SELF-KNOWLEDGE

Related Subjects: Conscience, Humility

1. Oh wad some power the giftie gie us
   To see oursels as others see us!
   It wad frae monie a blunder free us,
   An' foolish notion.—BURNS, To a Louse
   

2. He that knows himself, knows others; and he that is ignorant of himself, could not write a very profound lecture on other men's heads.—C. C. COLTON
   

3. We that acquaint ourselves with ev'ry zone,
   And pass both topics, and behold each pole,
   When we come home are to ourselves unknown,
   And unacquainted still with our own soul.—SIR JOHN DAVIES, The Vanity of Human Learning
   

4. When Thales was asked what was difficult, he said, "To know one's self." And what was easy, "To advise another."—DIOGENES LAERTIUS, Thales
   

5. Nothing will make us so charitable and tender to the faults of others, as, by self-examination, thoroughly to know our own.—FENELON
   

6. Self-knowledge is best learned, not by contemplation, but action. Strive to do your duty, and you will soon discover of what stuff you are made.—GOETHE
   

7. An humble knowledge of thyself is a surer way to God than a deep search after learning.—THOMAS A KEMPIS, Of the Imitation of Christ
   

8. The highest and most profitable learning is the knowledge of ourselves. To have a low opinion of our own merits, and to think highly of others, is an evidence of wisdom. All men are frail, but thou shouldst reckon none so frail as thyself.—THOMAS A KEMPIS, Of the Imitation of Christ
   

9. One does not know—cannot know—the best that is in one.—NIETZSCHE, Beyond Good and Evil
   

10. Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;
    The proper study of mankind is man.—POPE, Essay on Man
    

11. He who knows himself best esteems himself least.—Proverb
    

12. Every man is best known to himself.—Proverb
    

13. The height of all philosophy is to know thyself; and the end of this knowledge is to know God. Know thyself, that thou mayest know God; and know God, that thou mayest love him and be like him. In the one thou art initiated into wisdom; and in the other perfected in it.—FRANCIS QUARLES
    

14. Learn God, and thou shalt know thyself.—MARTIN F. TUPPER
    

15. Search thine own heart. What paineth thee
    In others in thyself may be.—WHITTIER, The Chapel of the Hermits
    

16. There is a luxury in self-dispraise;
    And inward self-disparagement affords
    To meditative spleen a grateful feast.—WORDSWORTH, The Excursion