You can read about yourself, but what’s important is how you feel about yourself.

If there are no books which tell us about ourselves, but tell us only about others, that makes you invisible in the world of literature. That is dangerous. If there are books and stories about you but they are ones belonging only to the past, it is as though you do not belong in present society. That is dangerous. If there are books about you but they are negative, demeaning, insensitive and untrue, that is dangerous. Multiply this by what appears on television, in advertising, teacher attitudes, health services, questionnaires, testing and examinations and in many areas of society, maybe we shouldn’t wonder at the low self-esteem, low self-confidence, and therefore the disengagement of many Māori children with education.

Criticism is a misconception: we must read not to understand others but to understand ourselves.

I can read books and news articles about people who have excelled, people who have done extremely well in their chosen field, or made a lot of money, or married well, or what have you. When some people read this stuff, they get inspired, but when I read it, it makes me feel worse. Sometimes I wish I had never learned to read.

Be careful with the stories you tell about yourself

How hungrily we read about ourselves!

Every time I perform, I work really hard to give part of myself to the audience. Then I do an interview and I read some story that just isn't true, or someone draws a crazy conclusion about my life, and it's such a betrayal. It hasn't happened here, but in Croatia, I've had to stop reading about myself. I don't think actors mean to be secretive - they just don't want strangers looking through their kitchen window.

I'm looking to avoid a subtly demeaning subtext which holds that reading, say, is something you should do--like flossing or taxes or laundry. I don't want to speak for women writers, but I recoil at the idea of someone reading my book because they really should read a black author or two. I don't want to be an icebreaker at your corporation's Kwanzaa gathering.

I have trouble actually describing myself because I’m always suspicious of people who start describing themselves. I’m like, “OK, why are you trying to tell me what you are?”

Read the book because some people don't want you to.

People keep reading self-help and revisiting the same ideas because that's precisely what we need: to be reminded.

The problem is not that information is unhelpful, but that attention is fleeting.

Nobody focuses on one idea every minute of the day. Good books refocus the mind.

The trouble with writing a book about yourself is that you can’t fool around. If you write about someone else, you can stretch the truth from here to Finland. If you write about yourself the slightest deviation makes you realize instantly that there may be honor among thieves, but you are just a dirty liar.

We read the world wrong and say that it deceives us.

This is the case with many learned persons; they have read themselves stupid.