Echoes

To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom.

Insist on yourself; never imitate.

I do not speak the minds of others except to speak my own mind better.

No one can construct for you the bridge upon which precisely you must cross the stream of life.

Be a lamp unto yourself, be a refuge to yourself. Take yourself to no external refuge. Hold fast to the Truth as a lamp; hold fast to the Truth as a refuge.

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.

Do not follow in the footsteps of the old masters, but seek what they sought — and find it in the mountains, the rivers, and the open sky.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

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

I know that I know nothing.

He needs no library, for he has not done thinking; no church, for he is himself a prophet; no statute book, for he hath the Lawgiver; no money, for he is value itself; no road, for he is at home where he is.

The world is nothing, the man is all; in yourself is the law of all nature, and you know not yet how a globule of sap ascends; in yourself slumbers the whole of Reason; it is for you to know all, it is for you to dare all.

Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom.

Do not go by revelation; Do not go by tradition; Do not go by hearsay; Do not go on the authority of sacred texts; Do not go on the grounds of pure logic; Do not go by a view that seems rational; Do not go by reflecting on mere appearances; Do not go along with a considered view because you agree with it; Do not go along on the grounds that the person is competent; Do not go along because "the recluse is our teacher." Kalamas, when you yourselves know: These things are unwholesome, these things are blameworthy; these things are censured by the wise; and when undertaken and observed, these things lead to harm and ill, abandon them... Kalamas, when you know for yourselves: These are wholesome; these things are not blameworthy; these things are praised by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to benefit and happiness, having undertaken them, abide in them.

If you live according to nature, you will never be poor; if you live according to opinion, you will never be rich.

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

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

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

Men who have made these discoveries before us are not our masters, but our guides.

What does your conscience say? — You should become who you are.

The greatest thing in the world is to know how to be oneself.

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

To find yourself, think for yourself.

It would be better for me that the whole world should disagree with me than that I, being one, should be out of harmony with myself.