Karl Jaspers Quotes

How embarrassing for man to be the greatest miracle on earth and not to understand it!

It's just a constant thing when the mind starts to wake up to itself.

True thoughts are those alone which do not understand themselves.

Logotherapy sees the human patient in all his humanness. I step up to the core of the patient's being. And that is a being in search of meaning, a being that is transcending himself, a being capable of acting in love for others.

The more you understand yourself, the more you will understand the world.

People who do not understand themselves have a craving for understanding — a thing which is rather surmised and never spoken than known and clothed in words.

Man is a universe within himself.

What I am looking for is not out there, it is in me.

What exactly is it that humans do that is specifically human? There has to be something. How odd it is for billions of people to be alive, yet not one of them is really quite sure of what makes people people.

I have always written only for myself - to clarify things, to clarify things with myself, to understand in an inner way what is actually happening.

What a liberation to realize that the 'voice in my head' is not who I am. 'Who am I, then?' The one who sees that.

There is an immense, painful longing for a broader, more flexible, fuller, more coherent, more comprehensive account of what we human beings are, who we are and what this life is for.

We never completely comprehend ourselves, but we can do far more than comprehend.

Your glass will not do you half so much service as a serious reflection on your own minds.

I have never seen a greater monster or miracle in the world than myself.

I want, by understanding myself, to understand others. I want to be all that I am capable of becoming.

As soon as man does not take his existence for granted, but beholds it as something unfathomably mysterious, thought begins.

It is what makes us human, what distinguishes us from other animals. We can be aware of being aware.

Solitude shows us what should be; society shows us what we are.

We fear to know the fearsome and unsavory aspects of ourselves, but we fear even more to know the godlike in ourselves.

Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.

I think most people are interested in our origins; once we understand, it might be easier to become the people we'd like to be. Or, better, become the people we think we already are.

I think we're all very curious about our own minds, but we just may not have the tools to channel that.

In the early ages, I believe not much thought was given to what man is and what his real functions should be, and what is the real purpose of his life.

Therefore when the mind knows itself and loves itself, there remains a trinity, that is the mind, love and knowledge.