Swans should never despair over ducks not liking them. ↗

— C. JoyBell C.

#believe-in-yourself #ducks #envy #evil-envy #human-nature

Most people are far too much occupied with themselves to be malicious. ↗

— Friedrich Nietzsche

#malice #people #selfishness #nature

There comes a time when all that remains for us to do is to surrender to the idiosyncrasies of our nature. ↗

— Floriano Martins

#individuality #self #nature