Echoes

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.

To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom.

Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.

Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise; seek what they sought.

I know that I know nothing.

I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.

One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.

Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.

The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends.

I study myself more than any other subject. That is my metaphysics; that is my physics.

The wise man should restrain his senses like the crane and accomplish his purpose with due knowledge of his place, time and ability.

No one can lead a happy life, or even one that is bearable, without the pursuit of wisdom, and the perfection of wisdom is what makes the happy life. Yet even the beginnings of wisdom make life bearable. But this conviction must be firmly grasped and not merely adopted in words, if we wish to draw any strength from what we know.

The man who is aware of himself is henceforward independent; and he is never bored, and life is only too short, and he is steeped through and through with a profound yet temperate happiness.

As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.

Cherish that which is within you, and shut off that which is without; for much knowledge is a curse.

He who knows all the answers has not been asked all the questions.

To account nothing of one’s self, and to think always kindly and highly of others, this is great and perfect wisdom.

The unexamined life is not worth living.

Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Without, everything seems discordant; only within does it coalesce into unity. Who looks outside dreams; who looks inside awakes.

The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.

To find yourself, think for yourself.

And you? When will you begin that long journey into yourself?

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool.