Self Concept

i was doing research for my social psyche, regarding self concept and i came across these inspiring quotes to ponder on. really remarkable and so refreshing, its like adding a new dimension to what you know. enjoy...

It has become something of a cliche to observe that if we do not love ourselves, we cannot love anyone else. This is true enough, but it is only part of the picture. If we do not love ourselves, it is almost impossible to believe fully that we are loved by someone else. It is almost impossible to accept love. No matter what our partner does to show that he cares, we do not experience the devotion as convincing because we do not feel lovable to ourselves.
~~Nathaniel Branden, The Psychology of Romantic Love

In order to get at any truth about myself, I must have contact with another person. The other is indispensable to my own existence, as well as to my knowledge about myself.
~~Jean Paul Sartre

If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy.
If a child lives with shame, he learns to feel guilty.
If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement, he learns confidence.
If a child lives with praise, he learns to appreciate.
If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice.
If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith.
If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself.
If a child live with acceptance and friendship, he learns to find love in the world.
~~Dorothy Law Nolte, Children Learn What They Live

I am not what I think I am.
I am not what you think I am.
I am what I think you think I am.
~~Aaron Bleiberg & Harry Leubling

Self love, my liege, is not so vile a sin as self-neglecting.
~~Shakespeare, King Henry V

"One day, a man was travelling when his car tyre goes flat on a dark and lonely country road. When he discovers that he doesn't have a jack, he recalls seeing a farm house about a mile back. And so he start to walk there in hopes of borrowing one. While he is walking, he talks to himself about his situation. "Wow, I'm really stranded here. The guy will probably want a few dollars for his jack. Why should he lend it for nothing? Everyone wants to make a few bucks. A few bucks! If I don't get the jack, I'll never get out of here. He'll realise that, and probably want fifteen dollars, maybe twenty-five dollars. Twenty-five dollars? This guy's really got me by the old cashews. He'll ask fifty dollars for sure - maybe a hundred!" Well, he goes on in this way until he reaches the farm house. He knocks at the door. An elderly farmer answers and with a cheerful smile asks, "Is there something I can do for you, young man?" "Do for me? Do for me?" says the man, "I'll tell you what you can do, you can take your goddamn jack and shove it!"................
If in this case, you predict that you will not be lent a jack in a spirit of gracious cooperation, you prepare yourself for the confrontation in such a way that you guarantee the jack will n ot be lent in a spirit of gracious cooperation. Your prediction is transformed into a fact, which then becomes the reality.
~~Neil Postman, Crazy Talk, Stupid Talk