Looking for quotes about knowing yourself? We have rounded up the best collection of know yourself quotes, sayings, messages, captions, phrases, (with images and pictures) to inspire you to do some introspection and know your inner self.
Also See: Believe In Yourself Quotes
Know Thyself means to know oneself first. It means people must know themselves before they can claim to know anything else.
Know Yourself Quotes
- “To thine own self be true.”- Shakespeare
- “To find yourself, think for yourself.”- Socrates
- “Know yourself, to know others.” – Conor McGregor
- “Know yourself! Understand yourself! Correct yourself!”
- “Know yourself, be yourself, trust yourself, love yourself.”
- “Knowing yourself is life’s eternal homework.” – Felicia Day
- “First know yourself, then know others.” – Gichin Funakoshi
- “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”- Aristotle
- “The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself.” – Thales
- “Once you know yourself, you won’t have to listen to others.” – Buddha
- “To grow yourself, you must know yourself.”- John C. Maxwell
- “The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.” – Carl Jung
- “Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment.”- Lao Tzu
- “The more you know yourself, the more you forgive yourself.”- Confucius
- “But, to know a man well, were to know himself.” – William Shakespeare
- “Man thinks he knows the minds of others when he hardly knows his own.”
- “Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.” – Alan Watts
- “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”- E.E. Cummings
- “The more you know yourself, the more clarity there is.” – Jiddu Krishnamurti
- “Without knowing what I am and why I am here, life is impossible.”- Leo Tolstoy
- “If you asked me for my New Year Resolution, it would be to find out who I am.”
- “Don’t be confused between what people say you are and who you know you are.”
- “When you ignore your gift, you runaway from your purpose.” – Turcois Ominek
- “Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.”- Henry David Thoreau
- “The more you know who you are, and what you want, the less you let things upset you.”
- “To know yourself, you must first sacrifice the illusion that already you do.” – Vironika Tugaleva
- “If you want to maximize your total potential … you have to know yourself first.”- Mark McGwire
- “We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.” – Dalai Lama
- “Face the facts of being what you are, for that is what changes what you are.” – Soren Kierkegaard
- “Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.”- Carl Jung
- “Greatness comes from within, you first have to tame the voice in your head to conquer the world.”
- “Only when you do not know yourself, the opinion of other people becomes important.” – Sadhguru
- “Getting to know yourself helps you separate what you really want from what others expect of you.”
- “The better you know yourself, the better your relationship with the rest of the world.”- Toni Collette
- “First know yourself then you will begin to understand why things are as they are, and why life is as it is.”
- “Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway.” — Mother Theresa
- “When you know yourself you are empowered. When you accept yourself you are invincible.” – Tina Lifford
- “We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be.” – May Sarton
- “It is only in adventure that some people succeed in knowing themselves – in finding themselves.” – Andre Gide
- “There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.”- Aldous Huxley
- “The one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your ind, your story, your vision.” – Neil Gaiman
- “Be yourself — not your idea of what you think somebody else’s idea of yourself should be.”— Henry David Thoreau
- “I don’t think anybody should get married before they’re 30. You’re too young to really know yourself.” – Jeremy London
- “In order to change unwanted habits and actions, it is important to take the time to get to know yourself.”- Darren Johnson
- “We are unable to realize who we are because the mind wanders and the senses desire and thus, we continue to be who we are not.”
- “One’s own self is well hidden from one’s own self; of all mines of treasure, one’s own is the last to be dug up.”- Friedrich Nietzsche
- “Everything will line up perfectly when knowing and living the truth becomes more important than looking good.” — Alan Cohen
- “You cannot transcend what you do not know. To go beyond yourself, you must know yourself.”- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
- “If most of us remain ignorant of ourselves, it is because self-knowledge is painful and we prefer the pleasures of illusion.”- Aldous Huxley
- “Know thyself’ was written over the portal of the antique world. Over the portal of the new world, ‘Be thyself’ shall be written.”- Oscar Wilde
- “Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.”- Laozi
- “If you spend the first 30 years of your life only trying to look good, you’re not going to know yourself very well. If you got it, flaunt it.” – Ariel Pink
- “It’s not to much fun to know yourself too well or think you do – everyone needs a little conceit to carry them through & past the falls.” – Marilyn Monroe
- “How can you even know what you want, if you don’t know who you are? Invest the time and energy into getting to know yourself.”- Get real with yourself.
- “Finding your passion isn’t just about careers and money. Its about finding your authentic self. The one youve buried beneath other peoples needs.” — Kristen Hannah
- “I learned to be with myself rather than avoiding myself with limiting habits; I started to be aware of my feelings more, rather than numb them.” — Judith Wright
- “Be aware of yourself and know yourself. No matter how much you have learned and how much you know, if you don’t know yourself you don’t know anything.”- Suzuki Shosan
- “Never be afraid of failure. And don’t stop yourself from doing something you want to do because of what others might think. Only you know yourself best.” – Suki Waterhouse
- “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our Light, not our Darkness, that most frightens us.”- Marianne Williamson
- “Today is the day to break free from the prison of the person you know yourself to be and step into a self you have yet to know. Will it be comfortable? No, but do it anyway.” – Debbie Ford
- “In the stillness and quietness within and around us, brings a greater force of awareness of ourselves as to who we are, where we are, and our destiny by use of pleasant and hopeful thoughts.”
- “Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance.” – Bren Brown
- “Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It’s about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen.” — Bren Brown
- “The tricky thing becomes: Do you know yourself well enough to then portray that on screen? And for me, I find that really hard. I’d rather hide behind accents and funny walks.” – Joel Edgerton
- “Only as you do know yourself can your brain serve you as a sharp and efficient tool. Know your own failings, passions, and prejudices so you can separate them from what you see.”- Bernard Baruch
- “If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”- Henry David Thoreau
- “Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.” – Lao Tzu
- “People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering.”- Saint Augustine
- “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”- Sun Tzu
- “To be a great artist, you need to know yourself as best as you possibly can. I live my life and delve into my own psyche. It’s more about exploring how I feel rather than making pale imitations of something that came before. We are unique beings, and the way we look at things is our own.”
- “It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.”- Sun Tzu
Learning About Yourself Quotes
- “Learn to say “NO” without explaining yourself.”
- “Know yourself to improve yourself.” – Auguste Comte
- “The only journey is the one within.” – Rainer Maria Rilke
- “Learning to love yourself, it is the greatest love of all.” – Michael Masser
- “Dear you, make peace with the mirror and watch your reflection change.”
- “Knowing your value protects you from having to prove it.” – BJ Thompson
- “We know what we are, but know not what we may be.” – William Shakespeare
- “Know thyself? If I knew myself I would run away.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- “Man is so constituted that he then only excels other things when he knows himself.” – Boethius
- “As the years go by, you get to know yourself better and learn what works for you.” – Marie Helvin
- “It’s not only the most difficult thing to know one’s self, but the most inconvenient.” – Josh Billings
- “The more you know yourself, the more patience you have for what you see in others.” – Erik Erikson
- “All men should strive to learn before they die, what they are running from, and to, and why.” – James Thurber
- “Use the creative process – singing, writing, art, dance, whatever – to get to know yourself better.” – Catie Curtis
- “Know yourself. Don’t accept your dog’s admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful.” – Ann Landers
- “Self-study, in a sense of learning by yourself without anybody teaching you anything, has an enormous value.” – Robert Kraft
- “Learning to accept yourself is more important than making people accept you. It’s how you see yourself that really matters.”
- “It’s time to love yourself, respect yourself, admire yourself, forgive yourself, accept yourself, nurture yourself. Today’s the day.”
- “Learn to know yourself…to search realistically and regularly the processes of your own mind and feelings.” – Nelson Mandela
- “Learn to be alone with being lonely. Learn to admire your beauty without finding fault. Learn to love yourself without the love of others.”
- “There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.” – Nelson Mandela
- “If in the last few years you haven’t discarded a major opinion or acquired a new one, check your pulse. You may be dead.” – Gelett Burgess
- “He that knows himself, knows others; and he that is ignorant of himself, could not write a very profound lecture on other men’s heads.” – Charles Caleb Colton
- “To know yourself as the Being underneath the thinker, the stillness underneath the mental noise, the love and joy underneath the pain, is freedom, salvation, enlightenment.” – Eckhart Tolle
- “When life was worrying about a car payment or a rent payment and a bill, you’re so consumed with that, you really don’t have time to know yourself. That’s surviving and getting by.” – Fred Durst
- “I’m realizing for the first time, your life goes on while you’re trying to pursue this career. I saw my career as everything. But you have this life, too. Living your life fully, you come to know yourself better. You’ll find the place for it.” – Nicholas D’Agosto
- “You’re always learning about yourself, if you’re honest with yourself. It’s very tough to be honest with yourself. We all are dishonest with ourselves, a lot of the time. We don’t want to deal with something, so we compartmentalize it.” – Geoff Johns
- “Learning lessons is a little like reaching maturity, You’re not suddenly more happy, wealthy, or powerful, but you understand the world around you better, and you’re at peace with yourself. Learning life’s lessons is not about making your life perfect, but about seeing life as it was meant to be.” – Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
- “The question of whether or not there is a God or truth or reality or whatever you like to call it, can never be answered by books, by priests, philosopher’s or saviors. Nobody and nothing can answer the question but you yourself, and that is why you must know yourself – Immaturity lies only in total ignorance of self.”– Jiddu Krishnamurti
- “Be alone. Eat alone, take yourself on dates, sleep alone. In the midst of this you will learn about yourself. You will grow, you will figure out what inspires you, you will curate your own dreams, your own beliefs, your own stunning clarity and when you do meet the person who makes your cells dance, you will be sure of it, because you are sure of yourself.”
When Socrates, an Athenian moral philosopher, cautioned “man know thyself” most scholars were inclined to have construed it from a banal perspective. According to Socrates, true wisdom is knowing what you do not know.
So an essential part of knowing yourself must be recognizing the limits of your own wisdom and understanding—knowing what you do genuinely know and knowing what you have yet to learn.
Read on to find these encouraging words of wisdom about knowing yourself that will motivate you to learning about yourself.
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