"I have sometimes asked myself whether my country is the better for my having lived at all? I do not know that it is. I have been the instrument of doing the following things; but they would have been done by others; some of them, perhaps, a little better."
In the philosophy of self, self-awareness is the awareness and reflection of one's own personality or individuality, including traits, feelings, and behaviors. It is not to be confused with consciousness in the sense of qualia. While consciousness is being aware of one's body and environment, self-awareness is the recognition of that consciousness. Self-awareness is how an individual experiences a
"How queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if Ive been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if Im not the same, the next question is, "Who in the world am I?" Ah, thats the great puzzle!"
"Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid Wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But as these are connected together by many ties, it is not easy to determine which of the two precedes and gives birth to the other."
"To become different from what we are, we must have some awareness of what we are. ... The very people who are most self-dissatisfied and crave most for a new identity have the least self-awareness. They have turned away from an unwanted self and hence never had a good look at it."
"The test of a civilized person is first self-awareness, and then depth after depth of sincerity in self-confrontation."
"Ruthless toward itself, the Enlightenment has eradicated the last remnant of its own self-awareness."
"As I walked by myself, I talked to myself And myself replied to me; And the questions myself then put to myself, With their answers, I give to thee."