Self

"First, create your ego. Then destroy it. This is all of life."

"Embrace contradictions for they make upall of life:You will eternally be looking for yourself andseeking ways to lose yourself."

"There is nothing fulfilling than being in your own company ~"

"The sacrifice ‘of’ self for the greater good is the greatest calling imaginable, and it is the bedrock of the greatest nations. The sacrifice ‘for’ self is the most pathetic calling imaginable, and it is the quicksand within which nations perish."

"Humility is by far the most spiritual virtue of the lot. The only way by which one may cease obsessing over himself is to wholly step outside his flesh. But who could do this by himself? And who would really want to under his natural pretense? And even if somehow he could and he succeeded, would not it be artificial? Would not he seem far too aware of his own talents of achieving humility for it to be such? Alternatively, he would need a distraction, something else to love; it is not that the Humbleman thinks poorly of himself, nor highly for that matter, but rather he does not think of himself at all - and this is because he is too busy loving something or someone else to do it. For the humility of this kind 'rears its head' as the most love-driven and free, spiritual of virtues; whereas its opposite, pride, the most self-imprisoning human vice."

"Liberate yourself as far as you can, and you have done your part; for it is not given to every one to break through all limits,or,more expressively, not to every one is that a limit which is a limit for the rest. Consequently,do not tire yourself with toiling at the limits of others... He who overturns one of his limits may have shown others the way and the means; the overturning of their limits remains their affair."

"Even the self-assured truth-finders and self-proclaimed freedom-fighters reject Truth. As admirable as such endeavors may be, they still only really want it so long as it to some extent confirms what they had already presumed to be true."

"But do you imagine there’s a certain type of person in the world who conforms to the idea of a ‘bad person'? You’ll never find someone who fits that mold neatly, you know. On the whole, all people are good, or at least they’re normal. The frightening thing is that they can suddenly turn bad when it comes to the crunch. That’s why you have to be careful."

"To embrace an attitude of humility is to free myself from myself. And that is likely the great liberation of all."

"The challenge of modern freedom, or the combination of isolation and freedom which confronts you, is to make yourself up. The danger is that you may emerge from the process as a not-entirely-human creature."

"Each of us needs something of an island in his life—if not an actual island, at least some place, or space in time, in which to be himself, free to cultivate his difference from others."

"What is the sign of the person residing in his own Self as Pure Soul? Vitaragta [a state of freedom from all worldly attachments]!"

"But you can live in the most democratic country on earth, and if you're lazy, obtuse or servile within yourself, you're not free."

"In that tremendous flash of freedom, on my way to do The Thing for the first time, sanctioned by Almighty Harry, I receded, faded back into the scenery of my own dark self, whole the other me crouched and growled. I would do It at last, do what I had been created to do. And I did."

"The most loving parents and relatives commit murder with smiles on their faces. They force us to destroy the person we really are: a subtle kind of murder."

"Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another."

"The star rises from the east. Watch out! Your star will guide you."

"The greatest self is the grace to live for your dreams."

"I don't have dreams and inspiration. I just want to enjoy myself."

"You are greater than you can possibly imagine, if you would only free yourself up to imagine."