CURATED COLLECTION

Knowing Yourself

The examined life begins with the hardest question of all — who, exactly, are you?

84 quotes found

“
To be invisible is to not exist. And yet, here I am.

—Manjula PadmanabhanAuthor & Playwright

Contemporary ERA • South Asia

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My life has been one long red thread of desire.

—Ikkyu SojunPoet

Medieval ERA • East Asia

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What is a self, if not a story told in a borrowed tongue?

—Meena AlexanderPoet & Memoirist

Late Modern ERA • South Asia

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To believe you are magnificent. And gradually to discover that you are not magnificent.

—Czesław MiłoszPoet, Novelist & Essayist

Post-War ERA • Eastern Europe

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The condition of native is a nervous condition.

—Tsitsi DangarembgaNovelist

Late Modern ERA • Southern Africa

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The world is full of people who are loved, but feel lonely.

—Alain de BottonAuthor & Philosopher

Contemporary ERA • Western Europe

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Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness.

—Nawal El SaadawiFeminist, Writer & Physician

Late Modern ERA • North Africa

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One cannot live in this world without being a little mad.

—Knut HamsunNovelist

Industrial Age ERA • Nordic

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Grief does not change you. It reveals you.

—Bessie HeadNovelist

Post-War ERA • Southern Africa

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There is no worse prison than the one carried within.

—Rosario FerréNovelist, Writer & Essayist

Post-War ERA • Caribbean

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Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark.

—Dante AlighieriPoet & Author

Medieval ERA • Southern Europe

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I want to be free even from myself.

—Julia de BurgosPoet & Activist

Early Modern ERA • Caribbean

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Loneliness does not come from having no people around, but from being unable to communicate important things.

—Carl JungPsychiatrist

Post-War ERA • Western Europe

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I write because I need to prove to myself that I exist.

—Victoria OcampoWriter & Intellectual

Early Modern ERA • Latin America

“
There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life.

—John LennonMusician & Activist

Post-War ERA • Western Europe

“
I'd rather be whole than good.

—Carl JungPsychiatrist

Post-War ERA • Western Europe

“
I feel like I'm standing in the middle of a bridge, and I can see both sides.

—Sandra CisnerosAuthor

Late Modern ERA • North America

“
Fear is a mirror; it shows us what we most deeply dread within ourselves.

—Amparo DávilaWriter

Post-War ERA • Latin America

“
Love is like a long journey. You leave and you don't return.

—Marguerite DurasNovelist

Post-War ERA • Western Europe

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The word 'happiness' does not have the same meaning for all people.

—Mariama BâNovelist & Feminist

Post-War ERA • West Africa

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