Novalis Quotes

A human being is a deciding being.

At which point should we let go and do what we want to do, and when should we submit to rules? Coming to terms with our true natures and who we really are has always been a fascination to humans. I know it fascinates me.

Obedience is detachment from the self. This is the most radical detachment of all. But what is the self? The self is the principle of reason and responsibility in us. It is the root of freedom, it is what makes us men.

Your character will be what you yourself choose to make it.

...even the richest personality is nothing before he has chosen himself, and on the other hand even what one might call the poorest personality is everything when he has chosen himself; for the great thing is not to be this or that but to be oneself, and this everyone can be if he wills it.

I will not live out of me I will not see with others' eyes My good is good, my evil ill I would be free.

A person whose desires and impulses are his own - are the expression of his own nature, as it has been developed and modified by his own culture - is said to have a character. One whose desires and impulses are not his own, has no character, no more than a steam-engine has character.

I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am also, much more than that. So are we all.

Do whatever you will, but first be such as are able to will.

I am what is mine. Personality is the original personal property.

Every human has four endowments - self awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom... The power to choose, to respond, to change.

What is unique about humans is their individuality.

But to do this kind of work, you have to be very strong, otherwise you lose your personality, your identity.

If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive.

Identity in the form of continuity of personality is an extremely important characteristic of the individual.

We human beings are strange creatures and still reserve the right to think for ourselves.

The little things, I can obey. But the big things - how we think, what we value - those you must choose yourself. You can't let anyone - or any society - determine those for you.

Circumstances do not make the man, they reveal him.

To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.

All I know is that when I go somewhere, I'm not an autobot. I am a human being. I am not an actor.

It's very clearly stated in the film: You make your own choices, and what you're always fighting is ego.

I drink therefore I am.

Our subjectivity is so completely our own.

I want to be defined by my own essence.

Others will always seek to define you based on what they think you represent or who they think you are. But you have to be the one to control what you do and what you say and how you present yourself.