Self Knowledge Quotes - Page 6

The greater a child’s terror, and the earlier it is experienced, the harder it becomes to develop a strong and healthy sense of self.

Integrity is congruence between what you know, what you profess, and what you do.

There's no weakness as great as false strength.

Anyone who engages in the practice of psychotherapy confronts every day the devastation wrought by the teachings of religion.

In any culture, subculture, or family in which belief is valued above thought, and self-surrender is valued above self-expression, and conformity is valued above integrity, those who preserve their self-esteem are likely to be heroic exceptions.

One of the best ways of repressing emotions is artificial certainty.

The manic relief that comes from the fantasy that we can with one savage slash cut the chains of the past and rise like a phoenix, free of all history, is generally a tipping point into insanity, akin to believing that we can escape the endless constraints of gravity, and fly off a tall building. “I’m freeeee… SPLAT!”.

It is a mistake to look at someone who is self assertive and say, "It's easy for her, she has good self-esteem." One of the ways you build self-esteem is by being self-assertive when it is not easy to do so. There are always times when self-assertiveness requires courage, no matter how high your self-esteem.

The unconscious is the true accumulation of your history.
It can be accepted or rejected but it can't fundamentally be altered.

The purpose of the false self is to defend against pain - not deal with reality

Does it not occur to people that I might be artificial by nature?

Ideally a painter (and, generally, an artist) should not become conscious of his insights: without taking the detour through his conscious reflection, his progressive steps, mysterious even to himself, should enter so swiftly into the work that he is unable to recognize them in the moment of transition.

One is either an artist or one is not. It is not something one becomes. It is something that one is from birth. We do not study to be artists. We study to become more proficient. To understand more.

I had been born shoved to the margins of the world, sure, but I had volunteered for the pits.