“Above all, don’t lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
By far, this is the quote by Dostoyevsky that has had the most impact on me. Privately, to prioritize my time and energy, professionally to look through the intranet industry I work in. Some things can become the truth, just because we repeat them too many times for ourselves. Finally, we become like the frog entering the cold water, and never noticing the temperature gradually rising until it dies from not escaping the boiling water. Nobody wants to be bitter on the deathbed, but people are every day. Don’t be one of them.
“Above all, don’t lie to yourself” is a good start to any day. We all have limited resources and we owe it to ourselves, and others, to make the best of it. By telling ourselves the truth regarding who we are, were we stand, what feels good, what feels bad, and where we should move, we listen more to our hearts than to our minds. I promise, you will never regret that. Ceasing to love is never worth it.
