#elf

A quest for self-respect is proof of its lack ↗

— Ayn Rand

#respect

In a sense who you are has always been a story that you told to yourself. Now your self is a story that you tell to others. ↗

— Geoff Ryman

#science-fiction #stories #the-self #writing #science

What's your name,' Coraline asked the cat. 'Look, I'm Coraline. Okay?' 'Cats don't have names,' it said. 'No?' said Coraline. 'No,' said the cat. 'Now you people have names. That's because you don't know who you are. We know who we are, so we don't need names. ↗

— Neil Gaiman

#names #self-knowledge #need

For the believer, humility is honesty about one's greatest flaws to a degree in which he is fearless about truly appearing less righteous than another. ↗

— Criss Jami

#christianity #fearless #flaws #honesty #humble

The only time we waste is the time we spend thinking we are alone. ↗

— Mitch Albom

#self-pity #alone

Father, today I fought with my friend.” Her father says: “Why did you fight with your friend?” “Because she insulted me, and I was angry.” “Why were you so angry?” “Because she lied about me.” (In some versions: “Because I was hurt by her words.”) “My daughter, did your friend’s words change who you are?” “No.” “Then do not be angry. The opinions of others cannot damage you. ↗

— Veronica Roth

#self-sufficiency #true #change

When we make friends then we change from being animals to being human. ↗

— Stephen Richards

#friendliness #friends #friendship #friendship-and-love #friendship-true-and-loyal

Discovering your worth and deciding who deserves a piece of you are all part of the same journey. One pathway allows you to find yourself and create yourself if you don't like it. The other pathway allows you to see who was there cheering you on the sidelines. From there you choose who to keep in your life. People will walk in and out in your life, some are meant to be there, others not so much. No matter what the case, you learn what is you want and deserve in yourself and others. ↗

— Theresa Tolentino

#honesty #life #love #people #self-awareness

Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. ↗

— Douglas Adams

#ground #how #learning #miss #throw

For as long as I could remember, I had been transparent to myself, unselfconscious, learning, doing, most of every day. Now I was in my own way; I myself was a dark object I could not ignore. I couldn't remember how to forget myself. I didn't want to think about myself, to reckon myself in, to deal with myself every livelong minute on top of everything else - but swerve as I might, I couldn't avoid it. I was a boulder blocking my own path. I was a dog barking between my own ears, a barking dog who wouldn't hush. So this was adolescence. Is this how the people around me had died on their feet - inevitably, helplessly? Perhaps their own selves eclipsed the sun for so many years the world shriveled around them, and when at least their inescapable orbits had passed through these dark egoistic years it was too late, they had adjusted. Must I then lose the world forever, that I had so loved? Was it all, the whole bright and various planet, where I had been so ardent about finding myself alive, only a passion peculiar to children, that I would outgrow even against my will? ↗

— Annie Dillard

#awakening #consciousness #selfconsciousness #love