An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself. I like this, because I am happy to be both halves, the watcher and the watched.
— Albert Camus, Notebooks 1935-1942
****
[I]n the midst of enjoying myself, I examine myself to see if I am getting the utmost out of the occasion. Not content with tasting the food, I am also trying to taste my tongue. Not content with feeling happy, I want to feel myself feeling happy — so as to be sure not to miss anything.
— Alan Watts, The Way of Zen
****
The contemplative life is often miserable. We must act more, think less, and stop watching ourselves live.
— Chamfort, Complete Maxims and Thoughts
****
When I happen to be busy, I never give a moment’s thought to the “meaning” of anything, particularly of whatever it is I am doing. A proof that the secret of everything is in action and not in abstention, that fatal cause of consciousness.
— E.M. Cioran, The Trouble with Being Born