May 5, 2008Quotations: Values and identity.
From our newsletter Outside the Lines
Don’t take my word for it
Smart folks thinking out loud about values and identity.
“Identity would seem to be the garment with which one covers the nakedness of the self, in which case, it is best that the garment be loose, a little like the robes of the desert, through which one’s nakedness can always be felt, and, sometimes, discerned.”
-James Baldwin, American author
“Focusing on your values may provide you with meaning, but it won’t simplify things. You’ll just discover even more stuff that’s important to you.”
-David Allen, American business consultant
“‘Who am I?’ is not really a question because it has no answer to it; it is unanswerable. It is a device, not a question.”
Osho, Indian guru
“The best mirror is an old friend.”
-George Herbert, British poet
“To be idle requires a strong sense of personal identity.”
-Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish author
“When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier.”
-Roy E. Disney, American businessman
“First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.”
-Epictetus, Greek philosopher
“Tell me whom you love and I’ll tell you who you are.”
-Arsène Houssaye, French poet
“The real meditation is, the meditation on one’s identity. Ah, voilà une chose! You try it. You try finding out why you’re you and not somebody else. And who in the blazes are you anyhow? Ah, voilà une chose!
- Ezra Pound, American poet
“I yam what I yam and that’s all that I yam.”
-Popeye the sailor ma (cartoon hero)
