Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Quotes

We cannot too soon convince ourselves how easily we may be dispensed with in the world. What important personages we imagine ourselves to be! We think that we alone are the life of the circle in which we move; in our absence, we fancy that life, existence, breath will come to a general pause, and, alas, the gap which we leave is scarcely perceptible, so quickly is it filled again; nay, it is often the place, if not of something better, at least for something more agreeable.

I had fooled myself into thinking that I was something important to the rest of the world.

If your ego starts out, 'I am important, I am big, I am special,' you're in for some disappointments when you look around at what we've discovered about the universe. No, you're not big. No, you're not. You're small in time and in space. And you have this frail vessel called the human body that's limited on Earth.

The truest self-respect is not to think of self.

When you have any kind of success in life, that's like the most dangerous moment that you're in because you're going to tend to think wow, I can just keep repeating what I've done. I'm a great person. People love me. All of the sudden they're giving me all of this attention. You get drunk on it and you lose your sense of balance and your sense of detachment. I know it's happened to me.

I can maintain my sense of the sacredness of existence only by understanding my own limitations and losing my self-importance.

Humility is not thinking meanly of oneself, but rather it means not thinking of oneself at all.

Whenever you think that you are getting too big for the people around you, remember all that separates you from the guy sitting next to you is a little piece of gristle in your throat.

Just when you begin thinking of yourself as memorable, you run into someone who can't even remember having met you

Let not a man's self be to him all in all.

When a person feels disposed to over estimate his own importance, let him remember that mankind got along very well before his birth, and that in all probability they will they will get along very well after his death.

I have a particular dislike of human pride. And if you think that you can engineer outcomes, that's a manifestation of pride. Among other things, it's impractical. It just doesn't work. The world doesn't work that way.

It is a good rule in life to be wary of the company of people who think of themselves in the third person, no matter how well justified they might seem to be in doing so.

If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.

Accept disgrace willingly... Accept being unimportant... Surrender yourself humbly; then you can be trusted to care for all things. Love the world as your own self; then you can truly care for all things.

Think about it: what weakens us is feeling offended by the deeds and misdeeds of our fellow men. Our self-importance requires that we spend most of our lives offended by someone.

You know what I think my best quality is? I think I'm nice to have around. I'd hate it if I weren't around!

I don't have that much of an ego where it's like "How dare you, you can't do something without me."

Thinking that your story is so interesting that other people will want to listen to it or read it or pay to hear it, that's - what kind of person thinks that? A monster of self-regard. It's not normal thinking.

She liked to imagine that when she passed the world looked after her, but she also knew how anonymous she was.

When you start thinking you're a big shot, you wash more feet.

Only an arrogant man will claim to be independent of everybody else and be self-contained.

In humility is the greatest freedom. As long as you have to defend the imaginary self that you think is important, you lose your peace of heart.

Lord, I feel so small sometimes in this great big old world. Yeah, I know there are more important things. But don't forget to remember me.