ego quotes

“Where id was, there ego shall be.”

— Sigmund Freud

“It has always seemed strange to me... the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.”

— John Steinbeck

“I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence.”

— John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

“If being an egomaniac means I believe in what I do and in my art or music, then in that respect you can call me that... I believe in what I do, and I'll say it. ”

— John Lennon

“Every normal person, in fact, is only normal on the average. His ego approximates to that of the psychotic in some part or other and to a greater or lesser extent.”

— Sigmund Freud

“Analysis does not set out to make pathological reactions impossible, but to give the patient's ego freedom to decide one way or another.”

— Sigmund Freud

“The great corrupter of public man is the ego. Looking at the mirror distracts one's attention from the problem.”

— Dean Acheson

“Negotiating in the classic diplomatic sense assumes parties more anxious to agree than to disagree.”

— Dean Acheson

“Lying increases the creative faculties, expands the ego, and lessens the frictions of social contacts.”

— Clare Boothe Luce

“True, Heaven prohibits certain pleasures; but one can generally negotiate a compromise.”

“I think the environment should be put in the category of our national security. Defense of our resources is just as important as defense abroad. Otherwise what is there to defend? ”

— Robert Redford

“The Black Mamba collection of watches is me: It is my alter ego, so to speak. As I mentioned before, it is sharp, cutting edge and sleek which are characteristics I try to apply when I'm out there on the basketball court.”

— Kobe Bryant

“I love playing ego and insecurity combined. ”

“Thank you for leaving us alone but giving us enough attention to boost our egos.”

— Mick Jagger

“'Pure experience' is the name I gave to the immediate flux of life which furnishes the material to our later reflection with its conceptual categories.”

— William James

“Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.”

— John Fitzgerald Kennedy

“A categorical imperative would be one which represented an action as objectively necessary in itself, without reference to any other purpose.”

— Immanuel Kant

“I loved to make people laugh in high school, and then I found I loved being on stage in front of people. I'm sure that's some kind of ego trip or a way to overcome shyness. I was very kind of shy and reserved, so there's a way to be on stage and be performing and balance your life out.”

— Steve Martin

“The distinction between children and adults, while probably useful for some purposes, is at bottom a specious one, I feel. There are only individual egos, crazy for love.”

— Niccolo Machiavelli

“When things go badly, individuals look for scapegoats. I just do not believe that barbed-wire fences or guns on our border will solve any of our problems.”

“Don't let your ego get too close to your position, so that if your position gets shot down, your ego doesn't go with it.”

— Colin Powell

“Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.”

— Colin Powell

“Never let your ego get so close to your position that when your position goes, your ego goes with it.”

— Colin Powell

“Humanity should question itself, once more, about the absurd and always unfair phenomenon of war, on whose stage of death and pain only remain standing the negotiating table that could and should have prevented it.”

— Pope John Paul II

“Maybe I'm ego-tripping, but I don't find myself a particularly horrible person, so I don't think I need to hold back anything I think or feel.”

— Henry Rollins

“I work really hard at trying to see the big picture and not getting stuck in ego. I believe we're all put on this planet for a purpose, and we all have a different purpose... When you connect with that love and that compassion, that's when everything unfolds.”

— Ellen DeGeneres

“The ego is nothing other than the focus of conscious attention.”

“The moralist is the person who tells people that they ought to be unselfish, when they still feel like egos, and his efforts are always and invariably futile.”

“Portland, Oregon won't build a mile of road without a mile of bike path. You can commute there, even with that weather, all the time.”

— Lance Armstrong

“An egotist is a person of low taste - more interested in himself than in me.”

— Ambrose Bierce

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