Photo of J. Krishnamurti

15 Quotes on The Self by Krishnamurti

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The self is put together by thought. Thought is not yours or mine; thinking is not individual thinking. Thinking is shared by all human beings.

Krishnamurti to Himself

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It is so: the self is put together by thought. Thought is not yours or mine; thinking is not individual thinking. Thinking is shared by all human beings. And when one has really deeply seen the significance of this, we can understand the nature of what it means to die. When you were young, you may have followed a small stream gurgling along a narrow valley, the waters running faster and faster. You may have thrown a stick into the stream and followed it, down the slope, over a little mound, through a little crevasse, followed it until it went over a waterfall and disappeared. This disappearance is our life. What does death mean? What is the very word, the threatening feeling about death? We never seem to accept it.

The self is self-enclosing: its activities, however noble, are separative and isolating.

Krishnamurti, The First and Last Freedom

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Do we know what we mean by the self? By the self, I mean ideas, memory, conclusion, experience, intentions and the conscious endeavour to be or not to be. It is also the accumulated memory of the unconscious, the racial, the group, the clan, the individual, and the whole of it, projected outwardly in action or projected spiritually as virtue. The striving after all of this is the self. In it is included competition and the desire to be. This whole process is the self, and we know actually when we are faced with it that it is an evil thing. I am using the word ‘evil’ intentionally because the self is dividing and self-enclosing: its activities, however noble, are separative and isolating. We all know this. We also know those extraordinary moments when the self is not there, in which there is no sense of endeavour or effort, which happens when there is love.

The activities of the self are frighteningly monotonous. The self is a bore; it is intrinsically enervating, pointless and futile.

Krishnamurti, Commentaries on Living 1

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The activities of the self are frighteningly monotonous. The self is a bore; it is intrinsically enervating, pointless and futile. Its opposing and conflicting desires, its hopes and frustrations, its realities and illusions are enthralling and yet empty; its activities lead to its own weariness. The self is ever climbing and ever falling down, ever pursuing and ever being frustrated, ever gaining and ever losing, and from this weary round of futility it is ever trying to escape. It escapes through outward activity or through gratifying illusions, through drink, sex, radio, books, knowledge and amusements. Its power to breed illusion is complex and vast. These illusions are homemade, self-projected; they are the ideal, idolatrous conceptions of saviours and the future as a means of self-aggrandisement. In trying to escape from its own monotony, the self pursues inward and outward sensations and excitements. These are the substitutes for self-abnegation, and in the substitutes it tries to get lost. It often succeeds, but the success only increases its own weariness. It pursues one substitute after another, each creating its own problem, its own conflict and pain. Self-forgetfulness is sought within and without; some turn to religion, and others to work and activity. But there is no means of forgetting the self.

Problems will always exist where the activities of the self are dominant.

Krishnamurti, Commentaries on Living 1

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Problems will always exist where the activities of the self are dominant. To be aware which are and which are not the activities of the self needs constant vigilance. This vigilance is not disciplined attention but an extensive awareness which is choiceless. Disciplined attention gives strength to the self; it becomes a substitute and a dependence. Awareness, on the other hand, is not self-induced, nor is it the outcome of practice; it is understanding the whole content of the problem, the hidden as well as the superficial. The surface must be understood for the hidden to show itself; the hidden cannot be exposed if the surface mind is not quiet. This whole process is not verbal, nor is it a matter of mere experience. Verbalisation indicates dullness of mind, and experience, being cumulative, makes for repetitiousness. Awareness is not a matter of determination, for purposive direction is resistance, which tends towards exclusiveness. Awareness is the silent and choiceless observation of ‘what is’. In this awareness, the problem unrolls itself and it is fully and completely understood.

Relationship is a mirror in which the self and all its activities can be seen.

Krishnamurti, Education and the Significance of Life

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Relationship based on sensation can never be a means of release from the self. Most of our relationships are based on sensation; they are the outcome of our desire for personal advantage, comfort and psychological security. Though they may offer us a momentary escape from the self, such relationships only give strength to the self, with its enclosing and binding activities. Relationship is a mirror in which the self and all its activities can be seen. It is only when the ways of the self are understood in the reactions of relationship that there is creative release from the self.

Observe the self in operation, learn about it, watch it, be aware of it. Do not try to destroy it, get rid of it or change it – just watch it, without any choice or distortion. Out of that watching and learning, the self disappears.

Krishnamurti, Beyond Violence

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What is the self? Is it a bundle of memories. Is it something permanent? If it is a bundle of memories, it is of the past. It is the only thing you have and is nothing permanent. The self is the ‘me’ that has accumulated knowledge and experience, as memory, as pain, and that becomes the centre from which all action takes place. See it actually as it is. Every religion, society and culture realises that the self wants to express itself; in art, self-expression is tremendously important; it is also very important in its assertion to dominate. Every religion has tried to destroy the self, and that has not succeeded. The self has identified itself with God – whatever that is – and so it remains. Observe the self in operation, learn about it, watch it, be aware of it. Do not try to destroy it, get rid of it or change it – just watch it, without any choice or distortion. Out of that watching and learning, the self disappears.

Self-continuity is decay; in it there is no transforming element nor the breath of the new. The self must end for the new to be.

Krishnamurti, Commentaries on Living 1

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The search for permanency is the everlasting cry of self-fulfilment. But the self can never fulfil; the self is impermanent, and that in which it fulfils must also he impermanent. Self-continuity is decay; in it there is no transforming element nor the breath of the new. The self must end for the new to be. The self is the idea, the pattern, the bundle of memories, and each fulfilment is the further continuity of idea and experience. Experience is always conditioning; the experiencer is ever separating and differentiating himself from experience. So there must be freedom from experience, from the desire to experience. Fulfilment is the way of covering up inward poverty and emptiness, and in fulfilment there is sorrow and pain.

A materialistic humanity will destroy itself unless the self is wholly abandoned.

The Beauty of Life – Krishnamurti’s Journal

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The essence of division is the self. Materialism only gives strength and growth to the self. The self may and does identify itself with the state, with an ideology, with activities of the ‘non-me’, religious or secular, but it is still the self. Its beliefs are self-created, as are its pleasures and fears. Thought by its very nature and structure is fragmentary, and conflict and war are between the various fragments, nationalities, races and ideologies. A materialistic humanity will destroy itself unless the self is wholly abandoned. The abandonment of the self is always of primary importance, and only from this revolution can a new society be put together. The abandonment of the self is love and compassion, passion for all: the starving, the suffering, the homeless, and for the materialist and the believer. Love is not sentimentality or romanticism: it is as strong and final as death.

The abandonment of the self is not an act of will, for the will is the self. Any movement of the self, in any direction, is still within the field of time and sorrow.

The Beauty of Life – Krishnamurti’s Journal

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The abandonment of the self is not an act of will, for the will is the self. Any movement of the self, horizontally or vertically, in any direction, is still within the field of time and sorrow. Thought may give itself over to something, sane or insane, reasonable or idiotic, but being fragmentary in its very structure and nature, its enthusiasm and excitement soon turn into pleasure and fear. In this area, the abandonment of the self is illusory, with little meaning. The awareness of all this is the awakening to the activities of the self; in this attention there is no centre or self.

We are afraid of the total destruction of the known, the ground of the self, the ‘me’ and the ‘mine’.

Krishnamurti’s Notebook

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We are afraid of the total destruction of the known, the ground of the self, the ‘me’ and the ‘mine’. For us, the known is better than the unknown; the known with its confusion, conflict and misery. Freedom from this known may destroy what we think is love, relationship and joy. Freedom from the known, the explosive questioning, not of reaction, ends sorrow, and so love then is something that thought and feeling cannot measure. Our life is so shallow and empty, with petty thoughts and petty activities, woven in conflict and misery, always journeying from the known to the known, demanding security. There is no security in the known, however much we may want it. Security is time and there is no psychological time; it is a myth and an illusion, breeding fear. There is nothing permanent now, or in the future or in the hereafter. By right questioning and listening, the pattern moulded by thought and feeling, the pattern of the known, is shattered. Self-knowing, knowing the ways of thought and feeling, listening to every movement of thought and feeling, ends the known. The known breeds sorrow, and love is the freedom from the known.

Is the ‘you’, the self, separate from the rest of mankind? You have a name, a separate physical organism, certain tendencies different from another’s, and perhaps a talent, but does that make you an individual?

Krishnamurti to Himself

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Is the ‘you’, the self, separate from the rest of mankind? You have a name, a separate physical organism, certain tendencies different from another’s, and perhaps a talent, but does that make you an individual? Is the idea that each one of us throughout the world is separate from another an actuality? Or may the whole concept be illusory, just as we have divided the world into separate nations? Concern with oneself or the community being different from other communities – is that in actuality real? You may say it is real because you are an American and others are French, Russian, Indian, Chinese and so on. This linguistic, cultural and religious difference has brought about havoc in the world – terrible wars, incalculable harm. And also in certain aspects there is great beauty in it, in the expression of certain talents as a painter, a musician, a scientist and so on. Would you consider yourself as a separate individual with a separate brain which is yours and nobody else’s? It is your thinking, and your thinking is supposedly different from another’s, but is thinking individual at all? Or is there only thinking, which is shared by all humanity?

We have many images, and not being able to be free of them the mind unfortunately invents a super-image, the ‘higher self’.

Krishnamurti, The Awakening of Intelligence

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How am I to prevent the building of images? By not creating a super-image, obviously. I have many images and not being able to be free of them the mind unfortunately invents a super-image, the ‘higher self’, the Atman, or it introduces an outside agency, either spiritual or the Big Brother of the communist world. Without creating a higher, nobler image, there must be the ending of all the images I have created. I see that if I have a single image, there is no possibility of any relationship because images separate. Where there is separation, there must be conflict, not only nationally but between human beings. So how am I to be rid of every image I have gathered so that the mind is completely free, fresh and young, so that it can observe anew the whole movement of life?

The monk who has renounced the ways of the world may wander the face of the world or be locked away in a monastery but has not left the unending movement of the self.

Krishnamurti, The Whole Movement of Life Is Learning>

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Most human beings are selfish; it is the way of our lives. If you are aware that you are selfish, you hide it carefully and conform to the pattern of society, which is essentially selfish. Or the cunning selfish mind may be brutally and openly selfish – it takes many forms. If you are a politician, selfishness seeks power, status and popularity; it identifies itself with an idea, a mission and the public good. If you are a tyrant, it expresses itself in brutal domination. If you are religious, it takes the form of adoration, devotion or adherence to a belief or dogma. It also expresses itself in the family: the father pursues selfishness in all the ways of his life and so does the mother. Fame, prosperity and one’s looks form a basis for this hidden creeping movement of the self. It is in the hierarchical structure of the priesthood, however much they may proclaim their love of God. They adhere to the self-created image of their particular deity. The captains of industry and the office worker have this expanding and benumbing sensuality of the self. The monk who has renounced the ways of the world may wander the face of the world or be locked away in a monastery but has not left this unending movement of the self.

Wisdom comes with the abnegation of the self.

Krishnamurti, Education and the Significance of Life

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Knowledge is not comparable with intelligence. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not marketable; it is not merchandise that can be bought with the price of learning or discipline. Wisdom cannot be found in books; it cannot be accumulated, memorised or stored up. Wisdom comes with the abnegation of the self. To have an open mind is more important than learning. We can have an open mind not by cramming it full of information but by being aware of our own thoughts and feelings, by carefully observing ourselves and the influences about us, by listening to others, by watching the rich and the poor, the powerful and the lowly. Wisdom does not come through fear and oppression but through the observation and understanding of everyday incidents in our relationships.

Only when the self is not is there creativeness: that state of being in which alone there can be reality, the creator of all things.

Krishnamurti, The First and Last Freedom

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Creativeness is not a continuous state. It is new from moment to moment, a movement in which there is not the ‘me’ or the ‘mine’, in which thought is not focused on any particular experience, ambition, achievement, purpose or motive. Only when the self is not is there creativeness: that state of being in which alone there can be reality, the creator of all things. But that state cannot be conceived or imagined, it cannot be formulated or copied; it cannot be attained through any system, philosophy or discipline. It comes into being only through understanding the total process of oneself.

These quotes only touch on the many subjects Krishnamurti inquired into during his lifetime. His timeless and universal teachings can be explored using the Index of Topics where you will find texts, audio and video related on many themes. Another option is to browse our selection of curated articles or more short quotes. Krishnamurti’s reply when asked what lies at the heart of his teachings can be found here. Many Krishnamurti books are available, a selection of which can be explored here. To find out more about Krishnamurti’s life, please see our introduction and the biography. We also host a weekly podcast, and offer free downloads. Please visit our YouTube channel for hundreds of specially selected shorter clips. Below, you can learn more about Krishnamurti and our charity which he founded in 1968.

Krishnamurti outdoors smiling

Who Was Krishnamurti?

J. Krishnamurti (1895-1986) is widely regarded as one of the greatest thinkers and religious teachers of all time. He spoke throughout the world to large audiences and to individuals, including writers, scientists, philosophers and educators, about the need for a radical change in mankind. Referring to himself, Krishnamurti said:

He is acting as a mirror for you to look into. That mirror is not an authority. It has no authority, it’s just a mirror. And when you see it clearly, understand what you see in that mirror, then throw it away, break it up.

Krishnamurti was concerned with all humanity and held no nationality or belief and belonged to no particular group or culture. In the latter part of his life, along with continuing to give public talks, he travelled mainly between the schools he had founded in India, Britain and the United States, which educate for the total understanding of man and the art of living. He stressed that only this profound understanding can create a new generation that will live in peace.

Krishnamurti reminded his listeners again and again that we are all human beings first and not Hindus, Muslims or Christians, that we are like the rest of humanity and are not different from one another. He asked that we tread lightly on this earth without destroying ourselves or the environment. He communicated to his listeners a deep sense of respect for nature. His teachings transcend man-made belief systems, nationalistic sentiment and sectarianism. At the same time, they give new meaning and direction to mankind’s search for truth. His teaching is timeless, universal and increasingly relevant to the modern age.

I am nobody. It is as simple as that. I am nobody. But what is important is who you are, what you are.

Krishnamurti

Krishnamurti spoke not as a guru but as a friend. His talks and discussions are based not on tradition-based knowledge but on his own insights into the human mind and his vision of the sacred, so he always communicated a sense of freshness and directness, although the essence of his message remained unchanged over the years. When Krishnamurti addressed large audiences, people felt that he was talking to each of them personally, addressing their own particular problem. In his private interviews, he was a compassionate teacher, listening attentively to those who came to him in sorrow, and encouraging them to heal themselves through their own understanding. Religious scholars found that his words threw new light on traditional concepts. Krishnamurti took on the challenge of modern scientists and psychologists and went with them step by step, discussing their theories and sometimes enabling them to discern the limitations of their theories.

Krishnamurti left a large body of literature in the form of public talks, writings, discussions with teachers and students, scientists, psychologists and religious figures, conversations with individuals, television and radio interviews, and letters. Many of these have been published as books, in over 60 languages, along with hundreds of audio and video recordings.

Three-quarters portrait photo of Krishnamurti

The Krishnamurti Foundation

Established in 1968 as a registered charity, and located at The Krishnamurti Centre, Krishnamurti Foundation Trust exists to preserve and make available Krishnamurti’s teachings.

The Foundation serves a global audience by providing worldwide free access to Krishnamurti videos, audio and texts to those who may be interested in pursuing an understanding of Krishnamurti’s work in their own lives.

In describing his intentions for the Foundations, Krishnamurti said: 

The Foundations will see to it that these teachings are kept whole, are not distorted, are not made corrupt.

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