"Often people who have listened to the teaching of the Work even for years do not understand what it means to work on themselves..."
"The only person you have to work on is yourself."
"Negative emotions keeps us where we are. If you are negative it is always your fault."
"The personal work of self-observation is for all one's life."
"Realization of mechanicalness is one form of Self-Remembering."
"Identifying is the enemy of Self-Remembering."
"Man must realize his mechanicalness before he can change... Work is a question of increasing one's consciousness, not imitating virtues like monkeys."
"No effort - no work : no work - no awakening : no awakening - death."
"When we begin to observe ourselves sincerely our whole fate begins to change. But this means noticing, over a long period, the way we talk, the way we think, the criticisms we make, the resentment of what is said to us, the way we react to others, the opinions from which we argue, the way we are flattered, how we judge others, our vanity, cruelty, moods, emotions. Unless we detach ourselves from these things, we remain mechanical. We have to have an observing part and an observed part. When the observing I is established in us, it is from this I that everything else follows. Small to begin with, it is like a window to let in the light."
"We project onto others what we cannot see in ourselves."
"To see I's in yourself, notice where you criticize others."
"To become conscious of something unattractive in yourself gives a sense of freedom."
"To talk about one's difficulties is a sign that one has not understood much."
"Our greatest danger is to crystallize out in our idea of ourselves."
"Which of you have observed yet that you are working more for greater comfort than for consciousness."
"A man must get to know himself before he can change... Our mental habits are to us not habits, but truths. They seem quite right to us. We cannot see them as habits and this is the tragedy."
"The secret lies in taking Life as an exercise."
