Saul Bellow Quotes

I'll never be immune to criticism, and that's okay, and I'm very comfortable with that.

People and what they say don't bother me like they used to. When I was younger, I really couldn't take it because I couldn't understand where the criticism was coming from.

I'm a big boy; I can handle criticism.

I think when you get to that point in your life where you're the first to laugh at yourself, you're at the best place of your life.

I had someone tell me I fell off, ooh I needed that.

I warn people, your 40s will require massive amounts of humor and humility.

There is a certain kind of maturity that can be attained only through the discipline of suffering.

When you are free from self-doubt, you fail better. You accept criticism and listen.

I'm never more courageous than when I'm embracing imperfection, embracing vulnerabilities, and setting boundaries with the people in my life.

It's murder to doubt yourself in life. It took until I was 45 to get to that point. As hard as it is in your work, it's harder in your life. But it can be done.

The rate at which a person can mature is directly proportional to the embarrassment he can tolerate.

From a certain age, I sort of accepted myself for what I was. And although to other people it was like nothing ever goes right, I had a really nice attitude that I'd inherited from my parents, and especially from my dad.

It's a healthy thing to get some bad criticism. I'm still here and I'm fine, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't get to you reading the negative stuff.

My advice would be not to write until after 35. You need some experience, and for life to knock you about a bit. Growing up is so hard you probably won't have much emotion to spare anyway.

One thing that I am proud of: I am really capable of laughing at myself.

It is of immense importance to learn to laugh at ourselves.

By the time you're 30, you know who you are inside. You learn to laugh at things you can't change; you learn to be yourself.

I might have to stumble a little bit more in public than others, but that's fine, I don't mind, I've developed a thick skin.

You know, once you have been through a certain amount of things in life, you definitely grow more comfortable with yourself.

It's not a gift of mine, but one given to me, to be able to criticise myself and not be crushed, by myself or by others.

Stronger by weakness, wiser men become.

I just don't take myself as seriously anymore. But as a result of that, I am taking myself more seriously. My ego has gone on holiday, and it can't get a flight back home.

I really believe I'm no different from anyone else. I just had a few challenges I had to learn from at a very early age.

I need to be able to face things.

In my own life, I believe it was an early education in poetical metaphor that helped me to grapple with and make sense of all the difficult and traumatic things that were to come.