I'm going to write a book someday and the title will be I'm an Ass, You're an Ass. That's the most liberating, wonderful thing in the world, when you openly admit you're an ass. It's wonderful. When people tell me, 'You're wrong.' I say, 'What can you expect of an ass?'
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Openly acknowledging one's own foolishness can be liberating and defuse criticism.
- In plain terms
- Admitting you’re an ass frees you.
- What can you take from it?
- Own your mistakes to reduce the power of others' judgments.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- When does humility become self‑sabotage?
- How can you balance honesty with self‑respect?
Another view
Constant self-deprecation may undermine confidence.
More from Anthony de Mello
If you just swallow everything I am telling you, I am brainwashing you.
Permalink to quote #12 Is it possible for the rose to say, 'I will give my fragrance to the good people who smell me, but I will withhold it from the bad?' Or is it possible for the …
Permalink to quote #14 'I wish to become a teacher of the Truth.' 'Are you prepared to be ridiculed, ignored and starving till you are forty-five?' 'I am. But tell me: What will happ…
Permalink to quote #11
Related quotes
And it is always the humble man who talks too much; the proud man watches himself too closely.
Gilbert Keith ChestertonGilbert Keith Chesterton quote #15 Perhaps the only true dignity of man is his capacity to despise himself.
George SantayanaGeorge Santayana quote #28 You are different from the really great man in only one thing: The great man, at one time, also was a very little man, but he developed one important ability: …
Wilhelm ReichWilhelm Reich quote #45