If most of us remain ignorant of ourselves, it is because self-knowledge is painful and we prefer the pleasures of illusion.

Quote by Aldous Huxley

Topics: Self Knowledge Quotes

From their experience or from the recorded experience of others (history), men learn only what...

From their experience or from the recorded experience of others (history), men learn only what...

I'm afraid of losing my obscurity. Genuineness only thrives in the dark. Like celery.

I'm afraid of losing my obscurity. Genuineness only thrives in the dark. Like celery.

What is absurd and monstrous about war is that men who have no personal quarrel...

What is absurd and monstrous about war is that men who have no personal quarrel...

The proper study of mankind is books.

The proper study of mankind is books.

Those who believe that they are exclusively in the right are generally those who achieve...

Those who believe that they are exclusively in the right are generally those who achieve...

A man may be a pessimistic determinist before lunch and an optimistic believer in the...

A man may be a pessimistic determinist before lunch and an optimistic believer in the...

People are much too solemn about things - I'm all for sticking pins into Episcopal...

People are much too solemn about things - I'm all for sticking pins into Episcopal...

Happiness is like coke something you get as a by-product in the process of making...

Happiness is like coke something you get as a by-product in the process of making...

Like every man of sense and good feeling, I abominate work.

Like every man of sense and good feeling, I abominate work.

De Sade is the one completely consistent and thoroughgoing revolutionary of history.

De Sade is the one completely consistent and thoroughgoing revolutionary of history.

The proper study of mankind is books.

The proper study of mankind is books.

Experience is not what happens to you. It is what you do with what happens...

Experience is not what happens to you. It is what you do with what happens...

Speed, it seems to me, provides the one genuinely modern pleasure.

Speed, it seems to me, provides the one genuinely modern pleasure.

Thought must be divided against itself before it can come to any knowledge of itself

Thought must be divided against itself before it can come to any knowledge of itself

In books, the proportion of exceptional to commonplace people is very high; in reality, very...

In books, the proportion of exceptional to commonplace people is very high; in reality, very...

Feasts must be solemn and rare, or else they cease to be feasts.

Feasts must be solemn and rare, or else they cease to be feasts.

Cynical realism is the intelligent man's best excuse for doing nothing in an intolerable situation.

Cynical realism is the intelligent man's best excuse for doing nothing in an intolerable situation.

Perhaps it's good for one to suffer. Can an artist do anything if he's happy?...

Perhaps it's good for one to suffer. Can an artist do anything if he's happy?...

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.

Your true traveller finds boredom rather agreeable than painful. It is the symbol of his...

Your true traveller finds boredom rather agreeable than painful. It is the symbol of his...