The self of which you speak, whether it is the great self or the small self, is only a concept that does not correspond to any reality.
Gautama BuddhaApply yourself to solitude. One who is given to solitude knows things as they really are.
Gautama BuddhaA virtuous man or woman who is determined to develop the Supreme Enlightened Mind, should thus develop it: I have to lead all living beings to put a stop to (reincarnation) and escape (suffering), and when they have been so led, not one of them in fact stops (reincarnating) or escapes suffering. Why? Because, if a Bodhisattva believes in the notion of an ego, a personality, or a living being, he is not a true Bodhisattva.
Gautama BuddhaWhen I was a young man, near the beginning of my life, I looked around with true mindfulness and saw that all things are subject to decay.
Gautama BuddhaMonks, when ignorance is abandoned, and knowledge arises in the monk, with the ending of ignorance and the arising of knowledge he clings neither to sense-pleasures, nor does he cling to views, nor to precepts and vows, nor to a Self-doctrine. Not clinking, he is not disturbed; not disturbed, he attains individually nibbana.
Gautama Buddha