Top 100 Quotes About Introspection
#1. We learn about life by exploring the texture and depth of space that composes our private inner world. In solitude we revisit our wounded feelings, sins, doubts, and deepest despair, replay poignant memories of loved ones, project what we are becoming, and ascertain the purpose of our being.
Kilroy J. Oldster
#2. [T]his is the strongest encouragement to them in sinning; and we have need to lay all our batteries against this bulwark of presumption (361).
Richard Baxter
#3. As a professional athlete and someone who has spent almost his entire life in boxing, not a day goes by when I don't think about coming back, but I am retired, and after speaking to my family and following a great deal of introspection, I have decided to stay retired.
Oscar De La Hoya
#4. The attempt at introspective analysis ... is in fact like seizing a spinning top to catch its motion, or trying to turn up the gas quickly enough to see the darkness.
William James
#5. There were silences in my head. I could abandon myself completely to the pleasure of multiple relationships, to the beauty of the day, to the joys of the day. It was as if a cancer in me had ceased gnawing me. The cancer of introspection.
Anais Nin
#6. The mind becomes much more beautiful,
when man could see his own weaknesses.
Toba Beta
#7. It [his brothers assassination] made Robert Kennedy, a man unprepared for introspection, think for the first time in his life, what he wanted to do, and what he stood for.
Jack Newfield
#8. When my turn on the program comes, I am not nervous at all - because all this is happening out of time, out of space. I am, for a moment, a figure of my own fantasy, and I play my appointed role as if I were in the movies.
Eva Hoffman
#9. The inertia of the mind urges it to slide down the easy slope of imagination, rather than to climb the steep slope of introspection.
Marcel Proust
#10. Take time to reflect, let ideas flow on their own schedule and let yourself have numerous bad ideas to inspire the good ones.
Joanie Connell
#11. How you see the world is a reflection of what is within you.
Stephen Richards
#12. Try seeing, feeling, and tasting the water you swim in the way a land animal might perceive it. You may find the experience fascinating -- and mind-expanding.
Erin Meyer
#13. Whisky has always tasted like introspection to me, a quiet moment after taking a sip, the lingering aftertaste, inviting you to ponder upon the flavours on your tongue.
Hannu Rajaniemi
#14. It's time to accept that I am average, and to stop making this acceptance of my averageness into a bereavement.
Sara Baume
#15. There's just something unsettling about studying your reflection. It's not a matter of being dissatisfied with your face or of being embarrassed by your vanity. Maybe it's that when you gaze into your own eyes, you don't see what you wish to see - or glimpse something that you wish weren't there.
Dean Koontz
#16. A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small parcel.
John Ruskin
#17. The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude.
Aldous Huxley
#18. True inspiration unfolds itself, not by force or it becomes fake. True intuition is also the ability to be observant.
Chris Messner
#19. Periods of silent solitude spent in introspective reflecting are sacred and a source of great strength and comfort. We can learn from listening to the rhythms of nature and from appreciating the eternal hush of the cosmos.
Kilroy J. Oldster
#20. Human nature is pretty shabby stuff, as you may know from introspection.
Peter De Vries
#21. Truth suffers from too much analysis.
-Ancient Fremen Saying
Frank Herbert
#22. That's exactly the good thing about the Injun life
you don't have to stop and think about whether or not you're 'happy'
which in my opinionis a highly overrated human condition invented by white folks
Jim Fergus
#23. Appius Livius Ocella made mistakes in his whole long existence. Perhaps changing Eric was his finest hour. He created the perfect vampire. Eric's only flaw is you.
Charlaine Harris
#25. He never hears the truth about himself by not wishing to hear it. Pope Alexander
Barbara W. Tuchman
#27. Life is one large process of creation: Self-Examination and introspection is simply to figure out what you want to create in this moment.
Matthew Donnelly
#28. Our self discoveries make us each a microcosm of the larger pattern of history. The inertia of introspection leads toward recollection, for only through memory is the past recaptured and understood. In the fact of experiencing and making the present, we are all actors.
Terence McKenna
#29. Books are those faithful mirrors that reflect to our mind the minds of sages and heroes.
Edward Gibbon
#30. In the modern world, the anxious temperament does offer certain benefits: caution, introspection, the capacity to work alone. These can be adaptive qualities.
Robin Marantz Henig
#31. There is music in words, and it can be heard you know, by thinking.
E.L. Doctorow
#32. By not letting me turn you into something you're not, you've helped me be more of myself.
Aleksandra Ninkovic
#34. Fulfilling your vision for the best year of your life requires thought and introspection. It is not much different than planning an awesome vacation. It takes time, discussion, planning, decision making, and an array of other skills.
Debbie Ford
#35. To attempt to know myself 'apart' from God is to choose to know nothing more than 'a part' of myself.
Craig D. Lounsbrough
#36. Shall I run back into the desert ... and stay there until the devil has passed out of me and I am fit to meet human kind again without driving it to despair at the first look? I haven't had enough desert yet.
Saul Bellow
#37. The field of extrospection is based on two cardinal questions: "What do I know?" and "How do I know it?" In the field of introspection, the two guiding questions are: "What do I feel?" and "Why do I feel it?" Most
Ayn Rand
#39. Sometimes, you have to look back in order to understand the things that lie ahead.
Yvonne Woon
#40. Writing is utter solitude, the descent into the cold abyss of oneself.
Franz Kafka
#41. In the martial arts, introspection begets wisdom. Always see contemplation on your actions as an opportunity to improve.
Mas Oyama
#42. You can't tell from looking at a man what he's capable of doing. And you certainly can't tell what he's done.
Eleanor Catton
#44. As I grew up I realized, though imperfectly, that I was different from other people, and that the way of life in my home was different from that in the homes of others ... This stimulated me to introspection and strange mental questionings.
John George Haigh
#45. There are always differences when you adapt a novel to a film. A novel is longer so you're automatically cutting out elements and introspection but this is actually a film that stays very close to the novel.
Nicholas Sparks
#46. When I found myself regarded as respectable, I began to wonder what sins I had committed. I must be very wicked, I thought. I began to engage in the most uncomfortable introspection.
Bertrand Russell
#47. How dearly, indeed, I loved my pit, my dusky room, the area of my desk with its piles of books! How I enjoyed introspection, shrouded myself in cogitation; with what rapture did I listen for the rustling of frail insects in the thickets of my nerves!
Yukio Mishima
#48. I told him I had no use for introspection and navel-gazing. I was probably one of the few New Yorkers who had never been to a therapist. I was not the type to go looking for the causes of all my problems in my childhood, and I had no respect for those who did.
Jan-Philipp Sendker
#49. Being a good communicator Patch, begins with listening, and listening to yourself first.
Michele Jennae
#50. He who thinks all mankind is vile is a pessimist who mistakes his introspection for observation; he looks into his own heart and thinks he sees the world.
William George Jordan
#51. A long road will teach you more about yourself than a hundred years of introspection.
Patrick Rothfuss
#52. What if deep down inside you...you knew you were more amazing and magnificent than you thought you were?
Roger James McDonald
#53. Growing a business requires that we look at ourselves and change the way we make decisions.
David J. Greer
#54. I always take a close look at those who lose themselves in self portraits. They are solitary souls, prone to introspection, who have really grappled with their existence.
Young-Ha Kim
#55. I sleuth, you know. For a hobby. Harmless outlet for natural inquisitiveness, don't you see, which might otherwise strike inward and produce introspection an' suicide. Very natural, healthy pursuit
not too strenuous, not too sedentary; trains and invigorates the mind.
Dorothy L. Sayers
#56. Through love and sincerity continuously beautify your inner life in every way, by daily looking into the mirror of introspection.
Paramahansa Yogananda
#57. False humility and morbid introspection are, in fact, the opposite of brokenness, as they reveal a preoccupation with self, rather than Christ.
Nancy Leigh DeMoss
#58. Talking with Elaine like that, with no judgment from her or anything, seemed to bring my feelings more to the surface so I could look at them. I love times like that; you don't get many of them.
(Walker, in STOTAN!)
Chris Crutcher
#59. How we look at life depends on how we see ourselves.
Justin Young
#60. The Moors were beautiful in their own way, and if their beauty was the quiet sort that required time and introspection to be seen, well, there was nothing wrong with that. The best beauty was the sort that took some seeking.
Seanan McGuire
#61. One of the great things about art is you get to see what your concerns are, what those things tumbling around inside you are.
Jonathan Safran Foer
#62. Bells ringing with no sound
Laughter with no voice
Happiness lost without being found
Making love with no noise
T. Grassan
#63. Take the time to think. Get into the regular habit of personal introspection.
Robin S. Sharma
#64. Was this what the city would look like when knowledge was no longer enough? When the desire to turn inward, surrendering entirely to one's own private world of nonresistance, overwhelmed, like creeping ivy, our desire to know worlds beyond it?
Olivia Sudjic
#65. After all, in supporting phenomenal concepts I am in a sense siding with introspection against the more behaviourist Wittgensteinians. But even so I don't think that introspection is powerful enough to resolve the specific issue about how many colours you can see.
David Papineau
#66. In order to understand the world, one has to turn away from it on occasion.
[The Minotaur]
Albert Camus
#67. When you're a writer, you become deeper and more uniquely distinct, the more you go inside yourself ...
John Geddes
#68. Some days I don't know what is greater.
My wisdom, or my stupidity.
Sanober Khan
#69. When a person finds life hard, he needs motivation and inspiration; but if he finds life's journey easy, then he needs meditation and introspection to know the true quality of his life.
Anuj
#72. To be fair, I spend most days living inside my head--hoping that when I finally open my mouth or put pen to paper, what comes out will matter.
Ryan J. Pemberton
#73. Everyone in this world is Abhimanyu, the difference being that most of us are trapped in a labyrinth of our own creation. It takes a lifetime for people to realise that the way out lies in their own hands. All it requires is a little introspection.
Anurag Shourie
#74. Will is guided by wisdom. Wisdom comes from introspection, looking inside yourself, probing, studying the wisdom of the teachers, the masters and bringing that into your mind.
Frederick Lenz
#75. What are humans meant to do; why are we here? Are we a mutation on the earth destroying its host? Are we a cancer destined to kill what supports us? I think not. So exploring this question is a powerful exercise in meaning; what is the meaning of human existence?
David W. Earle
#76. There was something wrong with her. She did not know what it was but there was something wrong with her. A hunger, a restlessness. An incomplete knowledge of herself. The sense of something farther away, beyond her reach.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
#77. I'm not used to introspection. I've never lingered on my feelings. The show must go on.
Brenda Lee
#78. Most breakups are awful. But with compassion, attention, introspection, and intention they can become transforming, bringing you closer to alignment with your true self while preparing you for the next great adventure.
Randy Siegel
#79. Creativity requires introspection, self-examination, and a willingness to take risks. Because of this, artists are perhaps more susceptible to self-doubt and despair than those who do not court the creative muses.
Eric Maisel
#81. To thrive, all businesses must focus on the art of self-disruption. Rather than wait for the competition to steal your business, every founder and employee needs to be willing to cannibalize their existing revenue streams in order to create new ones. All disruption starts with introspection.
Jay Samit
#82. Introverts just just don't buzz as easily.
Susan Cain
#83. Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart.
... live in the question.
Rainer Maria Rilke
#84. Introspection and observation of others are vital for the ongoing good health of our own psyche; watch, learn and tweak as required.
Sam Owen
#85. Pride is a fallacy. None of us are greater than the sum of our parts.
Eric Hirzel
#86. It's a myth that crazy people don't know they're crazy. Many of us are surely as capable of epiphany and introspection as anyone else, maybe more so. I suspect we spend far more time thinking about our thoughts than do sane people.
Caitlin R. Kiernan
#87. Q: Why do I love thee, O Night?
A: Because you know I will never answer.
Vera Nazarian
#88. No one has direct access to your mind like you do. That's why introspection remains a valid technique even after the invention of brain scanners.
Christian Jarrett
#89. It was hard to understand a little and then walk away.
Rachel Joyce
#90. On Laurence Olivier as Hamlet in a 1948 film: Olivier's idea of introspection was to hood his eyes, dentalize his consonants and let the camera circle his blondined head like a sparrow looking for a place to deposit its droppings.
Robert Brustein
#91. The reason I'm attracted to the light of Scripture is because there's another side of me that is dark. The reason I am interested in men of peace is because I'm not like them and would like to be. I'm not someone in real life who turns the other cheek.
Bono
#92. A writer needs a life of introspection.
Tom Robbins
#93. We gain knowledge about the interworking of our personal mind through observation of the external world and personal introspection. Contemplation requires a degree of stillness, the willingness to consider deep thoughts.
Kilroy J. Oldster
#94. I fear it is my lot, to bide my days in hunchbacked thought, to find what I forgot.
Roman Payne
#95. That's what being Jewish is: summoning the means to question who you are and how you have behaved. Have you remained alight in the darkness of cruel wishes,..? Have you forgiven? Have you lived up to the standards of your one and only heart?
Emily Franklin
#96. But what if hope had a threshold? What if there was a limit to it? What if each of us was only given a certain amount and mine was used up?
Jennifer Niven
#97. One could argue that most of the trouble in the world is caused by introspection.
Nick Hornby
#99. Give yourself the gift of time in coming to answers for your life ... It takes time, and a lot of introspection and soul-searching, to get clear about what you really want to manifest in your life.
David Emerald Womeldorff
#100. To save myself I must face myself, which may be the hardest of all things to face.
Craig D. Lounsbrough
