Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
Self-Examination
As I walk’d by myself, I talk’d to myself
And myself replied to me;
And the questions myself then put to myself,
With their answers I give to thee.
Barnard Barton—Colloquy with Myself. Appeared in Youth’s Instructor, Dec., 1826.
Summe up at night what thou hast done by day;
And in the morning what thou hast to do.
Dresse and undresse thy soul; mark the decay
And growth of it; if, with thy watch, that too
Be down then winde up both; since we shall be
Most surely judg’d, make thy accounts agree.
Herbert—The Temple. The Church Porch. Next to last stanza.
One self-approving hour whole years out-weighs
Of stupid starers and of loud huzzas.
Pope—Essay on Man. Ep. IV. L. 249.
Speak no more:
Thou turn’st mine eyes into my very soul;
And there I see such black and grained spots
As will not leave their tinct.
Hamlet. Act III. Sc. 4. L. 88.
Go to your bosom;
Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know.
Measure for Measure. Act II. Sc. 2. L. 136.
Let not soft slumber close your eyes,
Before you’ve collected thrice
The train of action through the day!
Where have my feet chose out their way?
What have I learnt, where’er I’ve been,
From all I’ve heard, from all I’ve seen?
What have I more that’s worth the knowing?
What have I done that’s worth the doing?
What have I sought that I should shun?
What duty have I left undone,
Or into what new follies run?
These self-inquiries are the road
That lead to virtue and to God.
Isaac Watts—Self Examination.
There is a luxury in self-dispraise;
And inward self-disparagement affords
To meditative spleen a grateful feast.
Wordsworth—The Excursion. Bk. IV.
’Tis greatly wise to talk with our past hours;
And ask them what report they bore to heaven:
And how they might have borne more welcome news.
Young—Night Thoughts. Night II. L. 376.