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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 37 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.
(Side note: Want to use these quotes to make a lasting change to your life? Then check out and recite these 57 affirmations for success).
What You Will Learn
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.
- “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
- “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 real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.” – Thomas Paine
- “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
- “Be so busy improving yourself that you have no time to criticize others.” – Unknown
“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
- “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
- “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
- “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
Final Words on Self-Reflection
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.
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.
