Dennis Potter Quotes

Self-awareness is not the same thing as self-approval, any more than imagination is the same thing as day-dreaming.

It's hard for me to characterise myself. I think I'm balanced. Some people might say I'm cold-hearted.

It's important to have an examined life - but it's a fine line between having an examined life and being hypercritical of oneself. There has to be balance in there somewhere.

It's not a gift of mine, but one given to me, to be able to criticise myself and not be crushed, by myself or by others.

I'm my worst critic, and I like the fact that I can listen to myself now and make fun of myself, listen, make changes - 'Oh, man, that's messed up. Okay, I need to work on that; I need to work on this.'

I think I have a better sense of my weaknesses - being self-important, selfish and having a big ego probably triggers all the other stuff. I can see myself more clearly.

I find that we must be careful not to judge or weigh in on anything other than ourselves. I am living and learning this still!

The ability to reflect is associated with critical thinking and reasoning ability. And the capacity to be alone is one of the highest levels of development. It's important to know how to self-soothe and be confident of other people's love even when they're not there in front of you.

I know my flaws before other people point them out to me.

And I had this big, long list of what I wanted in a guy but I realized I didn't stack up to the list myself.

I don't feel like a very nostalgic person. I think about the past much more clinically. When I look back and wonder, 'Why was I doing that? Was it a waste of time?' I don't beat myself up. Instead, I say, 'I'm so glad I did that, because now I really know what matters to me.'

I'm not afraid to blame myself for any of my own faults or just to analyze things in a different way, but I don't overanalyze, either.

All the work I do is personal, so the good stuff and the bad stuff that you see in there is all good stuff and bad stuff that I have, and part of the journey, for me, has been to embrace these things that I find embarrassing about myself: my stubbornness, my ego, my maudlin-ness - these things that I see myself do, and I go, 'Oh, David, stop that!'

Self-criticism is an art not many are qualified to practice.

Upon reflection, I decided I had three main weaknesses: I was confused (evidenced by a lack of facts, an inability to coordinate my thoughts, and an inability to verbalize my ideas); I had a lack of confidence, which cause me to back down from forcefully stated positions; and I was overly emotional at the expense of careful, 'scientific' though. I was thirty-seven years old and still discovering who I was.

As well as making friends with yourself, fundamentally one should be cynical and critical. This doesn't mean that you should punish yourself, but you just attack the areas of ego's indulgence. At the same time, you continue the friendship with yourself.

Self-love is a good thing but self-awareness is more important. You need to once in a while go ‘Uh, I’m kind of an asshole.’

It is good to see ourselves as others see us. Try as we may, we are never able to know ourselves fully as we are, especially the evil side of us. This we can do only if we are not angry with our critics but will take in good heart whatever they might have to say.

Self-criticism, like self-administered brain surgery, is perhaps not a good idea. Can the 'self' see the 'self' with any objectivity?

You become more and more charged with your life and with a life that you're observing. When I was younger, I was actually looking forward to getting older, to have more insight, more understanding. I'm much more tolerant with others and with myself. I'm not in rebellion all the time, I'm not angry so much. But all those feelings are really useful [when you're young] because they fire us, as long as they don't get out of control.

The more I reflect and look back on the past, the more vividly do I feel my limitations.

Whenever we discover a dislike in us, toward any one, we should ever be a little suspicious of ourselves.

You've got to be able to look at your thoughts on paper and discover what a fool you were.

As one grows older one becomes more critical of oneself and less of other people.

I've been criticized for not having perspective in the past and I thought that of myself many times but not there.