best quotations about
Ego |
and Self, Egotism, Selfishness
| 71 quotes | Visits: 18,729 |
Quotations
 | To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves; let us be above such transparent egotism. If you can't say good and encouraging things, say nothing. — Will Durant, 1885-1981, American historian & philosopher 15 likes |
 | Egotist, n. A person of low taste, more interested in himself than in me. — Ambrose Bierce, 1842–1914, American writer 14 likes |
 | The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. — John Kenneth Galbraith, 1908-2006, American-Canadian economist 12 likes |
 | Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live. — Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900, Irish writer 10 likes |
| To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance. — Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900, Irish writer 9 likes |
 | Paradise on earth is where I am. — Voltaire, 1694-1778, French philosopher & writer 9 likes |
 | A man's ego is the fountainhead of human progress. — Ayn Rand, 1905-1982, American writer & philosopher 7 likes |
 | Marriage is the operation by which a woman’s vanity and a man’s egotism are extracted without anaesthetic. — Helen Rowland, 1875-1950, American journalist & humorist 7 likes |
 | Talk to someone about themselves and they'll listen for hours. — Dale Carnegie, 1888-1955, American self-help writer 7 likes |
 | Justice is my being allowed to do whatever I like. Injustice is whatever prevents my doing so. — Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784, English writer 7 likes |
 | Ego is awful. The ego of other people, of course. — Paul Valery, 1871-1945, French poet 6 likes |
 | The ego represents what we call reason and sanity, in contrast to the id which contains the passions. — Sigmund Freud, 1856-1939, Austrian psychologist, founder of psychoanalysis 6 likes |
| The poor ego has a hard time; it has to serve three harsh masters, and it has to do its best to reconcile the demands of all three…The three tyrants are the external world, the superego, and the id. — Sigmund Freud, 1856-1939, Austrian psychologist, founder of psychoanalysis 6 likes |
 | If some really acute observer made as much of egotism as Freud has made of sex, people would forget a good deal about sex and find the explanation for everything in egotism. — Wallace Stevens, 1879-1955, American poet 6 likes |
 | Be melting snow. Wash yourself of yourself. — Rumi, 1207-1273, Persian mystic & poet 5 likes |
| I am not primarily an advocate of capitalism, but of egoism; and I am not primarily an advocate of egoism, but of reason. — Ayn Rand, 1905-1982, American writer & philosopher 5 likes |
| Children are completely egoistic; they feel their needs intensely and strive ruthlessly to satisfy them. — Sigmund Freud, 1856-1939, Austrian psychologist, founder of psychoanalysis 5 likes |
 | The more you love yourself, the more you become your greatest enemy. — Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, 1830-1916, German author of maxims 5 likes |
 | Every autobiography is concerned with two characters, a Don Quixote, the Ego, and a Sancho Panza, the Self. — W.H. Auden, 1907-1973, British poet 5 likes |
 | Youth ends when egotism does; maturity begins when one lives for others. — Hermann Hesse, 1877-1962, German writer, Nobel 1946 5 likes |
 | The difference between a movie star and a movie actor is this: a movie star will say, “How can I change the script to suit me?” and a movie actor will say. “How can I change me to suit the script?” — Michael Caine, 1933-, English actor 5 likes |
| The ego is not master in its own house. — Sigmund Freud, 1856-1939, Austrian psychologist, founder of psychoanalysis 4 likes |
 | Religion is a monumental chapter in the history of human egotism. — William James, 1842-1910, American philosopher 4 likes |
 | A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle. — Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790, American politician & writer 3 likes |
 | If we were not all so interested in ourselves, life would be so uninteresting that none of us would be able to endure it. — Arthur Schopenhauer, 1788-1860, German philosopher 3 likes |
 | There are two kinds of egotists: Those who admit it, and the rest of us. — Laurence J Peter, 1919-1990, Canadian writer & educator 3 likes |
| It is easy to see that the ego is that part of the id which has been modified by the direct influence of the external world. — Sigmund Freud, 1856-1939, Austrian psychologist, founder of psychoanalysis 3 likes |
 | The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself. — Michel de Montaigne, 1533-1592, French thinker 3 likes |
| Selfish, adj. Devoid of consideration for the selfishness of others. — Ambrose Bierce, 1842–1914, American writer 2 likes |
| When you lose all sense of self, the bonds of a thousand chains will vanish. — Rumi, 1207-1273, Persian mystic & poet 2 likes |
 | How much self-love comes in the guise of selfless devotion — Susan Sontag, 1933-2004, American writer, critic, activist 1 likes |
 | If you have the ability to love, love yourself first. |
 | One of the most powerful of all our passions is the desire to be admired and respected. |
 | Modern history is the dialogue between two men: one who believes in God, another who believes he is a god. |
 | He was like a cock who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow. |
| We are all of us born in moral stupidity, taking the world as an udder to feed our supreme selves. |
 | Those who never retract their opinions love themselves more than they love truth. |
 | The quality of owning freezes you forever in “I,” and cuts you off forever from the “we.” |
 | Apology is only egotism wrong side out. |
 | Wear your ego like a loose fitting garment. |
 | Kings and women believe that everything that happens is due to them. |
| Courtesy is only a thin veneer on the general selfishness. |
 | To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs. |
 | Make your ego porous. Will is of little importance, complaining is nothing, fame is nothing. Openness, patience, receptivity, solitude is everything. |
 | We often choose a friend as we do a mistress –for no particular excellence in themselves, but merely from some circumstance that flatters our self-love. |
| The true barbarian is he who thinks every thing barbarous but his own tastes and prejudices. |
| Every man, in his own opinion, forms an exception to the ordinary rules of morality. |
| The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves. |
 | Transcendence constitutes selfhood. |
 | Questing... is not an ego trip; it is an adventure to bring into fulfillment your gift to the world, which is yourself. |
 | In every part and corner of our life, to lose oneself is to be a gainer; to forget oneself is to be happy. |
 | Turkey, Japan do great work because they can keep under control their little personal selfishness, egoism, jealousy, etc. when they get down to work. — Sri Aurobindo, 1872-1950, Indian nationalist, yogi & philosopher |
| In order to see, you have to stop being in the middle of the picture. — Sri Aurobindo, 1872-1950, Indian nationalist, yogi & philosopher |
| Very usually, altruism is only the sublimest form of selfishness. — Sri Aurobindo, 1872-1950, Indian nationalist, yogi & philosopher |
 | Happiness is egotistical. |
 | I'm an egotist, but I'm not selfish. There's a difference. I'm a neurotic, I guess. I can't stop thinking about myself. It isn't that I think myself so important. I simply can't think about anything else, that's all. |
 | I have always been devoured by a terrible ambition: to please myself. — Maurice Chapelan, 1906-1992, French author of maxims & journalist |
| The greatest egoists arouse the greatest devotion. — Maurice Chapelan, 1906-1992, French author of maxims & journalist |
 | All I ask of Life is a constant and exaggerated sense of my own importance. — Ashleigh Brilliant, 1933-, British cartoonist & epigrammatist |
| Tell me again how much you agree with me. — Ashleigh Brilliant, 1933-, British cartoonist & epigrammatist |
| People aren't interested in you. They're interested in themselves. |
 | It’s usually the selfish people who are loved the most. They do what you deny yourself, and you love them for it. You give them your heart. — Saul Bellow, 1914-2005, Canadian-American writer, Nobel 1976 |
 | There is always one thing to be grateful for – that one is one’s self and not somebody else. |
 | If you must love your neighbor as yourself, it is at least as fair to love yourself as your neighbor. |
 | Our true passions are selfish. |
 | The only reason why we are always thinking of our own ego is that we have to live with it more continuously than with anyone else's. |
Latin Quotes
 | He conquers who conquers himself. Vincit qui se vincit. 85 likes |
Funny Quotes
 | My father always wanted to be the corpse at every funeral, the bride at every wedding and the baby at every christening. — Alice Roosevelt Longworth, 1884-1980, daughter of Theodore Roosevelt 7 likes |
Ancient Greek
 | The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself; to be conquered by yourself is of all things most shameful and vile. Το νικάν εαυτόν πασών νικών πρώτη και αρίστη. Το δε ηττάσθαι αυτόν υφ’ εαυτού, αίσχιστον και κάκιστον. — Plato, 427-347 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 33 likes |
 | I feel no shame in loving myself above all. Φιλών μάλιστ’ εμαυτόν ουκ αισχύνομαι. — Euripides, 480-406 BC, Ancient Greek tragedian ‐ Cresphontes 21 likes |
 | Nobody loves anybody more than himself. Φιλεί δ’ εαυτού πλείον ουδείς ουδένα. — Menander, 4th cent. BC, Ancient Greek dramatist (New Comedy) 11 likes |
