"Know Thyself "
A central component of the philosophy of
Socrates
(469?-399 B.C.)
 
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Know then thyself, presume not God to scan:
The proper study of mankind is man.
Alexander Pope (1688-1744), Essay on Man, (1733)
 

 
"Know thyself" - a maxim as pernicious as it is odious.
A person observing himself would arrest his own development.
Any caterpillar who tried to "know himself" would never become a butterfly.
André Gide (d. 1951), Nouvelles Nourritures [editorial comment: an analogy would be the problem of the academic field known as "education" trying to comprehend education. The Jody Nagel, August 21, 2002.]
 

 
The saying "Know thyself" is not well put.
It would be more correct to say, "Know others."
Menander (fl. 375 B.C.), Thrasyleon
 

 
He who knows others is learned;
He who knows himself is wise.
Lao-tzu, Tao te Ching (sixth century B.C.)
 

 
Whoever would know himself,
let him open a book.
Jean Paulhan (1884-1968),
 

 
Wherever we go, whatever we do,
self is the sole subject we study and learn.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), Journals (1833)