Bryan Lee O'Malley Quotes

I was a little truth seeker as a child. I wanted more than anything to understand myself and also other people.

We read deeply for varied reasons, most of them familiar: that we cannot know enough people profoundly enough; that we need to know ourselves better; that we require knowledge, not just of self and others, but of the way things are.

I enjoy learning about other people. I really didn't understand that until 'Moonlight.'

He who knows others is clever; He who knows himself has discernment.

We see through others only when we see through ourselves.

He who knows himself properly can very soon learn to know all other men. It is all reflection.

The more you see what other people do, the more you learn about yourself.

What you really have to know is one: yourself. And the only way you can know that one is in the mirror of the others. And the only way you can see into the mirror of the others is by love or its opposite—by profound emotion. Certainly not by curiosity—by dancing around asking, looking, making notes. You have to live relationships to know.

We know others to the extent that we know ourselves.

People have asked me about playing outsiders. I don't consider myself an outsider. Maybe that's why I'm interested in that. I'm not really sure.

A story about my life should not be particularly interesting, but it is: it's just about me and some kids who didn't know how to talk to each other. It's personal but not autobiographical.

Self-knowledge comes from knowing other men.

I think that's one of the most important things that books do: not to teach you anything, but to help you teach yourself by just being in the world of the book and having your own thoughts and reactions and noticing your own reactions and thoughts and learning about yourself that way.

I'm curious about people. That's what I've always done since I've been a small boy. I'm curious about others.

The questions which one asks oneself begin, at least, to illuminate the world, and become one's key to the experience of others.

I love life. I'm fascinated by human behavior because that feeds back into my work.

It's amazing what you find out about yourself when you write in the first person about someone very different from you.

Books let us into their souls and lay open to us the secrets of our own.

If you don't understand yourself you don't understand anybody else.

I'm just incredibly interested in people.

All my work is always that exploration of human nature.

In every person, you have a world of personalities and souls, a world of perspectives that you can share. You can get into anyone's shoes. You've got to be willing to stare at the ugliest part of yourself and deal with it.

I learned so much about life and other human beings - then about myself.

For solace, I love a book that opens up my perspective.

I never feel like I'm looking to get away from my own self. Not as much as I'm trying to get inside the mind of somebody else.