33 Self-Realization Quotes

In a world that often pulls us in countless directions, finding moments of introspection and self-awareness can feel like rare treasures. Self-realization, the profound understanding of our true nature, serves as a guiding light on this journey. To inspire your path of inner discovery, we've gathered a powerful selection of 33 quotes from some of the greatest thinkers, philosophers, and spiritual leaders. These timeless words will not only resonate with your soul but also provide the clarity and motivation needed to embrace your authentic self. Dive in and let these quotes ignite the spark of self-realization within you.

1. “I had been my whole life a bell, and never knew it until at that moment I was lifted and struck.” - Annie Dillard

2. “Happiness is part of who we are. Joy is the feeling” - Tony DeLiso

3. “Question: You seem to advise me to be self-centered to the point ofegoism. Must I not yield even to my interest in other people?Maharaj: Your interest in others is egoistic, self-concerned, self-oriented. You are not interested in others as persons, but onlyas far as they enrich, or enoble your own image of yourself.And the ultimate in selfishness is to care only for the protection,preservation and multiplication of one's own body. By body Imean all that is related to your name and shape--- your family,tribe, country, race, etc. To be attached to one's name andshape is selfishness. A man who knows that he is neither bodynor mind cannot be selfish, for he has nothing to be selfish for.Or, you may say, he is equally 'selfish' on behalf of everybodyhe meets; everybody's welfare is his own. The feeling 'I am theworld, the world is myself' becomes quite natural; once it is es-tablished, there is just no way of being selfish. To be selfishmeans to covet, to acquire, accumulate on behalf of the partagainst the whole. I Am ThatNisargadatta Maharaj” - Nisargadatta Maharaj

4. “There is nothing around me but money, money, money.” - Stephen Richards

5. “Without enthusiasm then what we have surrounded ourselves with becomes worthless.” - Stephen Richards

6. “Pursue your goal. Opinions be damned.” - Stacy Verdick Case

7. “Whatever your desire, use Cosmic Ordering to get what you require!” - Stephen Richards

8. “In the beginning man was poor, then along came Cosmic Ordering.” - Stephen Richards

9. “The only secret of wealth creation is knowing how to use Cosmic Ordering.” - Stephen Richards

10. “Everybody talks about being rich, Cosmic Ordering does something about it.” - Stephen Richards

11. “Whatever you are seeking is also seeking you.” - Shakti Sharan

12. “I'm afraid to go into myself and see what's going on in there.” - Muriel Barbery

13. “Willful blindness sees no end of damage done.” - Stephen Richards

14. “Sometimes milestones are not measured by the accomplishments of society, but by those of integrity.” - Tamara Rose Blodgett

15. “When the jīva, reflected consciousness, has its inert association with the body totally destroyed and ignited by the fire of jñāna, it burns in the huge and extensive cremation ground, the cidākāśa. The vision of this excellent effulgence is similar to the sight of an unbounded conflagration that rages when a vast forest, dense with dried trees, catches fire and spreads in all directions.” - Muruganar

16. “You know how sometimes you can be going along and do something or say something, and suddenly you *know* yourself? I mean, it's like you're looking at somebody else, and it's just so fucking clear you want to hit something.” - Sarah Monette

17. “Und es gibt Menschen, die behaupten, Gott hätte das gesamte Universum erschaffen, um sich selbst sehen zu können. So wie wir immer unter Menschen gehen, weil wir uns über andere Menschen definieren. Weil wir nur durch die Art, wie sie sind, erkennen können, wie wir sind.” - Benjamin Lebert

18. “Perhaps defining a self begins with simply making the first choice, simply rising up and deciding what you desire, and then methodically, like writing, putting one word after the other until you have created a whole self and a whole life in the process.” - Michele Rosenthal

19. “What makes the self?Experiences. Acculturation.What else?I don't know.What's within you.She says, I don't know what was within me and what got put there by my life as it was lived.You can never know that.No.But there is a you that was there before you were born and that nobody shaped or changed or could have changed.” - Carolina De Robertis

20. “People do not belong to others, either. How can the huincas buy and sell people if they do not own them. Sometimes the boy went two or three days without speaking a word, surly, and not eating, and when asked what was the matter, the answer was always the same: "There are content days and there are sad days. Each person is a master of his silence.” - Isabel Allende

21. “I may not be old but I’m too old to have this much nothing” - Jonathan Tropper

22. “To control your life, control your mind. To control your mind, control your breath.” - Stephen Richards

23. “Stop harboring grudges against those who have wronged you, it just holds you back when you really want to be in the NOW.” - Stephen Richards

24. “Enlightenment is not about cocooning one’s self, but about integrating more fully with both your self and life.” - jay woodman

25. “I think I've been afraid most of my life to be myself.” - J.A. Redmerski

26. “The real problem has to do with the inability by people to admit that a position they've held a long time might be wrong. That's all. Not that it is. Just that it might be. I don't know why it is, but we tend to fall in love with things we believe, Threaten them, and you threaten us.” - Jack McDevitt

27. “When life gives you lemons, you don't make lemonade. You use the seeds to plant a whole orchard - an entire franchise! Or you could just stay on the Destiny Bus and drink lemonade someone else has made, from a can.” - Anthon St. Maarten

28. “Courage doesn’t happen when you have all the answers. It happens when you are ready to face the questions you have been avoiding your whole life.” - Shannon L. Alder

29. “Our mind takes an inventory of past events and uses them to project the probability of success in the future. Depending on the information it gathers, we either move forward—or thefear response is triggered and forward progress is circumvented. Page 48” - Nick Ortner

30. “Confidence is a life ingredient that is essential to success and wholeness. It is perhaps the single most important trait that enables seemingly average people to do and become all that they can. And the good news is – it can be learned. No one has to suffer a lifetime of low confidence.” - Steve Goodier

31. “He hadn't meant to get so angry at Morgan. He didn't often get angry at other people. There was no sense in it. The person you were angry at was rarely ever repentant. Now, getting angry with yourself had some merit. It showed you had sense enough to chastise the one person who had any hope of benefiting from it. And he was plenty angry with himself. For many things.” - Sarah Addison Allen

32. “Run and hide or rise and shine ...” - Stephen Richards

33. “There's a way, a way way too long but reachable, not for everyone a way but possible... Go and don't lose your way!” - Rossana Condoleo