Jonathan Carroll Quotes

Selfishness is blind.

I was deaf and dumb and blind to all but me, myself and I.

Self-interest makes some people blind, and others sharp-sighted.

Being preoccupied with our self-image is like being deaf and blind. It's like standing in the middle of a vast field of wildflowers with a black hood over our heads. It's like coming upon a tree of singing birds while wearing earplugs.

Fear is the emotion that makes us blind.

When fear sets in, you don't trust others and when you don't trust anyone then you become selfish.

The crowd intimidates me, its breath suffocates me. I feel paralyzed by its curious look, and the unknown faces make me dumb.

A person wrapped up in himself makes a small package.

Fear is that thing that keeps you up there on that other plateau. Fear is that thing that just keeps you closed down, and quite frankly, alone.

When a man is wrapped up in himself, he makes a pretty small package.

To consider persons and events and situations only in the light of their effect upon myself is to live on the doorstep of hell.

National glory is a deceiving seducer. When it reaches a certain height, it clasps the head with an iron band. The enclosed sees nothing in the mist but his own picture; he is susceptible to no foreign impressions.

Sometimes I feel surrounded by this dark cloud, and it feels like I can't breathe. It's nervousness and I don't know what else.

I never really look at other people; I just worry about myself.

The greatest tragedy for any human being is going through their entire lives believing the only perspective that matters is their own.

And if you love only yourself, you will serve only yourself. And you will have only yourself.

There are some things the arrogant mind does not see; it is blinded by its vision of what it desires.

How narrow we selfish conceited creatures are in our sympathies! How blind to the rights of all the rest of creation!

How sickness enlarges the dimensions of a man's self to himself! Supreme selfishness is inculcated upon him as his only duty.

Frozen by fear. Not able to move. Your mind screaming

Dwelling upon the self too much produces terrible fatigue. A man in that position is deaf and blind to everything else. The fatigue itself makes him cease to see the marvels all around.

Our own selfishness makes us the most arrant cowards; our own selfishness is the great cause of fear and cowardice.

He who lives only for himself is truly dead to others.

The fear in my heart was like in one of those dreams where you try to run but you can't do it, you can't run because the fear is an anchor in your chest.

The combination of fear and ignorance (two sides of the same coin) can be paralyzing.