It is good to see ourselves as others see us. Try as we may, we are never able to know ourselves fully as we are, especially the evil side of us. This we can do only if we are not angry with our critics but will take in good heart whatever they might have to say. (Gandhi)

My mother would say to me, "You can't eat beauty. It doesn't feed you." And these words plagued and bothered me, I didn't really understand them until finally I realized that beauty was not a thing that I could acquire or consume - it was something that I just had to be. And what my mother meant when she said, "you can't eat beauty" was that you can't rely on how you look to sustain you. What actually sustains us - what is fundamentally beautiful - is compassion - for yourself and for those around you. That kind of beauty inflames the heart and enchants the soul - it is...the beauty of a spirit. (Lupita Nyong'o)

When you listen generously to people they can hear the truth in themselves, often for the first time. (Rachel Naomi Remen)

The truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering the more you suffer because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you in proportion to your fear of being hurt. (Thomas Merton)

Love only grows by sharing. You can only have more for yourself by giving it away to others. (Brian Tracy)

We can never know everything, and part of what we do know will likely be wrong. Perhaps even the most important part. A portion of wisdom lies in knowing this. A portion of courage lies in going on anyway. (adapted, Robert Jordan)

I do not accept any absolute formulas for living. No preconceived code can see ahead to everything that can happen in a person's life. As we live, we grow and our beliefs change. They must change. So I think we should live with this constant discovery. We should be open to this adventure in heightened awareness of living. We should stake our whole existence on our willingness to explore and experience. (Martin Buber)

There is one responsibility which no one can evade; that responsibility is our personal influence, a silent, subtle radiation. This radiation is tremendous. Every person who lives in this world wields an influence whether for good or for ill. It is not what we say alone; it is not alone what we do. It is what we are. Every person has an atmosphere which is affecting every other person. We cannot escape for one moment from this radiation of our character, this constant weakening or strengthening of others. (adapted, D. McKay)

It is a remarkable feat to be able to see past the inhumanity of someone's behavior and recognize the humanity of the person committing the atrocity. This is not weakness. This is heroic strength, the noblest strength of the human spirit.
We all possess this strength.
(Desmond and Mpho Tutu, The Forgiveness Challenge)

Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are our own fears. (Rudyard Kipling)

Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others we blind ourselves to our own faults and to the mercy which others are just as entitled to as we are. (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, adapted)

Your enemy is never a villain in his own eyes. Keep this in mind; it may offer a way to make him your friend. (Robert A. Heinlein)

Great Story about the Arbinger Way of Thinking and what happens when you use a good tool with a not so great intent.

I believe that the first test of a great person is humility. I don't mean by humility, doubt of one's own power. But really great people have a curious feeling that the greatness is not of them, but through them. And they see something marvelous in every other person and are endlessly, incredibly merciful. (John Ruskin, adapted)

When we betray ourselves and shift responsibility onto others by means of our accusing thoughts and feelings, we believe it is their mistreatment of us that leads us to accuse them. This is the self-betrayer's lie. The truth - the profound, almost world-shaking truth - is that we accuse others because of our mistreatment of them. (C. Terry Warner, Bonds That Make Us Free, p.30)

Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow. Awareness of others is a healthy antidote to this self-focus. (Kevin Malarkey)

It is never too late to turn on the light. Your ability to break an unhealthy habit or turn off an old tape doesn't depend on how long it has been running; a shift in perspective doesn't depend on how long you've held on to the old view... It's never too late to take a moment to look. (Sharon Salzberg)

The brain is designed with blind spots and one of its cleverest tricks is to confer on us the comforting delusion that we, personally, do not have any. (Carol Tavris)

I love Kierkegaard!

How easy it is to blind ourselves to our own wrongdoing by pointing to the wrongdoing of others. (C. Terry Warner, Bonds That Make Us Free)

I've heard this one before - thanks for posting it H!