Quotes about Narcissists and Narcissism
Most popular narcissist quotes
He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals.
I devoured books like a person taking vitamins, afraid that otherwise I would remain this gelatinous narcissist, with no possibility of ever becoming thoughtful, of ever being taken seriously.
Cats are narcissistic. Their needs come before ours. They don't understand the word "No." They carry themselves with that aloof, arrogant sense of perpetual entitlement, they will jump up and insinuate themselves wherever they please–on your lap, on your newspaper, on your computer keyboard–and they really couldn't care less how their behavior affects the people in their lives. I've had boyfriends like this; who needs such behavior in a housepet?
Hate is the complement of fear and narcissists like being feared. It imbues them with an intoxicating sensation of omnipotence.
I have always been suspicious of romantic love. It looks too much like a narcissism shared by two.
The main condition for the achievement of love is the overcoming of one's narcissism.
It is especially painful when narcissists suffer memory loss because they are losing parts of the person they love most.
Narcissus does not fall in love with his reflection because it is beautiful, but because it is his.
Seeking admiration is like a drug for narcissists. In the long run it becomes difficult because others won't applaud them, so they always have to search for new acquaintances from whom they get the next fix.
Narcissistic personality disorder is named for Narcissus, from Greek mythology, who fell in love with his own reflection. Freud used the term to describe persons who were self-absorbed, and psychoanalysts have focused on the narcissist's need to bolster his or her self-esteem through grandiose fantasy, exaggerated ambition, exhibitionism, and feelings of entitlement.
Nobody can be kinder than the narcissist while you react to life in his own terms.
When I look at narcissism through the vulnerability lens, I see the shame-based fear of being ordinary. I see the fear of never feeling extraordinary enough to be noticed, to be lovable, to belong, or to cultivate a sense of purpose.
The trademark of a narcissistic mother is her inability to give love or empathy to her child. One of the hallmark symptoms of a narcissist is her inability to perceive others as people with needs of their own. A narcissistic mother is only able to see her children as extensions of herself—little mirrors that reflect back to her.
Narcissus weeps to find that his Image does not return his love.
The narcissist enjoys being looked at and not looking back.
Withhold admiration from a narcissist and be disliked. Give it and be treated with indifference.
Shyness has a strange element of narcissism, a belief that how we look, how we perform, is truly important to other people.
Whoever loves becomes humble. Those who love have, so to speak, pawned a part of their narcissism.
Narcissism is the earliest stage of human development, and the person who in later life has returned to this stage is incapable of love; in the extreme case he is insane.
The narcissistic orientation is one in which one experiences as real only that which exists within oneself, while the phenomena in the outside world have no reality in themselves, but are experienced only from the viewpoint of their being useful or dangerous to one.
Though they are quick to put others down, unhealthy narcissists view themselves in absolutely positive terms.
Narcissists alone are blatant in their self-inflation and braggadocio—leavened with a necessary dose of self-deception.
A narcissist is someone who has a grandiose sense of self-importance, harbors obsessive fantasies of unbounded glory, feels rage or intense shame when criticized, expects special favors, and lacks empathy.
The narcissistic organization becomes a moral universe of its own, a world where its goals, goodness, and means are not questioned but taken as holy writ. It's a world where doing whatever we need to, to get whatever we want, seems perfectly fine.
There's a reason narcissists don't learn from mistakes and that's because they never get past the first step, which is admitting that they made one. It's always an assistant's fault, an adviser's fault, a lawyer's fault. Ask them to account for a mistake any other way and they'll say, 'What mistake?'
The fantasy world of Narcissists can have a seductive allure that promises to envelop you in its specialness. Their superficial charm can be enchanting, and they often appear complicated, colorful, and exciting as they draw you into their narcissistic web.
The persona that many narcissists present to the world often comes across to others as a "superiority complex." But behind the mask of arrogance is a fragile internal balloon of self-esteem that is never satisfied with being good or even very good—if they are not better than, they are worthless.
But then, maybe a certain amount of narcissism is as essential to an actress as muscles are to a football lineman.
Narcissism is eye trouble, voluntary blindness, an agreement to keep up appearances (hence the importance of "style") and not to look beneath the surface.
Narcissism is often the driving force behind the desire to obtain a leadership position.
Narcissists are afflicted with a bottomless appetite. . .for recognition, attention, glory, rewards. And it's a zero-sum thing. Every moment a narcissist spends listening to another party guest tell a story is a moment in which the stage has been surrendered.
For narcissists, setbacks are not opportunities to learn; they're problems caused by somebody else who got in their way or sabotaged their plans.
A false image is, of course, a work of art, an idol. And a lie. A narcissist identifies with this image, not his true inner self. So, all he cares about is his image, not what kind of person he really is. Indeed, the latter has no real existence in his world.
I'm a recovering narcissist. I didn't know I was a narcissist, actually. I thought narcissism meant you love yourself, and then someone told me there's a flip side to it. So it's actually drearier than self-love; it's unrequited self-love.
Simple narcissism goves the power of beasts to politicians, professional wrestlers, and female movie stars.
All of nationalism can be understood as a kind of collective narcissism.
A narcissist wants you to adopt his version of himself.
Every writer is a narcissist. This does not mean that he is vain; it only means that he is hopelessly self-absorbed.
The megalomaniac differs from the narcissist by the fact that he wishes to be powerful rather than charming, and seeks to be feared rather than loved. To this type belong many lunatics and most of the great men of history.
Although narcissists don't (or won't) show it, all perceived criticism feels gravely threatening to them (the reason that their inflamed, over-the-top reactions to it can leave us so surprised and confused). Deep down, clinging desperately not simply to a positive but grandiose sense of self, they're compelled at all costs to block out any negative feedback about themselves.
If narcissistic adults project an air of importance, superiority, entitlement, and grandiosity, it's a pronounced reaction (or over-reaction) to the massive self-doubt that, frankly, they keep well-hidden beneath the self-satisfied façade they present to others.
Narcissists, when their position has been exposed as false, arbitrary, or untenable, will suddenly become evasive, articulate half-truths, lie (actually, as much to themselves as others), flat-out contradict themselves (and to a degree that can leave the other person gaping!), and freely rewrite history (literally—and audaciously—making things up as they go along).
There's a definition of narcissism that when a parent is narcissistic, instead of the child seeing himself reflected in the mother's face and the mother's joy, the child of the narcissistic parent feels like, "What can I do to make her okay, to make her happy?"
Narcissists are said to be in love with themselves. But this is a fallacy. Narcissus is not in love with himself. He is in love with his reflection. There is a major difference between one's True Self and reflected-self.
A narcissist is someone better looking than you are.
Self-awareness is not self-centeredness and spirituality is not narcissism. Know thyself is not a narcissistic pursuit.
