Where talent is a dwarf, self-esteem is a giant. - Conceits and Caprices.

Where talent is a dwarf, self-esteem is a giant. - Conceits and Caprices.

I have never been contained except I made the prison.

I have never been contained except I made the prison.

To see ourselves as others see us can be eye-opening. To see others as sharing a nature with ourselves is read more

To see ourselves as others see us can be eye-opening. To see others as sharing a nature with ourselves is the merest decency. But it is from the far more difficult achievement of seeing ourselves amongst others, as a local example of the forms human life has locally taken, a case among cases, a world among worlds, that the largeness of mind, without which objectivity is self-congratulation and tolerance a sham, comes.

I suppose I have a highly developed capacity for self-delusion, so it's no problem for me to believe that I'm read more

I suppose I have a highly developed capacity for self-delusion, so it's no problem for me to believe that I'm somebody else.

People never improve unless they look to some standard or example higher or better than themselves.

People never improve unless they look to some standard or example higher or better than themselves.

It doesn't matter what we do until we accept ourselves. Once we accept ourselves, it doesn't matter what we do.

It doesn't matter what we do until we accept ourselves. Once we accept ourselves, it doesn't matter what we do.

I'm not trying to prove anybody wrong, I'm just trying to prove something to myself.

I'm not trying to prove anybody wrong, I'm just trying to prove something to myself.

To preserve an unclouded capacity for the enjoyment of life is an unusual moral and psychological achievement. Contrary to popular read more

To preserve an unclouded capacity for the enjoyment of life is an unusual moral and psychological achievement. Contrary to popular belief, it is not the prerogative of mindlessness, but the exact opposite: It is the reward of self-esteem.

To learn to get along without, to realize that what the world is going to demand of us may be read more

To learn to get along without, to realize that what the world is going to demand of us may be a good deal more important than what we are entitled to demand of it -- this is a hard lesson.