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What does it mean to reflect on yourself?
Self-reflection plays a significant role in developing and strengthening our emotional intelligence. It is the gateway to understanding yourself—your emotions, dreams, desires, and even flaws.
Knowing what you are and what you want is the key to figuring out where you want to be.
Learning the art of self-reflection is essential if you want to succeed and be happy in life. How can you identify your areas for improvement if you cannot pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses?
This article features 107 self-reflection quotes that can help you achieve your goals and ambitions. These quotes can help you grow into the person you want to be, whether at home, in your workplace, or anywhere in life.
But before we get to our list, let’s first discuss some reasons why reading these self-reflection quotes can be beneficial.
Why Read Self Reflection Quotes?
There are many ways to improve your self-reflection skills, and reading these quotes is one of them.
With these quotes, you can encourage yourself to continue practicing self-reflection and self-acceptance.
Doing this kind of reflection is the first step toward loving yourself and being happy.
107 Self-Reflection Quotes to Help You Grow as a Person
- “You attract what you are, not what you want. So if you want it then reflect it.” – Tony Gaskins
- “There is no greater journey than the one that you must take to discover all of the mysteries that lie within you.” – Michelle Sandlin
- “The journey into self-love and self-acceptance must begin with self-examination… until you take the journey of self-reflection, it is almost impossible to grow or learn in life.” – Iyanla Vanzant
- “Self-reflection is the gateway to freedom. It also brings greater appreciation and enjoyment. We begin to enjoy spending time with our own mind, and we enjoy reflecting on our experience of the teachings. Like the sun emerging from behind the clouds, the teachings of the dharma become clear.” – Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche
- “The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.” – Thomas Paine
- “It is always our own self that we find at the end of the journey. The sooner we face that self, the better.” – Ella Maillart
- “Be a reflection of what you’d like to receive. If you want love, give love. If you want truth, be truthful. What you give out will always return.” – Kristen Butler
- “Self-awareness gives you the capacity to learn from your mistakes as well as your successes.” –Lawrence Bossidy
- “The promises of this world are, for the most part, vain phantoms; and to confide in one’s self, and become something of worth and value is the best and safest course.” – Michel Angelo
- “There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.” – Aldos Huxley
- “Friendship with one’s self is all important, because without it one cannot be friends with anyone else in the world.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
- “The deepest secret is that life is not a process of discovery, but a process of creation. You are not discovering yourself but creating yourself anew. Seek, therefore, not to find out who you are, seek to determine what you want to be.” – Neal Donald Walsch
- “There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.” – Ernest Hemingway
- “Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.” – Margaret J. Wheatley
- “Self-reflection entails asking yourself questions about your values, assessing your strengths and failures, thinking about your perceptions and interactions with others, and imagining where you want to take your life in the future.” – Robert L. Rosen
Self-reflection entails asking yourself questions about your values, assessing your strengths and failures, thinking about your perceptions and interactions with others, and imagining where you want to take your life in the future.” – Robert L. Rosen
- “Be so busy improving yourself that you have no time to criticize others.” – Unknown
- “These years in silence and reflection made me stronger and reminded me that acceptance has to come from within and that this kind of truth gives me the power to conquer emotions I didn’t even know existed.” – Ricky Martin
- “What we perceive about ourselves is greatly a reflection of how we will end up living our lives.” – Stephen Richards
- “Even if you think you're doing well and have it all figured out, there is a voice you will always inevitably hear at some point which nags at you and says “but wait…” Don't ever dismiss it, listen to what it has to say. Life will never be close enough to perfect, and listening to that voice means stepping outside of yourself and considering your own wrongdoings and flaws.” – Ashly Lorenzana
- “The past can’t be changed, can it? It can just be forgiven.” – Elizabeth George
- “One of the greatest tragedies in life is to lose your own sense of self and accept the version of you that is expected by everyone else.” – K.L. Toth
- “Life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forwards.” – Søren Kierkegaard
- “Unless you learn to face your own shadows, you will continue to see them in others, because the world outside you is only a reflection of the world inside you.” – Unknown
- “Beginning today, set an intention and a relentless focus on living your life as the greatest person you can be, in all situations.” – Brendon Burchard
- “You’re always with yourself, so you might as well enjoy the company.” – Diane von Furstenberg
- “It is when you lose sight of yourself, that you lose your way. To keep your truth in sight you must keep yourself in sight and the world to you should be a mirror to reflect to you your image; the world should be a mirror that you reflect upon.” – C. JoyBell C.
- “The key to happiness is really progress and growth and constantly working on yourself and developing something.” – Lewis Howes
- “True freedom is the capacity for acting according to one’s true character, to be altogether one’s self, to be self-determined and not subject to outside coercion.” – Corliss Lamont
- “Growth is actually contagious, so if you want to reach your goals, you’ve got to get around people who are going in the same direction you want to be going, and you will catch the success.” – Dr. Henry Cloud
- “The feeling of being ‘offended’ is a warning indicator that is showing you where to look within yourself for unresolved issues.” – Bryant McGill
- “Before you judge another, ask yourself if what you don't like in them is actually what you don't like in yourself.” – Joe Vitale
- “Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again.” – Gautama Buddha
- “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always be where you’ve always been.” – T.D. Jakes
- “People who have had little self-reflection live life in a huge reality blind spot.” – Bryant McGill
- “I often stood in front of the mirror alone, wondering how ugly a person could get.” – Charles Bukowski
- “You’ve got to have rules to live by, and one of mine is always say yes. Put yourself in danger of something amazing happening to you.” – Tom Bilyeu
- “Before I ask you to sit with me, I must be able to sit with myself. Before I ask you to accept my pain, I have to accept the pain myself. Before I ask you to love me, I have to be madly in love with myself.” – C. Thoth
Before I ask you to sit with me, I must be able to sit with myself. Before I ask you to accept my pain, I have to accept the pain myself. Before I ask you to love me, I have to be madly in love with myself.” – C. Thoth
- “Don’t let mental blocks control you. Set yourself free. Confront your fear and turn the mental blocks into building blocks.” – Dr. Roopleen
- “Self-reflection is a humbling process. It’s essential to find out why you think, say, and do certain things—then better yourself.” – Sonya Teclai
- “There is one art of which people should be masters—the art of reflection.” – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- “The cosmos is evolving toward greater self-reflection, allowing us to open the eye of Spirit and see our source.” – Alex Grey
- “Quit trying so hard and sit quietly with yourself and you will see that there are no demands within you.” – Bryant McGill
- “Surround yourself with really good people. I think that's an important thing. Because the people you surround yourself are a reflection of you.” – Aaron Rodgers
- “Self-reflection is a much kinder teacher than regret is. Prioritize yourself by making a habit of it.” – Andrena Sawyer
- “We are chained by our own control. Life is nothing more than finding the key that unlocks every part of our soul.” – Shannon L. Alder
- “Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.” – William Faulkner
- “Honest self-understanding liberates us from our stuck emotions.” – C Terry Warner
- “Knowledge of the self is the mother of all knowledge. So it is incumbent on me to know myself, to know it completely.” – Kahlil Gibran
- “Your soul needs time for solitude and self-reflection. In order to love lead, heal and create you must nourish yourself first.” – Linda Joy
- “Don’t worry if people think you’re crazy. You are crazy. You have that kind of intoxicating insanity that lets other people dream outside of the lines and become who they’re destined to be.” – Jennifer Elisabeth
- “If being an egomaniac means I believe in what I do and in my art or music, then in that respect you can call me that… I believe in what I do, and I’ll say it.” – John Lennon
- “Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look.” – Marcus Aurelius
- “Who am I, where have I been, and where am I going?” – Carl Sandburg
- “Failure is all a matter of perspective. Think of all the people you admire. I guarantee you they all failed at one time or another. The key is to recognize setbacks for what they really are-entry points for learning, not validation that you aren't good enough. After a disappointment analyze your actions, get feedback from friends, and take inventory of what you could do better next time. This type of self-reflection and improvement will ultimately make success inevitable.” – Jillian Michaels
Failure is all a matter of perspective. Think of all the people you admire. I guarantee you they all failed at one time or another. The key is to recognize setbacks for what they really are-entry points for learning, not validation that you aren't good enough. After a disappointment analyze your actions, get feedback from friends, and take inventory of what you could do better next time. This type of self-reflection and improvement will ultimately make success inevitable.” – Jillian Michaels
- “Honest self-reflection opens your mind to reprogramming, change, success, and freedom.” – Vikas Runwal
- “Women need real moments of solitude and self-reflection to balance out how much of ourselves we give away.” – Barbara De Angelis
- “Reflect upon your present blessings – of which every man has many – not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” – Charles Dickens
- “I can do this… I can start over. I can save my own life and I’m never going to be alone as long as I have stars to wish on and people to still love.” – Jennifer Elisabeth
- “Self-reflection is an important stage to diagnose, develop and strengthen your creativity.” – Pearl Zhu
- “He that knows himself, knows others.” – Charles Caleb Colton
- “Self-reflection is necessary to dig beneath our own layers and visit the inner crevices of our heart and mind to develop an understanding of life.” – Anonymous
- “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” – Aristotle
- “Self-reflection is a kind of self-judgment. The difference is just this―the former is positive and the latter is negative.” – Balroop Singh
- “Self-reflection is a desire felt by the body, as well as the soul.” – Susan Griffin
- “The unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates
- “Believing doesn’t make God real. Unbelief doesn’t make Him disappear. Your opinion doesn’t change reality.” – Randy Loubier
- “It is not by muscle, speed, or physical dexterity that great things are achieved, but by reflection, force of character, and judgment.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
- “I want to be the best version of myself for anyone who is going to someday walk into my life and need someone to love them beyond reason.” – Jennifer Elisabeth
- “My own brain is to me the most unaccountable of machinery – always buzzing, humming, soaring roaring diving, and then buried in mud. And why? What's this passion for?” – Virginia Woolf
- “A man must find time for himself. Time is what we spend our lives with. If we are not careful we find others spending it for us.” – Carl Sandburg
- “When I am sharply judgmental of any other person, it's because I sense or see reflected in them some aspect of myself that I don't want to acknowledge.” – Gabor Maté
- “Who hasn't asked himself, am I a monster or is this what it means to be human?” – Clarice Lispector
- “What woman here is so enamored of her own oppression that she cannot see her heelprint upon another woman's face? What woman's terms of oppression have become precious and necessary to her as a ticket into the fold of the righteous, away from the cold winds of self-scrutiny?” – Audre Lorde
- “I think making mistakes and discovering them for yourself is of great value, but to have someone else to point out your mistakes is a shortcut of the process.” – Shelby Foote
- “Self-transformation commences with a period of self-questioning. Questions lead to more questions, bewilderment leads to new discoveries, and growing personal awareness leads to transformation in how a person lives. Purposeful modification of the self only commences with revising our mind’s internal functions. Revamped internal functions eventually alter how we view our external environment.” – Kilroy J. Oldster
Self-transformation commences with a period of self-questioning. Questions lead to more questions, bewilderment leads to new discoveries, and growing personal awareness leads to transformation in how a person lives. Purposeful modification of the self only commences with revising our mind’s internal functions. Revamped internal functions eventually alter how we view our external environment.” – Kilroy J. Oldster
- “Not a bad thing to know something about darkness. You can’t talk about light without some knowledge of darkness. Like your buddy Nietzsche said, ‘He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.' Keep that in mind.” – Kazuki Kaneshiro
- “They remind me that no one saved me and no one will ever have to save me again. I will save myself.” ― Penelope Przekop
- “I was like an empty cup, and now I had to look at what had spilled out of me: all my delusional beliefs about my own value and my pretensions to being a kind of person I wasn't. While i was full of these things I couldn't see them. Now that I was nothing, only an empty glass, I could see everything about myself.” – Sally Rooney
- “How can I, who have not the strength to hold my own past, hope to save the past of someone else?” – Jean-Paul Sartre
- “Society whispered, ‘Disagree with grace.’ Solitude shouted, ‘Question your own space.’” – Amogh Swamy
- “One of the most dangerous things that you can do is to change yourself before you know yourself.” – Craig D. Lounsbrough
- “We spend a lot of time figuring out where we’re supposed to be instead of who we’re supposed to be.” – Dannika Dark
- “Being self-reflective and open to transformation is something we should celebrate, not fear.” – Alok Vaid-Menon
- “But he played music so loudly he could not hear his pain. He stunted his growth beneath a bass that decorated his aura and lyrics that hardened the glass parts of him. He was indeed an autumn leaf dipped in concrete. He wanted sound, any sound but his own thoughts. Ears that needed songs louder than the mind were ears afraid of what they might hear inside.” – Karl Kristian Flores
- “As understanding deepens, the further removed it becomes from knowledge.” – C.G. Jung
- “Self-reflection entails asking yourself questions about your values, assessing your strengths and failures, thinking about your perceptions and interactions with others, and imagining where you want to take your life in the future.” – Robert L. Rosen
- “He sensed he learned a lesson, although the precise meaning of that lesson wasn't clear to him.” – Isabel Allende
- “I have always held that it is only when one sees one's own mistakes with a convex lens, and does just the reverse in the case of others, that one is able to arrive at a just relative estimate of the two.” – Mahatma Gandhi
- “If the ignorant could be happy there’d be no reason for anyone to struggle to become wise. Nature has decreed that the ignorant can never be happy, and in their lack of knowledge is the secret of their own misfortunes.” – Manly P. Hall
- “Inmost suffering, by its very nature, is highly discomforting and thus it thrusts one out of the comfort zone of shallowness and into a much deeper region of self-reflection.” – Derya Sefer
- “Solitude is the choice to be alone for self-reflection and happiness.” – Shree Shambav
- “Like long lost love abandoned in forgotten letters, you lose yourself in others and dream their dreams, become their aspirations. When you look in the mirror, you see a black, blank picture of Them staring back and you vow not to, before giving in once again.” – Scott C. Holstad
Like long lost love abandoned in forgotten letters, you lose yourself in others and dream their dreams, become their aspirations. When you look in the mirror, you see a black, blank picture of Them staring back and you vow not to, before giving in once again.” – Scott C. Holstad
- “Let yourself go. Pull out from the depths those thoughts that you do not understand, and spread them out in the sunlight and know the meaning of them. By understanding George you may learn to understand yourself.” – E.M. Forster
- “What about someone who believes in beautiful things but doesn’t believe in the beautiful itself and isn’t able to follow anyone who could lead him to the knowledge of it? Don’t you think he is living in a dream rather than a wakened state? Isn’t this dreaming: whether asleep or awake, to think that a likeness is not a likeness but rather the thing itself that it is like?” – Plato
- “Accustomed to himself, he then felt not so interesting. He knew himself too well; he thence hid out for some mystery.” – Criss Jami
- “New awareness gives you access to new actions. That’s the power of questions: they create new awareness. And when you identify the options and choose the path forward, you are totally sold on executing it.” – Darcy Luoma
- “Learn to look after your needs and desires and let go of whatever is not serving you. Take time out for yourself and love the person in the mirror.” – Dee Waldeck
- “Pause don’t panic- Whatever you are facing, be it a personal problem or pandemic, ask yourself, Is this really going to matter a year from now?” – Shaneen Clarke
- “We all have monsters. All of our monsters look different. What does yours look like?” – Niedria D. Kenny
- “Everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes us what we are.” – Shahanshah Hafeez
- “If it makes you happy, it doesn't have to make sense to anybody else.” – T.J. Burr
- “Self-reflection helps us walk a mile in another’s shoes.” – Adam Gerace
- “Look outside and you will see yourself. Look inside and you will find yourself.” – Drew Gerald
- “Self-reflection becomes self-torment when learning doesn't occur.” – Jeffrey G. Duarte
- “If you find yourself trapped inside a dimming world, remember it was always this dark inside the body. Where the heart, like any law, stops only for the living. If you find yourself, then congratulations, your hands are yours to keep.” – Ocean Vuong
- “There was something wrong; nobody else had to tell me. Writing it down made me see it. I’d told myself, as if writing to another person.” – Gina Barreca
- “Self-awareness is a good which still can, in some cases, steal one's innocence – for it is often much worse to know better without the discipline to do better.” – Criss Jami
Final Thoughts on Self Reflection Quotes
While it is fairly easy to acknowledge our strengths, it is never easy to admit our weaknesses. One of the hardest parts of the self-reflection process is accepting that we are lacking in some areas.
Nevertheless, the goal of self-reflection is to help you become the best version of yourself by overcoming these weaknesses. You must be brave enough to change and improve for the better.
We hope that, with these quotes, we were able to inspire and encourage you to be a better and happier human being. If you feel like the process is draining you, read these quotes and motivate yourself to keep going.
And if you want more inspirational quotes, be sure to check out these blog posts:
- 45 Life is Hard Quotes and Sayings
- 55 Abundance Quotes to Manifest What You Need
- 71 You Are Worthy Quotes to Know You’re Enough
- 13 Self-Awareness Examples You See Throughout Life
- 75 Positive Energy Quotes to Attract Good Things in Your Life
Finally, if you want to use these quotes to make a lasting change to your life, then check out and recite these 57 affirmations for success.
