Carlos Castaneda Quotes

Being preoccupied with our self-image is like being deaf and blind. It's like standing in the middle of a vast field of wildflowers with a black hood over our heads. It's like coming upon a tree of singing birds while wearing earplugs.

Self-absorption intensifies isolation, but permits it to go unnoticed.

I was deaf and dumb and blind to all but me, myself and I.

I never really look at other people; I just worry about myself.

[Dona Maria] saw that the people of this world moved about in an armor of egotism, drunk with self-gazing, athirst for compliments, hearing little of what was said to them, unmoved by the accidents that befell their closest friends, in dread of all appeals that might interrupt their long communion with their own desires.

Fastidiousness is only another word for egotism; and all men who know not where to look for truth save in the narrow well of self will find their own image at the bottom, and mistake it for what they are seeking.

A person wrapped up in himself makes a small package.

When a man is wrapped up in himself, he makes a pretty small package.

People are really exercised about one particular thing, and that is themselves. They will bore you endlessly with their broken hearts.

Fear's greatest weapon is its ability to blind one to anything. In its presence, we forget there are others to consider, things to save besides ourselves.

Pride, like the magnet, constantly points to one object, self; but, unlike the magnet, it has no attractive pole, but at all points repels.

There is nothing so depressing as a constant contemplation of one's self, and the greatest moral cowardice in the world's opinion comes from consulting one's own personal convenience.

Projecting yourself until everything is talking about you is, of course, a self-flattering form of self-pity

Selfishness is the making a man's self his own centre, the beginning and end of all he doeth.

When the self is ones exclusive subject and limit, reference and measure, one has no choice but to make a world of words.

He who lives only for himself is truly dead to others.

It is the common vice of all, in old age, to be too intent upon our interests.

That love of self, which the world advocates, is a thousand times more dangerous than any poison.

Self-pity is egotism undiluted, after all—self-centeredness in its purest form.

In my own pursuit of God, I often became preoccupied with ME! It was easy to think that being constantly aware of my faults and weakness was humility. It’s not! If I’m the main subject, talking incessantly about my weaknesses, I have entered into the most subtle form of pride.

Never underestimate the power of self-absorption, including your parents' self-absorption.

I don’t want to start thinking again. Not like I have this last week. I can’t think again. Not ever again.

He who is enamored of himself will at least have the advantage of being inconvenienced by few rivals.

Self-absorption in all its forms kills empathy, let alone compassion. When we focus on ourselves, our world contracts as our problems and preoccupations loom large. But when we focus on others, our world expands. Our own problems drift to the periphery of the mind and so seem smaller, and we increase our capacity for connection - or compassionate action.

You’re a human, you should understand self-obsession.