“We never get to love by hate, least of all by self-hatred.”

The central fire is desire, and all the powers of our being are given us to see, to fight for, and to win the object of our desire. Quench that fire and man turns to ashes.

No one knows what is in him till he tries, and many would never try if they were not forced to.

I believe there are few whose view of life has not been affected by the stern or kindly influences of their early childhood, which threw them in upon themselves in timidity and reserve, or drew them out in genial confidence and sympathy with their fellow creatures.

A complete life may be one ending in so full an identification with the oneself that there is no self left to die.

If I abuse myself daily, who can I love?

One of the greatest thrills in all of life is to feel the hand of God working through you and to be a part of the working reality of the church engaged in a movement larger than self.

It thereby exercised the power of a self-fulfilling prophecy. In imagining Rousseau to be right, we have become what Rousseau imagined.

Let us be well assured of the Matter of Fact, before we trouble our selves with enquiring into the Cause. It is true, that this Method is too slow for the greatest part of Mankind, who run naturally to the Cause, and pass over the Truth of the Matter of Fact.

With emotional abuse, the insults, insinuations, criticism, and accusations slowly eat away at the victim’s self-esteem until he or she is incapable of judging a situation realistically.

To take the measure of oneself by reference to one’s colleagues leads to envy or complacency rather than constructive self-examination.

Everyone must correct his own self; this is something more difficult to cope with, but it is not impossible.