Quote

We are anxious when there is a dissonance between our knowledge and the perceivable facts. Since our knowledge is not to be doubted or questioned, it is the facts that have to be altered.

Nathaniel Branden

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Nathaniel Branden
Age: 84 †
Born: 1930
Born: April 9
Died: 2014
Died: December 3
Academic
Non-Fiction Writer
Psychologist
Psychotherapist
Facts
Truth
Dissonance
Questioned
Doubted
Altered
Anxious
Since
Knowledge

More quotes by Nathaniel Branden

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When we bury our feelings, we also bury ourselves. It means we exist in a state of alienation. We rarely know it, but we are lonely for ourselves.
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Moved by a passion they do not understand for a goal they seldom reach, men and women are haunted by the vision of a distant possibility that refuses to be extinguished.
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Freedom is still the most radical idea of all.
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If you choose not to live self-responsibly, you count on others to make up your default. No one abjures self-responsibility on a desert island.
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Doing more of what doesn't work doesn't work.
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Self-esteem is not a luxury it is a profound spiritual need.
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Your choices have psychological consequences. The way you choose to deal with reality, truth, facts - your choice to honor or dishonor your own perceptions - registers in your mind, for good or for bad, and either confirms and strengthens your self-esteem or undermines and weakens it.
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The first love affair you must consummate is the love affair with yourself. Only then are you ready for a romantic relationship.
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Feel deeply to think clearly.
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It would be hard to name a more certain sign of poor self-esteem than the need to perceive some other group as inferior.
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To exist without purpose is to be at the mercy of the chance encounter, the chance invitation, the chance phone call, the chance event- always being controlled by forces external to oneself.
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Sometimes pain is easier to bear alone than happiness.
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The reputation you have with yourself - your self-esteem - is the single most important factor for a fulfilling life.
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It is painful to face the self we know we have never had the integrity to honor and assert.
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A commitment to lifelong learning is a natural expression of the practice of living consciously.
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Of all the judgments we pass in life, none is more important than the judgment we pass on ourselves.
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For the rational, psychologically healthy man, the desire for pleasure is the desire to celebrate his control over reality. For the neurotic, the desire for pleasure is the desire to escape from reality.
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A productive purpose to which you give yourself fully and joyfully is one of the great adventures of life. It is a uniquely human source of happiness.
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If we do have realistic confidence in our mind and value, if we feel secure within ourselves, we tend to experience the world as open to us and to respond appropriately to challenges and opportunities.
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Most of us are taught from an early age to pay far more attention to signals coming from other people than from within. We are encouraged to ignore our own needs and wants and to concentrate on living up to others expectations.
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