These self discovery quotes will help you find yourself

I have been collecting quotes ever since I was in high school. Every time I heard or read something inspirational, I’d scribble it down into my little notebook. That notebook was like liquid gold to me - one of my most valuable possessions.

When life got challenging, I’d open the pages and feel the words start to transform me. Those quotes were pathways to helping me understand myself and my life better.

In grad school, I became known as the “quote girl” in my dorm. Every week, I would scribble new self discovery quotes on the dry/erase board outside my room.

People started telling me how they felt moved and inspired while walking past my room. Quotes opened up dialogues of depth and vulnerability.

I truly believe that the purpose of life is to know ourselves. I think it’s very easy to mask painful feelings in shrouds of workaholism, escapism, or other distractions. But there is so much power in being with yourself, feeling the tough feelings, and coming to peace with who you really are.

It is our greatest struggle to uncover who we are, but we can only achieve our greatest successes and most rewarding milestones once we do. Living a life that is authentic and true to ourselves requires us to actually know ourselves. And once you know yourself better, you can love all the pieces of you.

Self discovery is a lifelong journey, and this is where the power of quotes comes in. It’s a shortcut to greatness. These insights and wisdom came hard-earned to people who came before us, weathered the storm, and made it through to the other side.

Quotes are magical because they can instantly lift you up and change your perspective. So the next time you are pondering the meaning of your life, give these self discovery quotes a read to find optimism, direction, and understanding.

HERE ARE MY FAVORITE SELF DISCOVERY QUOTES:

Quotes to motivate you on your self discovery journey:

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”—Carl Jung

One of the first steps in self discovery is knowing the inner workings of your heart and mind: your subconscious patterns, attractions, and repulsions. These things are under the surface driving everything you do, often leading to self-sabotage without you even understanding why. By unpacking these saboteurs through reading, journaling, and therapy, you will understand yourself in profound ways, and your entire life will begin to shift.

“20 years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” —Mark Twain

Explore yourself and your passions. Don’t put your dreams on hold. Our time here is limited. Today is as good a day as any to sail away…

“Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” —Martin Luther King Jr.

This is one of the most powerful quotes about starting your self discovery journey. It encourages us to move forward with blind faith, and the rest will present itself to us at the right time.

“Live! Live the wonderful life that is in you! Let nothing be lost upon you. Be always searching for new sensations. Be afraid of nothing.” —Oscar Wilde

I love Oscar Wilde, he was such a brilliant writer. Though he lived a controversial life, he lived true to himself and that is something to aspire to. We have to discover ourselves to live the life that is in us.

“Nothing happens until you decide. Make a decision and watch your life move forward.” –Oprah Winfrey

Well if there was ever a quote to motivate you to find yourself, I’m pretty sure this is it.

“You want to fly, you have to give up the shit that weighs you down.” —Toni Morrison

If you haven’t begun digging into the depths of your soul, it’s very likely that there are things in your subconscious that are holding you back. The way to rid yourself of that weight is to dive in and uncover it.

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” —Lao Tzu

The path to self discovery is a lifelong one, but we all begin with a single step.

“If you are not afraid of the voices inside you, you will not fear the critics outside you.” —Natalie Goldberg

If you don’t know who you are, then you can be more easily influenced by others. Like a ping pong ball moving from direction to direction, you won’t be the master of your own universe. But if you have a solid center within yourself, you won’t be phased by what others say and will have the courage to follow your own heart.

“Figure out what you’re good at and start helping other people with it; give it away. Pay it forward. Karma sort of works because people are very consistent. On a long enough timescale, you will attract what you project.” –Naval Ravikant

Help others on the path to finding yourself, and what you put out will come back to you.

“When you think everything is someone else’s fault, you will suffer a lot. When you realize that everything springs only from yourself, you will learn both peace and joy.” —Dalai Lama

It’s easier to blame our life circumstances on external factors, but when we realize that everything in our external world is a reflection of our internal world, then we can take more personal accountability for our feelings and actions.

“Comparison is the thief of joy.” —Theodore Roosevelt

I often remind myself that I am walking my own journey and to not compare myself with others. As you learn more about yourself, you will realize that you have a unique set of strengths and life lessons to learn than everyone else.

“There is no doing in the world without being first. For me being, your presence, your connection to yourself, and that which is greater than yourself is far more important than what you do, but is also the thing that fuels what you do.” –Oprah Winfrey

This quote helps me focus on my connection with myself and to a higher power, and to know that when I do that, the rest of the pieces will fall into place.

“Give up being perfect for being authentic. Be who you are. Love who you are. Others will too.” –Hal Elrod

A great quote on the importance of knowing and loving ourselves.

“What I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have.” –Oprah Winfrey

A powerful mantra to live honestly and in alignment with yourself.

“If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything, it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities. In the expert’s mind there are few.” –Shunryu Suzuki

We are continually learning about and surprising ourselves. This self discovery quote serves as a gentle reminder why it’s okay to continuously be a beginner and to keep learning.

“You know you're in trouble when you start to judge your self-worth by your net worth.” –Bill George

If we don’t know the truth of who we are, we can harshly judge ourselves by our external achievements. But we are so much more than that, and it’s worth exploring what else we have to offer the world.

“To acquire true self power you have to feel beneath no one, be immune to criticism, and be fearless.” –Deepak Chopra

Self discovery is the gateway to acquiring self power.

“There is a voice that doesn’t use words. Listen.” –Rumi

This quote gives me goosebumps. It’s so true. Our intuition guides and nudges us in the direction that we are meant to go. We often ignore it or lead with our heads, but we enter our flow state when we let that voice lead us.

“Life is not easy for any of us, but what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.” –Marie Curie

I firmly believe that we are all put here with an innate purpose, and accompanying gifts to achieve that purpose. It is our life’s mission to uncover what our specific calling is.

“We don’t receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us.” –Marcel Proust

There are no shortcuts to self discovery, and you will likely fall down several times along the way. That is how we earn our stripes. And if you don’t know where to begin, just get up and get moving and clarity will come.

“But whatever came, she had resolved never again to belong to another than herself.” –Kate Chopin

In the end, the only person we have is ourselves. All the people we encounter along the way are there to help us better know ourselves. Understanding this has helped me prioritize my relationship with myself above all others, as tempting as it is to give myself away at times.

“The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge.” –Daniel J. Boorstin

Learning about ourselves with a sense of curiosity, wonder, and humility will reap the greatest rewards.

“Of all the discoveries which men need to make, the most important, at the present moment, is that of the self-forming power treasured up in themselves.” –William Channing

Knowing ourselves and what we are capable of is the most important work we can do in this lifetime.

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Staying positive while finding your way quotes:

“Traditional advice says to find your passion and decide where you want to be in 10 years and then go after it. But that is wrong because the world is constantly changing and we are constantly changing. Your identity is not found through introspection but rather emerges through experimentation.” –Reid Hoffman

There are multiple ways to go about self discovery, and introspection is only one path. Reid Hoffman is a hugely successful entrepreneur who has achieved a lot through trial and error. He has a lot of finding your path quotes, and in this one he gives us permission to not know what it is we want yet, and to keep exploring until we find it.

“Little by little, day by day, what's meant for you will find its way.” —Unknown

Keep faith that good things are coming. This quote gives me solace when I feel overrun with anxiety and worry about the future. It is one of those quotes about finding your way that reminds me that the universe is supporting me and I am not alone on my journey.

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” —Dr. Viktor E. Frankl

Frankl was a Holocaust survivor who was moved from concentration camp to concentration camp over the course of several years. He lost all of his family in the atrocity.

Even in these environs, Frankl worked to help other prisoners facing severe depression by encouraging them to focus on positive memories and thoughts. Frankl believed that even in the worst of times, suffering serves a purpose.

“The one thing that can solve most of our problems is dancing.” —James Brown

Dancing never fails to make me happy. If you are in a bad mood or feeling lost, start with the outside, move your body, and eventually those good vibes will trickle inwards.

“I don’t believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive.” –Joseph Campbell

I feel there is a lot of truth to this one. On your path to self discovery, you will become more connected to the present moment and to feeling alive.

“To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. To live fully is to be always in no man’s land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh. To live is to be willing to die over and over again.” —Pema Chodron

That feeling of being truly alive comes when we step out of our comfort zone, and feeling fully alive is crucial on our path to self knowledge. There are so many ways to hunt that feeling down. For me, solo travel never fails to give me the rush each and every time.

“I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom.” –Thomas Carlyle

We weren’t all meant to go into the woods alone to find ourselves. Sometimes you find yourself in a flurry of movement.

“Work hard, be kind, and amazing things will happen.” —Conan O'Brien

This is one of those quotes about finding your way from one of my favorite comedians at a time when his late night talk show dreams were taken away from him. He ultimately got his own show by following this advice; a reminder for us all that sometimes discovering yourself happens when you put your head down and work hard.

“It’s more fun to be a pirate than to join the navy.” —Steve Jobs

Encouragement that there’s no right way to do things. Do it your way, and have fun during the process.

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” –Steve Jobs

What has your heart been asking for? You owe it to yourself to do the deep work and find out.

“Happiness is contagious. Be a carrier.” —Robert Orben

Attitude is everything.

“Never take counsel of your fears.” –Stonewall Jackson

Do a gut check and see if it’s your intuition or your fears guiding you.

“There is good in everything; it’s just how you choose to look at it. Everything that’s worth it has a price. There are sacrifices. Life is meant to be a challenge, because challenges are what make you grow. How boring it would be if we knew what was going to happen tomorrow!” —Gisele Bundchen

I am a total Gisele fangirl, and this is great advice for reframing life’s challenges.

“I don't fix problems. I fix my thinking then the problems fix themselves.” —Louise Hay

I got so much from Louise Hay’s book You Can Heal Your Life. I still refer back to it all the time. She is the queen of positive thinking, and there is so much wisdom here about how our thoughts shape our reality.

“If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present.” —Lao Tzu

A great reminder to focus on the present moment.

“I like living. I have sometimes been wildly despairing, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.” —Agatha Christie

What a beautiful reminder that it is a privilege to be alive.

“I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.” —Van Gogh

Even when life isn’t going your way, you can always look up into the sky and allow yourself to dream.

“Never blame anyone in your life. Good people give you happiness. Bad people give you experience. The worst people give you a lesson. And the best people give you memories.” —Zig Ziglar

When you look at things from this perspective, then everyone you encounter in life is positive for you and your self discovery journey.

“Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get.” —Dale Carnegie

A gentle reminder that gratitude is a key component to personal happiness.

“Rejection is merely a redirection; a course correction to your destiny.”—Bryant McGill
Think about rejection as an arrow pointing you in the right direction for you and your life.

“I’m so sorry for you; your lives have been so easy. You can’t play great music unless your heart’s been broken.” –Benjamin Zander
I love this quote by the Boston Philharmonic conductor. It teaches us that there are always silver linings on our path, even from broken hearts.

“It is nothing to die. It is frightful not to live.” –Victor Hugo

You owe it to yourself to live your life the way you want to.

“There is something wonderfully bold and liberating about saying yes to our entire imperfect and messy life.” –Tara Brach

This is one of my favorite quotes about finding your own way. Even if the person you discover yourself to be is different from the person you wish you could be, acceptance and surrender to what is will free you.

“One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.” –Sigmund Freud

In self discovery as with everything else in life, it’s about the journey, not the destination.

“Keep your face always toward the sunshine and shadows will fall behind you.” –Walt Whitman

The visual imagery of this one if powerful.

“There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something tomorrow.” –O.S. Marden

Always have something to look forward to as you chug along your path.

“Whatever happens to you belongs to you. Make it yours. Feed it to yourself even if it feels impossible to swallow. Let it nurture you, because it will.” –Cheryl Strayed

It’s your path, your journey, and it has all been divinely designed just for you.

Knowing yourself will help you live authentically

Quotes about finding your voice and unleashing your highest potential:

“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.” —Martin Luther

Leave your mark on the world no matter what tomorrow brings.

“You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will” —Stephen King

Sometimes finding the courage to start is the hardest part. That was certainly my experience with starting this blog and on my own path to self discovery.

“If people knew how long I worked to get my mastery, they wouldn’t be so impressed after all.” –Michaelangelo

Even icons have to work hard for their success, so please know that it’s ok if self mastery doesn’t come overnight.

“Hard days are the best because that's when champions are made.” —Gabby Douglas

I love this quote so much from the Olympian because she helps us see that hard days are part of the journey, and that roadblocks can bring out the best in us.

“This is my day. This is my purpose. I’m not afraid to win.” —Kayla Harrison

The perfect mantra to unlock your inner champion.

“We are what we repeatedly do.” —Aristotle

If this is the case, then spend each day honoring the truth that is within you.

“I have failed over and over and that is why I succeed.” —Michael Jordan
Keep on trucking, and know that failure is a necessary part of the journey.

“If you never hear ‘no’, you’re not asking enough.” —Linda Babcock from Ask for It

I love this one. It helps me feel less afraid to ask for what I want, and to see rejection as a sign that I’m doing things right.

“Change your place, change your luck.” –Old Hebrew saying

A friend shared this one with me decades ago. Moving and putting ourselves in new environments can help us to know different parts of ourselves, and also to change the people and opportunities that are put before us. If you don’t like where you’re at, change your location.

“I live by the third law of motion in physics, which is for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. I know what I’m thinking, and therefore going to act on, is going to come back to me in a circular motion. Just like gravity, what goes up must come down. What propels the action is the intention. I don’t do anything without being fully clear about why I intend to do it. Because the intention is going to determine the reaction, the result, or the consequence in every circumstance.” –Oprah Winfrey

Oprah so clearly explains how the intention with which we do something affects the outcome. Be mindful about the intention with which you go about finding yourself.

Did these self discovery quotes inspire you to go further on your self discovery journey? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through them, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you. I donate 10% of all proceeds made from this blog to charity. Find out more about the charity I am supporting here.