50 Self-Discovery Quotes That Help You Really Learn Who You Are

By Stephanie Kirby

Writer, Entrepreneur and Inspirational quote curator

Published September 14, 2023

Check out these self-discovery quotes to learn how to discover who you really are.

Self-discovery is the process of getting to know yourself by gaining knowledge about yourself and understanding what your unique skills, desires, character, and purposes in life are.

If you want to go on a journey of self-discovery, here are some ways to get started:

Try new things – Getting outside of your comfort zone can introduce you to things you might not have known you liked, and it shows you how you react in uncertain situations.
Journal – The important thing is to be consistent and purposeful in this practice. In this instance, journal about what you value about yourself for the next two weeks and then go back and review those notes.
Put yourself in a situation to serve others – We often learn about ourselves when we are helping others.
Start habits that will help you continue to grow as a person.

Take a look at these self-discovery quotes to learn more about who you are.

Best Self-Discovery Quotes

Here are some of the best quotes about self-discovery.

1. “True identity is always a gift of God.” — David G. Benner

2. “We were created equally but differently.” —Ikechukwu Joseph

3. “You cannot dream yourself into a character.” — James A. Froude

4. “Don’t spend all of your time trying to find yourself.” — Sonya Parker

5. “The story ends up being a journey of self-discovery.” — Elijah Wood

6. “Until you find yourself, you will always be someone else.” — Dr. Myles Munroe

7. “Identity is never simply a creation. It is always a discovery.” — David G. Benner

8. “Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is.” — Jackson Pollock

9. “Life isn’t about finding yourself; it’s about discovering who God created you to be.” — John Calvin

10. “Discover God’s deposit in you – the gem, diamond, gold or the treasure island!” — Ikechukwu Joseph

Self-Discovery Quotes From David G. Benner

Enjoy quotes from the author of “The Gift of Being Yourself: The Sacred Call to Self-Discovery”

11. “We do not find our true self by seeking it. Rather, we find it by seeking God.” — David G. Benner

12. “Some Christians base their identity on being a sinner. I think they have it wrong.” — David G. Benner

13. “Genuine self-knowledge begins by looking at God and noticing how God is looking at us.” — David G. Benner

14. “Created from love, of love and for love, our existence makes no sense apart from Divine love.” — David G. Benner

15. “Paradoxically, as we become more and more like Christ, we become more uniquely our own true self.” — David G. Benner

16. “In order for our knowledge of God’s love to be truly transformational, it must become the basis of our identity.” — David G. Benner

17. “Any hope that you can know yourself without accepting the things about you that you wish were not true is an illusion.” — David G. Benner

18. “You are not simply a sinner; you are a deeply loved sinner. And there is all the difference in the world between the two.” — David G. Benner

19. “Christian spirituality involves a transformation of the self that occurs only when God and self are both deeply known.” — David G. Benner

20. “The self that begins the spiritual journey is the self of our own creation, the self we thought ourselves to be. This is the self that dies on the journey.” — David G. Benner

Self-Discovery Quotes About Being Yourself

Check out these quotes about being yourself.

21. “Always be yourself.” — Bruce Lee

22. “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” — Oscar Wilde

23. “To shine your brightest light is to be who you truly are.” — Roy T. Bennett

24. “Don’t worry what people say or what people think. Be yourself.” — Brett Hull

25. “The snow goose need not bathe to make itself white. Neither need you do anything but be yourself.” — Lao Tzu

26. “When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everyone will respect you.” — Lao Tzu

27. “One of the greatest regrets in life is being what others would want you to be, rather than being yourself.” — Shannon L. Alder

28. “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

29. “Don’t try to change anybody, and they should let you be yourself, ‘You loved me when you met me, so let’s keep going!’” — Willie Nelson

30. “Your harshest critic is always going to be yourself. Don’t ignore that critic, but don’t give it more attention than it deserves.” — Michael Ian Black

Self-Discovery Quotes For Christians

Discovering who God made you to be is key to living a life for Jesus.

31. “Let God speak within you.” — Herman Hesse

32. “To venture causes anxiety, but not to venture is to lose one’s self.” — Soren Kierkegaard

33. “Focus on God’s attitude towards you and not on what others think of you.” — Ikechukwu Joseph

34. “Wisdom tends to grow in proportion to one’s awareness of one’s ignorance.” — Anthony De Mello

35. “Whoever gets sense loves his own soul; he who keeps understanding will discover good.” — Proverbs 19:8

36. “True prayer is an awareness of our helpless need and an acknowledgment of divine adequacy.” — Ray C Stedman

37. “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” — Psalm 139:14

38. “Thoughts, intentions or feelings cannot comprehend God but they can see and acknowledge the works of God.” — Ikechukwu Joseph

39. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” — Ephesians 2:10

40. “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s.” — Romans 12:2

More Self-Discovery Quotes and Sayings

Take a look at some more of the best quotes about self-discovery.

41. “Self-awareness is a key to self-mastery.” — Gretchen Rubin

42. “Who in the world am I? Ah, that’s the great puzzle.” — Lewis Carroll

43. “You’ll never be able to find yourself if you’re lost in someone else.” — Colleen Hoover

44. “In the end, you don’t so much find yourself as you find someone who knows who you are.” — Robert Brault

45. “Discovering who you are today is the first step to being who you will be tomorrow.” — Mustapha Lanre Idreez

46. “One’s own self is well hidden from one’s own self; of all mines of treasure, one’s own is the last to be dug up.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

47. “If I am in denial about my own weaknesses and sin, there will be a concomitant blindness to the greatness and glory of God.” — Timothy Keller

48. “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” — T.S. Eliot

49. “It takes courage….to endure the sharp pains of self-discovery rather than choose to take the dull pain of unconsciousness that would last the rest of our lives.” — Marianne Williamson

50. “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” — Henry David Thoreau