Top 100 Self Critical Quotes
#1. I'm a Larry David fan, right? And it seems to me that Jewish history from the Talmud on has been a self-deprecating, self-critical kind of humor.
Peter Eisenman
#2. A garden should be in a constant state of fluid change, expansion, experiment, adventure; above all it should be an inquisitive, loving, but self-critical journey on the part of its owner.
H.E. Bates
#3. Marxism is always open, always critical, always self-critical.
Ernest Mandel
#4. It goes against the grain of modern education to teach students to program. What fun is there to making plans, acquiring discipline, organizing thoughts, devoting attention to detail, and learning to be self critical.
Alan Perlis
#5. I think self-criticism is sort of a given when you're an actor. It's also about being curious and not being flippant. Anyone who accepts being in this noble profession is automatically self-critical.
James Earl Jones
#6. There is a lack of critical assessment of the past. But you have to understand that the current ruling elite is actually the old ruling elite. So they are incapable of a self-critical approach to the past.
Ryszard Kapuscinski
#7. To write well, to write passionately, to be less inhibited, to be warmer, to be more self-critical, to recognize the power of as well as the force of lust, to write, to love.
John Cheever
#8. I'm extremely self-critical. Although I try not to be ridiculous about it, wearing horsehair shirts and all that. It's a private exercise I don't necessarily share with other people.
Gina McKee
#9. I am very self-critical, but that's a good thing because it keeps me growing as a human being and as a musician.
Ray Lamontagne
#10. The main thing that develops positional judgement, that perfects it and makes it many-sided, is detailed analytical work, sensible tournament practice, a self-critical attitude to your games and a rooting out of all the defects in your play.
Alexander Kotov
#11. You have to have a thick enough skin to cope with the criticism. I'm very self-critical and I have a lot of friends that I trust who are film directors and writers and people in my profession.
George Lucas
#12. I think most of us become self-critical as soon as we become self-conscious.
Ellen Goodman
#13. Scientists make mistakes. Accordingly, it is the job of the scientist to recognize our weakness, to examine the widest range of opinions, to be ruthlessly self-critical. Science is a collective enterprise with the error-correction machinery often running smoothly.
Carl Sagan
#14. The money can be a hindrance to someone like me because the danger is that you start thinking, 'Is that a $20 million take?' That kind of thing, and being self-critical.
Jim Carrey
#15. This is a nation that has lost the ability to be self-critical, and that makes a lie out of the freedoms.
Joni Mitchell
#16. If you write something in the evening or at night, look back over it the next morning. I tend to be less self-critical at night; sometimes, I've looked back at things I wrote the night before, and realized they were no good at all.
Mark-Anthony Turnage
#17. Most of us have very clear memories of the self-critical internal conversation running on in our heads while we were playing poorly, and yet it often seems that we hardly remember noticing it at all while we were playing well.
Barry Green
#18. It is not the self -critical who reveals his humility ( for does not everyone have some how to put up with himself? ). Rather, it is the man who continues to love the person who has criticized him.
John Climacus
#19. It is hard for women not to be overly self critical, I am no exception!
Kim Lyons
#20. The search to know has always been characterized by the need to doubt, the need to be critical, including the need to be self-critical.
Gerhard Casper
#21. I'm hugely self-critical in the morning.
Nick Cave
#22. Self-critical thoughts and detrimental predictions about yourself have a huge impact on our mood/feelings. It affects our attitude, decisions and behavior. They ensure our self-esteem stays low and can create physical illnesses.
Maddy Malhotra
#23. Until you stop blaming and become positively self-critical you are not going to move forward.
Bryant McGill
#24. As an actor it's easy to be so self-critical, saying to yourself: "Am I good enough? Am I good looking enough? Am I smart enough?" Yet here I am, so I'm lucky.
Chris Pine
#25. The combination of rumination and negative mood is toxic. Research shows that people who ruminate while sad or distraught are likely to feel besieged, powerless, self-critical, pessimistic, and generally negatively biased.
Sonja Lyubomirsky
#26. I was so self-critical. I still am; but it's not as bad anymore.
Fiona Apple
#27. There's an appeal to the American sense of exceptionalism, that we're morally superior, as way to not be self-critical. I think that's a bit dangerous.
Al Franken
#28. If you're self-compassionate, you'll tend to have higher self-esteem than if you're endlessly self-critical. And like high self-esteem - self-compassion is associated with significantly less anxiety and depression, as well as more happiness, optimism, and positive emotions.
David D. Burns
#30. It's a struggle for me to watch things I've been in because I'm just distracted and self-critical.
Jesse Eisenberg
#31. As an actor, it easy to be so self-critical, saying to yourself, 'Am I good enough? Am I good looking enough? Am I smart enough?'
Chris Pine
#32. We have to be self-critical even in context that we might be critical of, even as we - our pieces appear in it.
Cornel West
#34. It is only through the opposition of ideas that we can learn to be self-critical, to work towards intellectual humility.
Tariq Ramadan
#35. Obviously all writers, all artists, have their own internal critics; as they write they are being self-critical.
Edna Longley
#36. Indeed it is the protean ability of Western civilization to be self-critical and self-correcting - not only in producing wealth but over the whole range of human activities - that constitutes its most decisive superiority over any of its rivals.
Paul Johnson
#37. Being self-critical is good; being self-hating is destructive. There's a very fine line there somewhere, and I walk it carefully.
Daniel Radcliffe
#38. It's easy to become very self-critical when you're an actor. Then you get critiqued by the critics. Whether you agree with them or not, people are passing judgment on you.
Keanu Reeves
#39. ...when we cease asking questions, when we stop being self-critical, and when we no longer engage with others, then we surrender our ability to grow--to progress. Let's begin the conversation.
Mehdi Ghafourifar
#40. I no longer agree to treat myself with disrespect. Every time a self-critical thought comes to mind, I will forgive the Judge and follow this comment with words of praise, self-acceptance, and love.
Miguel Ruiz
#41. I always get nervous when I watch what I'm in. Very self-critical.
Michael Socha
#42. The roar of adrenaline drowned out the self-critical voices that tend to make creative play such work for adults.
Chris Baty
#43. One of the things that I think makes me successful is the way in which I collaborate with others. In my opinion, nothing great is ever the product of one mind. It's always a consequence of some sort of self-critical collaboration.
Nick Hanauer
#44. The willingness to be self-critical in England is much greater than the willingness to be self-critical in America.
Malcolm Gladwell
#45. The Santa myth is one of the most effective means ever devised for intimidating children, eroding their self- esteem, twisting their behavior, warping their values, and slowing their development of critical thinking skills.
Tom Flynn
#46. Crisis can go on to a critical point or turning point where deciding factors plays their games. It is a point to surrender or survive, stay alive or die. You can rise above the storm.
Ikechukwu Joseph
#47. Looking for honest ways to lift one another would ... be more beneficial to our own self-esteem, for we would see more good in ourselves. We would cease to be so critical of our weaknesses and would find ways to allow our weaknesses to become strengths with God's help.
Neal A. Maxwell
#48. Enormous self-belief, intuition, the ability to take a risk at a critical moment and go in for a very dangerous play with counter-chances for the opponent - it is precisely these qualities that distinguish great players.
Garry Kasparov
#49. You can hit a home run. If you are honest, you'll know when it's perfect because at that critical moment of connection, there was no sense of being there. That is perfect play. There is no self involved.
Frederick Lenz
#50. 'Showgirls' was a critical point in my life. I had my head handed to me. At 21 years old, I had to find my self-esteem again. It was a very hard time.
Elizabeth Berkley
#51. A rat race is for rats. We're not rats. We're human beings. Reject the insidious pressures in society that would blunt your critical faculties to all that is happening around you, that would caution silence in the face of injustice lest you jeopardise your chances of promotion and self-advancement.
Jimmy Reid
#52. We employ our personality, what we know, think, and believe, in order to interpret the world, making self-understanding a critical act because it establishes the baseline for our philosophical and intellectual approach towards life.
Kilroy J. Oldster
#53. Arrogant or critical people are often people with low self-esteem who are afraid of taking risks. That's because, if you learn something new, you are then required to make mistakes in order to fully understand what you have learned.
Robert Kiyosaki
#54. The symbol-producing function of our dreams is an attempt to bring our original mind back to consciousness, where it has never been before, and where it has never undergone critical self-reflection. We have been that mind, but we have never known it.
C. G. Jung
#55. There is no royal path to good writing; and such paths as exist do not lead through neat critical gardens, various as they are, but through the jungles of self, the world, and of craft.
Jessamyn West
#56. Are you busy proving your worth or living it? A critical distinction
Renae A. Sauter
#57. Life includes unforeseen incidents that prove critical to promote personal growth. Life rarely gives us what we want. We are lucky if life gives us what we need in order to fulfill the path that was in place at our birthing.
Kilroy J. Oldster
#58. At critical moments the veil between the little-self and the deep self thins and a meaningful self-adjustment becomes possible. If a person does not become paralyzed with fear or frozen in hatred, the wise self hidden within will rise to the occasion.
Michael Meade
#59. Art is a critical component in a well-rounded education. Art is the level playing field - no matter how rich or poor, tall or short, pretty or ugly to the bone, if you can draw, you can find personal fulfillment and build self-confidence. Art is the highest achievement of mankind.
Lynda Resnick
#60. Understanding and discovering yourself is a critical aspect of your life
Sunday Adelaja
#61. I'm just tired of people saying I'm a self-hating Jew because I'm critical of Israel or make fun of old Jewish ladies. I do not hate myself. And Jews who criticize Israel aren't necessarily mentally ill.
Harvey Pekar
#62. Complex thinkers attempt to extend to others the same self-forgiving bias that they offer themselves.
Ted Cadsby
#63. Nothing clears out self-righteousness better than serving someone who is critical of you.
Paul E. Miller
#64. All your thoughts, imagination, feelings, emotions and sensation are part of the mechanical process that can be understood, at the state of self-realization.
Roshan Sharma
#65. Understanding who you are is critical for your career advancement. Self-awareness helps you get ahead.
Bonnie Marcus
#66. But an experienced reader is also a self-aware and critical reader. I can't remember ever reading a story without judging it.
Hilary Mantel
#67. The first most important , critical and strategic coalition in an individual's life is the coalition with ones own self.
Sameh Elsayed
#68. According to Aristotle, envy is pain for the presence of good things in others, whereas emulation is pain for their absence in us. This is a subtle but critical difference. Unlike envy, which is self-defeating, emulation is a good thing because it makes us take steps towards securing good things.
Neel Burton
#69. As for critical writing about modernism, its moments of lucidity are but fulgurations illuminating the dark and incomprehensible landscape of its subject's unabashed difficulty.
Will Self
#70. Life is the constant process of self-creation. We constantly make and remake our personal version of the self. Personal introspection is critical to ascertain who we want to become by ascertaining what traits we wish to eradicate and what qualities we wish to embody.
Kilroy J. Oldster
#71. The goal of intellectual life should be to see and understand what is true, not merely to adhere to a prevailing orthodoxy.
Jeffrey Tucker
#72. It is rather depressing to think that one will still be oneself when one is dead, but I dare say one won't be so critical then.
Angela Thirkell
#73. The problem with writing a monthly book is that you're going through your work like a man running for a bus, red-faced and out of breath. There isn't time for reflection or critical self-examination.
J. Michael Straczynski
#74. With Midway as the turning point, the fortunes of war appeared definitely to shift from our own to the Allied side. The defeat taught us many lessons and impelled our Navy, for the first time since the outbreak of war, to indulge in critical self-examination.
Mitsuo Fuchida
#75. The ability to reflect is associated with critical thinking and reasoning ability. And the capacity to be alone is one of the highest levels of development. It's important to know how to self-soothe and be confident of other people's love even when they're not there in front of you.
Laurie Helgoe
#76. It is important for this country to make its people so obsessed with their own liberal individualism that they do not have time to think about a world larger than self.
Bell Hooks
#77. The idea that power was an end in itself, rather than a means to provide the security and opportunity necessary for the pursuit of happiness, seemed to him stupid and self-defeating." (about Senator Fulbright)
Bill Clinton
#78. From childhood forward, our hair is one of the most critical, defining aspects of our embodied selves as black women: how we get it done ... how we have to focus on it ... the questions we have to answer about it ... and so forth.
Melissa Harris-Perry
#79. You don't have to do anything especially worthy to create or deserve self-esteem; all you have to do is turn off that critical, haranguing, inner voice.
David D. Burns
#80. To think critically, it is first maturing and distancing a bit from self, no matter what level one lives on Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
Pearl Zhu
#81. Self-pity is an ignoble emotion, but we all feel it, and the orthodox critical line that it represents some kind of artistic flaw is dubious, a form of emotional correctness.
Nick Hornby
#82. There's four main pillars to the bow tie - self-representation, service, collaboration and critical thought. You have to understand how to represent yourself and critically understand how to collaborate and serve others.
Dhani Jones
#83. In choosing not to be a beast, I discovered my humanity. I became autodidactic, self-educated - a critical thinker.
Stanley Williams
#84. Self-promotion is a leadership and political skill that is critical to master in order to navigate the realities of the workplace and position you for success.
Bonnie Marcus
#85. An individual affected by lower frequency waves, operates with a logic that doesn't necessarily solves a problem. It's a process that guides the mind without self-awareness or critical thinking.
Daniel Marques
#86. Long, I am woman who speaks but one language, the language of the fall
discontentment and self-condemnation, the critical eye and the never satisfied.
Ann Voskamp
#87. To the extent that we retain the critical attitudes and destructive elements we have incorporated into our own personalities, we remain undifferentiated from our parents throughout our lifetime.
Lisa Firestone
#88. It would be foolish to despise tradition. But with our growing self-consciousness and increasing intelligence we must begin to control tradition and assume a critical attitude toward it, if human relations are ever to change for the better.
Albert Einstein
#89. Judging others is too often escapism dressed in the garb of righteous indignation, whereby I dutifully point out in others that which I probably should be pointing out in myself.
Craig D. Lounsbrough
#90. A destructive thought process exists within all of us, and we are plagued to varying degrees by an internal dialogue that is harmful, restrictive, and at its ultimate extreme, self-destructive.
Lisa Firestone
#91. Accountability and self-responsibility are critical to our success in personal, professional and public life. However, we often look for those character traits in others, rather than inculcating them in ourselves.
Vishwas Chavan
#92. My novels tend to come about from a fusion of two big ideas, creating a critical mass that then fissions, throwing off hundreds of other particles, riffs, tropes and characters.
Will Self
#93. Try not to be self-conscious [ ... ] or so critical. Don't mope around looking for someone else to make you happy, and remember that the vast majority of homosexuals are looking for a superman to love and find it very difficult to love anyone merely human, which we unfortunately happen to be.
Andrew Holleran
#94. On the way from mythology to logistics thought has lost the element of self-reflection and today machinery disables men even as it nurtures them.
Theodor W. Adorno
#95. Losing your job releases you to think effectively and make rational decisions
Sunday Adelaja
#96. But then self-doubt has always been there for Billy, self-doubt and its cousin the berating voice, these faithful companions have always been on call to help him through the critical junctures of his life.
Ben Fountain
#97. Self-criticism and negative thoughts about yourself will attract people who reflect this back to you, showing critical behavior and can abuse you physically.
Hina Hashmi
#98. No man, however civilized, can listen for very long to African drumming, or Indian chanting, or Welsh hymn singing, and retain intact his critical and self-conscious personality.
Aldous Huxley
#99. Oversimplifying is the first grave mistake we make when confronted by complexity; overconfidence is the second. And there is a third: based on our overconfidence in our oversimplified conclusions, we overreact.
Ted Cadsby
#100. If this inner and critical voice has kept you safe for many years as your inner voice of authority, you may end up not being able to hear the real voice of God.
Richard Rohr
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