Only animals who are below civilization and the angels who are beyond it can be sincere. Human beings are, necessarily, actors who cannot become something before they have first pretended to be it; and they can be divided, not into the hypocritical and the sincere, but into the sane who know they are acting and the mad who do not.
W. H. Auden (1907–1973) Anglo-American poet [Wystan Hugh Auden]
The Age of Anxiety: A Baroque Eclogue, Part 5 “The Masque” (1947)
(Source)
Jean Kerr, in her play (1973) Finishing Touches, Act 1, the character Jeff paraphrases the above:Remember what Auden says. Man is the only animal that learns by being hypocritical. He pretends to be polite and then, eventually, he becomes polite.
The idea of habit becoming character, or practicing one's way to (usually) virtue, can be found in numerous variations. See also Aristotle (c. 325 BC) (and again, and again), Plutarch (c. AD 90), Hawthorne (1850), Reade (c. 1860), Clarke (c. 1860), Roosevelt (1913), Lewis (1952), Hoffer (1955), Eco (1988).
Quotations about:
self-change
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
You are under no obligation to remain the same person you were a year ago, a month ago, or even a day ago. You are here to create yourself, continuously.
Richard Feynman (1918–1988) American physicist
(Spurious)
Not found in his writings, lectures, or speeches. See Who do you think you are kidding, Mr Feynman – Terence Eden’s Blog for more discussion.
It is possibly a misattributed variant of something said by Alan Watts ...You are under no obligation to be the same person you were five minutes ago.
... which may or may not actually be authentic, either.
After a man gits to be 38 years old he kant form enny new habits mutch, the best he kan do is steer hiz old ones.
[Affter a man gets to be 38 years old he can’t form any new habits much; the bet he can do is steer his old ones.]
Josh Billings (1818–1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Trump Kards, ch. 6 “Pets” (1874)
(Source)
He who has so little knowledge of human nature, as to seek happiness by changing any thing but his own dispositions, will waste his life in fruitless efforts, and multiply the griefs which he purposes to remove.
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1750-04-07), The Rambler, No. 6
(Source)
What is wrong then? The system. But when you’ve said that you’ve said nothing. The system, after all, is only the outcome of the human psyche, the human desires. We shout and blame the machine. But who on earth makes the machine, if we don’t? And any alterations in the system are only modifications in the machine. The system is in us, it is not something external to us. The machine is in us, or it would never come out of us. Well then, there’s nothing to blame but ourselves, and there’s nothing to change except inside ourselves.
David Herbert "D. H." Lawrence (1885–1930) English novelist
“Education of the People,” Reflections on the Death of a Porcupine (1925)
To become different from what we are, we must have some awareness of what we are.
Eric Hoffer (1902–1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 151 (1955)
(Source)
And yet in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself.
Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
Pamphlets, “Some Social Remedies,” “Three Methods of Reform” [tr. Free Age Press (1900)]
(Source)
More common variant: "Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."
We must become the change we want to see.
Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, political ethicist [Mahatma Gandhi]
(Attributed)
Variants:Almost always attributed to Gandhi, but not found in any of his published works. More discussion here.
- "Be the change you wish to see in the world."
- "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."
I wanted to change the world. But I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself.
Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
Quoted in “Sayings of the Week,” The Observer (2 Jul 1961)
Not actually found in any of Huxley's published works, and this reference does not provide a source or situation where it was said.
For more discussion: I Wanted To Change the World. But I Have Found That the Only Thing One Can Be Sure of Changing Is Oneself – Quote Investigator®
