There is no way of steering successfully between a failed situation and a failed self except by stopping and taking our bearings.

It is rewarding to find someone you like, but it is essential to like yourself. It is quickening to recognize that someone is a good and decent human being, but it is indispensable to view yourself as acceptable. It is a delight to discover people who are worthy of respect and admiration and love, but it is vital to believe yourself deserving of these things.

We can win the struggle to avoid responsibility for our personal lives, but if we do, what we lose is our lives.

The unlived life is not worth examining. ... Self-awareness, self-examination, self-consciousness are for the quiet moments. In the arena they are paralyzing. The self must not be held out of the arena until living skills have been learned.

You do not need to be loved, not at the cost of yourself. The single relationship that is truly central and crucial in a life is the relationship to the self.

Self-affirmation cannot be found in love; it is a prior condition of genuine love.

People who are good to each other make each other good.