Paul Valery Quotes

It's easier to shut yourself off outside than reveal your inner thoughts.

I've always been just kind of consumed by my own thoughts.

I believe in nurturing the inner world.

I spend... too much time... in my own head.

There is no need to sally forth, for it remains true that those things which make us human are, curiously enough, always close at hand. Resolve, then, that on this very ground, with small flags waving and tiny blasts on tiny trumpets, we shall meet the enemy, and not only may he be ours, he may be us.

The primary sign of a well-ordered mind is a man's ability to remain in one place and linger in his own company

Think... of the world you carry within you.

I looked into that empty bottle and I saw myself.

When everyone goes home, you're stuck with yourself.

As a young man, I was very introverted and quiet, but with a lot of intensity and feelings.

Doubt yourself and you doubt everything you see. Judge yourself and you see judges everywhere. But if you listen to the sound of your own voice, you can rise above doubt and judgment. And you can see forever.

How pathetically scanty my self-knowledge is compared with, say, my knowledge of my room. There is no such thing as observation of the inner world, as there is of the outer world.

A lot of people think I live in a soul bubble.

I work from the inside out.

I am in my own head most of the time.

I do not ask for any crown But that which all may win; Nor try to conquer any world Except the one within.

Let no man glory in the greatness of his mind, but rather keep watch o'er his wits.

I'm one of those introverted people who simply feels a lot better after spending time alone thinking through ideas and emotions. This is a sign, I've come to think, of a kind of emotional disturbance - a reaction to inner fragility. I wish I were more able to just act and do, rather than constantly have to retreat and examine and think.

My life day in and day out is accessing my emotions and bringing them to the forefront.

I think alone time is good to know how to be alone with your own thoughts. I think it just helps you kind of be a better, more grounded person.

I feel like I'm in my own head a lot; it just feels amazing, but scary, weird and confusing.

You talk about crying! The spring of 1988, I spent a fair length of time trying to come to grips with who I was and the habits I had and what they did to people that I truly loved. I really spent a period of time where, I suspect, I cried three or four times a week.

It is possibly not very helpful to our inner life to ponder a great deal on how the external world is reflected in our soul. By doing so, we do not get beyond a shadowy picture of the world of mental images in ourselves.

I spent a lot of time in my head, but not like caring about what everybody else thought, just literally in my own world.

I use solitude as a judge and as a person - a lot.