Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes

He that writes to himself writes to an eternal public.

If you really want to know yourself, start by writing a book.

I feel like I've grown up a bit. I'm a bit more confident, and I've been reading more, and I've had a little more time to myself. I went on this writing trip to gather my thoughts about where and who I am in this world, and why we're all here.

I am always writing to myself.

The act of writing is the act of discovering what you believe.

Everyone should go inward, get curious about themselves, and investigate their shadows. It's one of the most important gifts we can give humanity. It's one of our most vital causes.

A writer is rarely so well inspired as when he talks about himself.

Seeing that I am so busily occupied with myself just now, I want to try to paint my self-portrait in writing.

One of the other reasons for writing this book [My Beloved World] was to hold on to the person you first met. More of the world knows about me now and follows me in a way that never happened before. I didn't want me, the inside of me, to change. Because I liked Sonia, the Sonia who has been. So another reason for writing the book was to hold on to that - whatever the best in Sonia was, to try to capture it.

Can you every single day tell a true testimony of who you are? That's really what life is about.

I have never dissected my personal life. What sense would it make?

Anyone who has problems, or worries, anyone who laughs and cries, anyone who feels can write. It's only talking on paper... talking about the things that matter to us.

I've been living with myself all of my life, so I know all of me. So when I watch me, all I see is me. It's boring.

When people don't have any curiosity about themselves, that is always a bad sign.

Today I start a diary; it is against my usual habbits, but out of a clearly felt need.

Much of the time, we're transfixed by all of the ways we can reflect ourselves into the world. And we can barely find the time to reflect deeply back in on our own selves.

I write from my life, my experience. I'm selfish that way.

I have always written only for myself - to clarify things, to clarify things with myself, to understand in an inner way what is actually happening.

I write - though perhaps it sounds pretentious to say so - to make a clearing in the wilderness, to find out what I care about and what exactly to make of it.

When I go back and read my journals or fiction, I am always surprised. I may not remember having those thoughts, but they still exist and I know they are mine, and it's all part of making sense of who I am.

Writing is a really good first step toward that goal of knowing yourself.

I just want to live each moment, but it's kind of hard to do that when you are asked to analyze yourself constantly. But it's also good in that you are forced to think about things that you don't ordinarily think about. I think it's strange.

I'm not really on a mission to tell anybody anything. I'd rather be figured out.

I have not had time to reflect on my own truths in many years.

It is only in solitude that I ever find my own core.