~Self-Abnegation.~--'Tis much the doctrine of the times that men should
not please themselves, but deny themselves everything they take delight
in; not look upon beauty, wear no good clothes, eat no good meat, etc.,
which seems the greatest accusation that can be upon the Maker of all
good things. If they are not to be used why did God make
them?--_Selden._
Self-abnegation, that rare virtue that good men preach and good women
practice.--_Holmes._
~Self-Examination.~--We neither know nor judge ourselves,--others may
judge, but cannot know us,--God alone judges, and knows too.--_Wilkie
Collins._
It belongs to every large nature, when it is not under the immediate
power of some strong unquestioning emotion, to suspect itself, and doubt
the truth of its own impressions, conscious of possibilities beyond its
own horizon.--_George Eliot._
There are two persons in the world we never see as they are,--one's self
and one's other self.--_Arsene Houssaye._
~Selfishness.~--Our infinite obligations to God do not fill our hearts
half as much as a petty uneasiness of our own; nor his infinite
perfections as much as our smallest wants.--_Hannah More._
It is astonishing how well men wear when they think of no one but
themselves.--_Bulwer-Lytton._
Our selfishness is so robust and many-clutching that, well encouraged,
it easily devours all sustenance away from our poor little
scruples.--_George Eliot._
There is an ill-breeding to which, whatever our rank and nature, we are
almost equally sensitive,--the ill-breeding that comes from want of
consideration for others.--_Bulwer-Lytton._
~Self-Love.~--That household god, a man's own self.--_Flavel._