Our credulity is greatest concerning the things we know least about. And since we know least about ourselves, we are ready to believe all that is said about us. Hence the mysterious power of both flattery and calumny.... It is thus with most of us: we are what other people say we are. We know ourselves chiefly by hearsay.
PsychologyIdentityBeliefEgoPerceptionFlatteryOpinionReputationSocial
Introspection and self-awareness practices can reduce this dependence.
To find the cause of our ills in something outside ourselves, something specific that can be spotted and eliminated, is a diagnosis that cannot fail to appeal.…
Compassion is probably the only antitoxin of the soul. Where there is compassion even the most poisonous impulses remain relatively harmless. One would rather …
The sick in soul insist that it is humanity that is sick, and they are the surgeons to operate on it. They want to turn the world into a sickroom. And once the…
The aim of flattery is to soothe and encourage us by assuring us of the truth of an opinion we have already formed about ourselves.
'I well understand your doing this,' said the notary. 'A man of science can't be expected to burden himself with the practical details of existence.' Charles f…
'My idea of an agreeable person,' said Hugo Bohun, 'is a person who agrees with me.'