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Can one alter one´s chief feature?" asked someone else. First it is necessary to know it. If you know it, much will depend on the quality of your knowing. If you know it well, then it is possible to change it.
P.D. Ouspensky
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Understanding oneself is essential for personal growth, and change is possible with deep knowledge of one's core traits.

This quote by P.D. Ouspensky emphasizes the importance of self-awareness in the process of personal transformation. It suggests that in order to alter a fundamental aspect of one's character, one must first accurately identify and deeply understand that aspect. The quality of this knowledge is crucial; truly knowing oneself enables the possibility of meaningful change and growth.

Themes

Self-AwarenessChangePersonal GrowthSelf-Knowledge

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a personal development seminar to encourage participants to reflect on their core traits.

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If you want to remember yourself, the best thing is not to think about yourself. As long as you think about yourself, you will not remember yourself.
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I have become so accustomed to think "scientifically" that I am afraid even to imagine that there may be something else beyond the outer covering of life. I feel like a man condemned to death, whose companions have been hanged and who has already become reconciled to the thought that the same fate awaits him.
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People live in sleep, do everything in sleep, and do not know they are asleep.
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We often think we express negative emotions, not because we cannot help it, but because we should express them.
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You can understand other people only as much as you understand yourself and only on the level of your own being. This means you can judge other people's knowledge but you cannot judge their being. You can see in them only as much as you have in yourself. But people always make the mistake of thinking they can judge other people's being. In reality, if they wish to meet and understand people of a higher development than themselves they must work with the aim of changing their being.
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When a man begins to know himself a little he will see in himself many things that are bound to horrify him. So long as a man is not horrified at himself he knows nothing about himself.
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Quote by P.D. Ouspensky | QuoteProject