Quotement

160 Greatest Reflection Quotes For A Thoughtful Life

By Author Scarlett Miles

Categories Life Quotes

160 Greatest Reflection Quotes For A Thoughtful Life

Here are the best reflection quotes I could find online to remind you to pause and get a fresh perspective on the world around you. Let them light your way through life’s complexities!

10 Best Reflection Quotes

1. “There is one art of which people should be masters — the art of reflection.” — Samuel Taylor Coleridge

A reflective image of a woman's face representing the best reflection quote

2. “Reflection is the lamp of the heart. If it departs, the heart will have no light.” — Abdullah ibn Alawi al-Haddad

3. “Everyone and everything that shows up in our life is a reflection of something that is happening inside of us.” — Alan Cohen

4. “The older you get, the more you realize that the way you look is a reflection of how you treat yourself .” — Hope Davis

5. “The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.” — Thomas Paine

A half-lit portrait of a woman, dividing her face into light and shadow representing the best reflection quote

6. “To doubt everything, or, to believe everything, are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.” — Henri Poincare

7. “Without deep reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people.” — Albert Einstein

8. “Our outward appearance is a reflection of what we are on the inside. Our lives reflect that for which we seek.” — Margaret D. Nadauld

9. “By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” — Confucius

10. “Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.” — Margaret J. Wheatley

A black and white photo of a woman's face, half veiled in darkness, emphasizing the theme of reflection

Inspiring Quotes About Reflection

1. “Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.” — Peter Drucker

A silhouette of a human hand reaching the water surface

2. “Reflect upon your present blessings — of which every man has many — not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” ― Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings

3. “A little reflection will show us that every belief, even the simplest and most fundamental, goes beyond experience when regarded as a guide to our actions.” — William Kingdon Clifford

4. “Be a reflection of what you’d like to receive. If you want love, give love. If you want truth, be truthful. What you give out will always return.” — Kristen Butler

5. “Let your life reflect the faith you have in God. Fear nothing and pray about everything. Be strong, trust God’s word, and trust the process .” — Germany Kent

The dark outline of an outstretched hand over the water

6. “Keep both heart and hand in your own possession, till you see good reason to part with them; and if such an occasion should never present itself, comfort your mind with this reflection: that, though in single life your joys may not be very many, your sorrows, at least, will not be more than you can bear.” — Anne Bronte

7. “So I had to be careful. I recognized the responsibility that, whether I liked it or not, I had to accept whatever the obligation was. That was to behave in a manner, to carry myself in such a professional way, as if there ever is a reflection, it’s a positive one.” — Sidney Poitier

8. “Music is critical in our lives and culture. It’s the inspiration that drives us. It’s also the window to our souls. It’s a reflection as to who we are, what we stand for and where we’re going.” — Bill Walton

9. “Maybe it’s good, I said, to stop sometimes and reflect upon the things that have happened, maybe thinking about sadness can actually end up making you happy.” — Jessica Au (Cold Enough for Snow)

10. “It is not by muscle, speed, or physical dexterity that great things are achieved, but by reflection, force of character, and judgment.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero

A reaching hand reflected in water

11. “Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.” — John Quincy Adams

12. “Education begins the gentleman, but reading, good company and reflection must finish him.”— John Locke

13. “The air we breathe, the water we drink, and the land we inhabit are not only critical elements in the quality of life we enjoy – they are a reflection of the majesty of our Creator.” — Rick Perry

14. “It is a most delightful reflection that if I come to the throne of God in prayer, I may feel a thousand defects, but yet there is hope.” — Charles Spurgeon

15. “ Surround yourself with really good people . I think that’s an important thing. Because the people you surround yourself are a reflection of you.” — Aaron Rodgers

A human hand reaching and reflecting in the water

16. “When I am critical of others, I am actually exposing my own sin. If Christ lives in me, continually extending His mercy toward me, I will reflect His compassion by caring about the needs of others rather than by criticizing them.” — June Hunt

17. “We are reflections of one another, therefore I know that you are part of me and I am part of you because we are all projections of the universal principles of creation/destruction polarities of the same infinite consciousness that we call God.” — David Icke

18. “Our kids are reflections of us. How we interact with others, even in a hostile situation… how we respond and our children see that is how they are going to respond.” — Martin Luther King III

19. “Human intelligence is a reflection of the intelligence that produces everything. In knowing, we are simply extending the intelligence that comes to and constitutes us. We mimic the mind of God, so to speak. Or better, we continue and extend it.” — Huston Smith

20. “If I can inspire one spark of awareness or get a spark of introspection or reflection about someone else’s life, that’s a beautiful thing, in my opinion.” — Noah Centineo

A hand stretching towards the water

21. “In moments of quiet reflection, our minds embrace the sea that we have crossed.” — Holmes

22. “It’s on the strength of observation and reflection that one finds a way. So we must dig and delve unceasingly.” — Claude Monet

23. “Reflective thinking turns experience into insight.” — John C. Maxwell

24. “Reflection is one of the most underused yet powerful tools for success.” — Richard Carlson

See also: 220 Best Proverbs About Success To Give You Inspiration

25. “Quiet reflection is often the mother of deep understanding. Maintain that peaceful nursery, enabling stillness to speak.” — Tom Althouse

The shadowy figure of a hand extended to reach the water

26. “We do not learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience.” — John Dewey

27. “Reflection… Looking back so the view looking forward is clearer.” — Unknown

28. “Time and reflection change the sight little by little ’till we come to understand.” — Paul Cezanne

29. “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it’s time to pause and reflect.” — Mark Twain

30. “A soul without reflection, like a pile Without inhabitant, to ruin runs.” — Edward Young

A woman's hand above the water

Self Reflection Quotes

1. “Self-reflection is a desire felt by the body, as well as the soul.” — Susan Griffin

A silhouette of a woman in a meditative yoga pose with a reflection on water

2. “People who have had little self-reflection live life in a huge reality blind-spot.” — Bryant McGill

3. “With all of the bad things that are happening in the world right now, I think we need a message of togetherness and true unity. I believe that starts with personal reflection and then we can find kindness toward each other.” — Marielle Heller

4. “When you recognize and reflect on even one good thing about yourself, you are building a bridge to a place of kindness and caring.” — Sharon Salzberg (Real Love: The Art of Mindful Connection)

5. “Self-reflection is a humbling process. It’s essential to find out why you think, say, and do certain things — then better yourself .” — Sonya Teclai

The tranquil outline of a woman's meditating by water, reflecting on the surface against a purple sunset

6. “Our language is the reflection of ourselves. A language is an exact reflection of the character and growth of its speakers.” — Cesar Chavez

7. “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? ”— Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles”

8. “Self-reflection is a much kinder teacher than regret is. Prioritize yourself by making a habit of it.” — Andrena Sawyer

9. “Self-reflection is an important stage to diagnose, develop and strengthen your creativity.” — Pearl Zhu

10. “Time spent in self-reflection is never wasted — it is an intimate date with yourself.” — Paul TP Wong

A serene female figure sitting in a yoga pose, mirrored in the water below

11. “Let go of rejections and focus on self-reflection. For it is within that you will find the light you seek.” — Amy Leigh Mercree (The Compassion Revolution: 30 Days of Living from the Heart)

See also: Brilliant List Of 120 Light Quotes To Awaken Your Mind

12. “Difficulty creates the opportunity for self-reflection and compassion.” — Suzan-Lori Parks

13. “We always see our worst selves. Our most vulnerable selves. We need someone else to get close enough to tell us we’re wrong. Someone we trust.” ― David Levithan, Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List

14. “To achieve happiness I advocate four major principles, the principles of love, wisdom, self-reflection, and progress.” — Ryuho Okawa

See also: 120 Ultimate Best Quotes About Progress To Fuel Your Growth

15. “Engaging in meditative self-reflection and gaining increased control of inner experiences provides a person with a sense of control over fear and trembling and the chaos of life.” — Kilroy J. Oldster

A meditator in silhouette, reflected in still water, with a soft sunset in the background

16. “I love the dark hours of my being. My mind deepens into them. There I can find, as in old letters, the days of my life, already lived, and held like a legend, and understood.” ― Rainer Maria Rilke, Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God

17. “If I speak of myself in different ways, that is because I look at myself in different ways.” ― Michel de Montaigne, The Complete Essays

18. “Self-reflection entails asking yourself questions about your values, assessing your strengths and failures, thinking about your perceptions and interactions with others, and imagining where you want to take your life in the future.” — Robert L. Rosen

19. “After a disappointment, analyze your actions, get feedback from friends, and take inventory of what you could do better next time. This type of self-reflection and improvement will ultimately make success inevitable.” — Jillian Michaels

20. “Honest self-reflection opens your mind to reprogramming, change, success, and freedom.” — Vikas Runwal

A contemplative silhouette of a woman in lotus position by the water, with a reflection creating a sense of calm

21. “Self-reflection is the gateway to freedom. It also brings greater appreciation and enjoyment. We begin to enjoy spending time with our own mind, and we enjoy reflecting on our experience of the teachings. Like the sun emerging from behind the clouds, the teachings of the dharma become clear.” — Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche

22. “The journey into self-love and self-acceptance must begin with self-examination… until you take the journey of self-reflection, it is almost impossible to grow or learn in life.” — Iyanla Vanzant

23. “When I am sharply judgmental of any other person, it’s because I sense or see reflected in them some aspect of myself that I don’t want to acknowledge.” — Gabor Maté

24. “Self-reflection is necessary to dig beneath our own layers and visit the inner crevices of our heart and mind to develop an understanding of life.” — Unknown

25. “Your soul needs time for solitude and self-reflection. In order to love, lead, heal, and create,  you must nourish yourself first.” — Linda Joy

The shadowy form of a woman meditating at the water's edge

See also: 140 Quotes About Solitude That Will Make Sense To You

26. “There is no greater journey than the one that you must take to discover all of the mysteries that lie within you.” — Michelle Sandlin

27. “The light you are searching for can be found in your reflection.” — Hannah Blum

28. “There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.” — Aldos Huxley

29. “Take this moment to pause, and observe what your thoughts do. Take note of what sensations you feel before, during, and after you pause. In stillness, you’ll discover the roots of your true nature. Come back to you today, dear one.” — The Moon Tarot

30. “Self-reflection is a kind of self-judgment. The difference is just this — the former is positive and the latter is negative.” — Balroop Singh

The peaceful image of a girl meditating, reflected in still water

See also: List Of Top 100 Self-Reflection Quotes To Help You Thrive

Reflection Quotes For Life

1. “I have always preferred the reflection of the life to life itself.” — Francois Truffaut

A silhouette of a woman with arms raised in a field at dusk representing a quote about life reflection

2. “We’re all reflections of the lives we lead.” — Jaimoe

3. “Life has highs, lows, loud and quiet moments, beautiful ones and ugly ones. Music is a reflection of life.” — Bonobo

4. “The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise, we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.” — Thomas Merton

5. “Life is only a reflection of what we allow ourselves to see and be.” — Trudy Symeonakis Vesotsky

The outline of a woman standing in tall grass against a sunset sky

6. “Reflection is only a partial understanding of truth if it does not translate itself in practice into commitments to the common good and justice. Truth is not mere abstraction but something to be done and is only apprehended when this is realized.” — Adolfo Perez Esquivel

7. “Irony is the gaiety of reflection and the joy of wisdom.” — Anatole France

8. “I’m not a religious person but I do like the idea of Sunday as a day set apart from the rest of the week. It’s nice to have a period of reflection and have time to think about things.” — Jarvis Cocker

See also: 90 Sunday Motivation Quotes For A Relaxed Weekend

9. “Reflection is nothing more than what it sounds, and pondering one’s own life is about as productive as talking to one’s image in a mirror: both acts are egocentric and neither produces a dialog. People who talk to themselves in public are not self-actualized; they’re crazy.” — Anthony Marais

10. “Your life is a reflection of your thoughts. If you change your thinking, you change your life.” — Brian Tracy

A woman with outstretched arms, against the backdrop of a sun-kissed field

11. “One of the saddest things in life, is the things one remembers .” ― Agatha Christie

12. “There are three principal means of acquiring knowledge… observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation. Observation collects facts; reflection combines them; experimentation verifies the result of that combination.” — Denis Diderot

13. “Sometimes, you have to look back in order to understand the things that lie ahead.” ― Yvonne Woon, Dead Beautiful

14. “Human beings, viewed as behaving systems, are quite simple. The apparent complexity of our behavior over time is largely a reflection of the complexity of the environment in which we find ourselves.” — Herbert A. Simon

15. “Christmas is a season not only of rejoicing but of reflection.” — Winston Churchill

A woman's silhouette set against the glow of the setting sun in a field

See also: 130 Joyful Christmas Family Quotes To Warm Your Heart

16. “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” ― Søren Kierkegaard

17. “Style is a reflection of your attitude and your personality.” — Shawn Ashmore

18. “The artistic creation of the poet, painter, photographer, and writer is a reflection of the artist’s inner world.” — Kilroy J. Oldster (Dead Toad Scrolls)

19. “My role in society, or any artist’s or poet’s role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all.” — John Lennon

20. “In silence and movement you can show the reflection of people.” — Marcel Marceau

A woman experiencing a moment of exaltation or reflection in nature, under a dusky sky

21. “Study without reflection is a waste of time; reflection without study is dangerous.” — Confucius

22. “Marriage is a reflection of your life in general: how you treat people, how you argue, how secure you are in your own thoughts. How vehemently do you argue your point of view? With what disdain do you view the other’s point of view?” — William Shatner

23. “People of the world don’t look at themselves, and so they blame one another.” — Rumi

24. “Mass communication, radio, and especially television, have attempted, not without success, to annihilate every possibility of solitude and reflection.” — Eugenio Montale

25. “Your home is the truest and most honest reflection of who you are, where you’ve been, and where you want to go.” — Jeremiah Brent

A woman standing with arms wide open, in silhouette against an evening sky

26. “It is a most mortifying reflection for a man to consider what he has done, compared to what he might have done.” — Samuel Johnson

27. “They only babble who practise not reflection.” — Edward Young

28. “Imaginary evils soon become real one by indulging our reflections on them.” — John Ruskin

29. “Good looks are not something you earn. But as you get older, how you look is a reflection of the life you’ve led.” — Diana Quick

30. “The home is the center of your soul; it’s a total reflection of your inner life. If you have a dreary home, it means you are dark inside.” — Alexandra Stoddard

A woman standing in tall grass during sunset

Thought-Provoking Quotes On Reflection

1. “Some nights are made for torture, or reflection, or the savoring of loneliness.” ― Poppy Z.Brite

A woman in a yellow sweater throwing her head back by the water's edge

2. “I don’t think we spend enough time in reflection and introspection. We don’t know who we are as individuals in this culture anymore.” — Naomi Judd

3. “Somebody said: “About two persons I have never reflected very thoroughly: that is the testimony of my love for them.” — Friedrich Nietzsche (The Genealogy Of Morals)

4. “Food is a reflection of who you are as a person.” — Adrienne C. Moore

5. “Men should pledge themselves to nothing; for reflection makes a liar of their resolution.” — Sophocles

The silhouette of a woman reflecting on a still water surface against a subdued background

6. “Is that what you see in my eyes, that you know nothing about me?” “Nothing is written in your eyes”. I replied. “It is written in my eyes and i see the reflection in yours.” — Haruki Murakami (South of the Border, West of the Sun)

7. “Thanksgiving, for me, is a time for reflection.” — Trish Regan

8. “Self-criticism and negative thoughts about yourself will attract people who reflect this back to you, showing critical behavior and can abuse you physically.” — Hina Hashmi (Your Life A Practical Guide to Happiness Peace and Fulfilment)

9. “What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?” — James Madison

10. “Reflection is a flower of the mind, giving out wholesome fragrance; but revelry is the same flower when rank and running to seed.” — Desiderius Erasmus

A woman with flowing hair standing by calm water, reflecting her form on the surface

11. “We’re fascinated with robots because they are reflections of ourselves.” — Ken Goldberg

12. “We believe there are certain things people “have,” certain things people “do,” and even certain things people “are.” These beliefs do not necessarily reflect the structure of reality they simply reflect an habitual way of talking about reality.” — Neil Postman

13. “We cannot observe external things without some degree of Thought; nor can we reflect upon our Thoughts, without being influenced in the course of our reflection by the Things which we have observed.” — William Whewell

14. “Humans naturally reflect their nature upon the nature of their God. So to know a person, just ask what the person thinks about their God. It’s either that, or an individual aims to reflect the nature of their God onto themselves; in either case, just ask about the God and you will know the person, or at least, what the person thinks of himself.” — C. JoyBell C.

15. “You’re the same yet everyone speaks so differently about you. It’s the reflection of their own intelligence and maturity.” — Sarvesh Jain 

A woman in a moment of elation or release, mirrored perfectly in the water beneath a dusky sky

16. “I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation and is but a reflection of human frailty.” — Albert Einstein

17. “In a free society, government reflects the soul of its people. If people want change at the top, they will have to live in different ways. Our major social problems are not the cause of our decadence. They are a reflection of it.” — Cal Thomas

18. “Common sense is judgment without reflection, shared by an entire class, an entire nation, or the entire human race.” — Giambattista Vico

19. “We experience happiness as a series of pleasing moments. They come and go like clouds, unpredictable, fleeting, and without responsibility to our desires. Through honest self-work, reflection, and meditation, we begin to string more of these moments together, creating a web-like design of happiness that drapes around our lives.” — Tara Stiles

20. “Wouldn’t you say that most of us are a reflection of or a reaction to the people who have been closest to us?” — Bob Goff

A woman with her head tilted back, her image reflected in water

21. “Dates that come around every year help us measure progress in our lives. One annual event, New Year’s Day, is a time of reflection and resolution.” — Joseph B. Wirthlin

22. “With some people solitariness is an escape not from others but from themselves. For they see in the eyes of others only a reflection of themselves.” — Eric Hoffer

23. “A string of excited, fugitive, miscellaneous pleasures is not happiness; happiness resides in imaginative reflection and judgment, when the picture of one’s life, or of human life, as it truly has been or is, satisfies the will, and is gladly accepted.” — George Santayana

24. “Music is always a reflection of what’s going on in the hearts and minds of the culture.” — Tori Amos

25. “Humanity was created in the image of God; our love is a reflection of his.” — Meir Soloveichik

A woman standing beside still waters with a clear reflection below

26. “It is not so much the example of others we imitate as the reflection of ourselves in their eyes and the echo of ourselves in their words.” — Eric Hoffer

27. “Reflection is not something you have a lot of time for.” — Robert Battle

28. “I think there’s a terrible price to be paid when your exterior life is not an honest reflection of your interior life.” — Gene Robinson

29. “Your relationship to food is but a reflection of your relationship to yourself, as is everything in your life.” — Marianne Williamson

30. “The coming of honor or disgrace must be a reflection of one’s inner power.” — Xun Kuang

A woman in a moment of elation or release, mirrored in the water

See also: 130 Best Positive Inner Strength Quotes To Build You Up

Mirror And Water Reflection Quotes

1. “The world is a looking glass and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face.” — William Makepeace Thackeray

A palm tree silhouette against an evening sky with a full moon

2. “Like water which can clearly mirror the sky and the trees only so long as its surface is undisturbed, the mind can only reflect the true image of the Self when it is tranquil and wholly relaxed.” — Indra Devi

3. “I often stood in front of the mirror alone, wondering how ugly a person could get.” ― Charles Bukowski, Ham on Rye

4. “As social beings we live with our eyes upon our reflection, but have no assurance of the tranquillity of the waters in which we see it.” — Charles Horton Cooley

5. “Did you ever wonder if the person in the puddle is real, and you’re just a reflection of him?” ― Bill Watterson

The distinct outline of a palm tree under a night sky, with the full moon shining brightly above

6. “It took a lot of years of me on my own, coaching myself, to look in the mirror and love the reflection.” — Alyssa Edwards

7. “Your self-esteem won’t come from body parts. You need to step away from the mirror every once in a while, and look for another reflection, like the one in the eyes of the people who love you and admire you.” — Stacy London

8. “It is when you lose sight of yourself, that you lose your way. To keep your truth in sight you must keep yourself in sight and the world to you should be a mirror to reflect to you your image; the world should be a mirror that you reflect upon.” — C. JoyBell C.

9. “A healthy social life is found only when, in the mirror of each soul, the whole community finds its reflection, and when, in the whole community, the virtue of each one is living.” — Rudolf Steiner

10. “I’ve found from my own experiences that the world generally gives you back what you believe about it, like a mirror reflecting our role in it.” — Virginia Burges

A silhouette of a tropical palm against the backdrop of a large, glowing moon

11. “It’s torment to look in the mirror and not recognize the man in the reflection. How amazing would it be to love someone through their honest and ugly moments?! It takes a journey to work off the mask to become authentic and whole. ” — Israel Houghton

12. “Nobody of us has ever seen ourselves! We see a reflection in the mirror.” — Udo Kier

13. “Customs and convictions change; respectable people are the last to know, or to admit, the change, and the ones most offended by fresh reflections of the facts in the mirror of art.” — John Updike

14. “To me, fashion is like a mirror. It’s a reflection of the times. And if it doesn’t reflect the times, it’s not fashion. Because people aren’t gonna be wearing it.” — Anna Sui

15. “In a mirror is where we find a reflection of our appearances, but in a heart is where we find a reflection of our soul.” — Unknown

A serene night scene featuring the dark shape of a palm tree with a bright full moon in the sky

16. “I do still get shocked every once in a while when I catch my reflection when I’m walking past a glass building, but it’s in my mind about getting older and finding out what I’m going to look like as it unfolds – or as it folds, depending on where the marks and scars land.” — Dave Matthews

17. “As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart.” — Proverb

18. “The world is your mirror and your mind is a magnet. What you perceive in this world is largely a reflection of your own attitudes and beliefs. Life will give you what you attract with your thoughts. Think, act and talk negatively and your world will be negative. Think and act and talk with enthusiasm and you will attract positive results.” — Michael LeBoeuf

19. “If you think about human nature, our favorite pair of shoes are the ones we bought yesterday, our favorite thing is the newest thing that we have…and the thing we’ve seen the most and for the longest period of time is our reflection in the mirror, so obviously that’s going to be our least favorite thing.” — Taylor Swift

20. “Life is a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker what he thinks into it.” — Ernest Holmes

A palm tree's silhouette set against the luminous orb of the full moon in a dark sky

21. “One can not reflect in streaming water. Only those who know internal peace can give it to others.” — Lao Tzu

22. “There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” — Edith Wharton

23. “The mirror is a worthless invention. The only way to truly see yourself is in the reflection of someone else’s eyes.” — Voltaire

24. “Your flesh is not a reflection of your soul. So when you look in the mirror, remember that your light outshines your flaws.” — D. Antoinette Foy

25. “Thirst drove me down to the water where I drank the moon’s reflection.” — Rumi

A tranquil night landscape with a palm tree standing in silhouette before a full moon

26. “A healthy social life is found only when, in the mirror of each soul, the whole community finds its reflection, and when, in the whole community, the virtue of each one is living.” — Rudolf Steiner

27. “You mirror what the world mirrors to you.” — Jennifer Lopez

28. “I’m a mirror. If you’re cool with me, I’m cool with you, and the exchange starts. What you see is what you reflect. If you don’t like what you see, then you’ve done something. If I’m standoffish, that’s because you are.” — Jay-Z

29. “A mirror reflects what you see, and a black mirror shows the dark side of it.” — Madeline Brewer

30. “There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” — Edith Wharton

A silhouette of a palm tree next to an ocean during sunset

Reflection Quotes For Work

1. “Work needs to be a reflection of your social values. You are how you work!” — Leigh Steinberg

A minimalist art piece featuring a heart shape made of two halves, set over a circular base

2. “The type of person you are is usually reflected in your business. To improve your business, first improve yourself.” ― Idowu Koyenikan, Wealth for All: Living a Life of Success at the Edge of Your Ability

3. “Our work should be a reflection of society, and if you’re not concerned with including all of society, then I don’t really know what you’re doing making art in the first place.” — Sasheer Zamata

4. “The more reflective you are, the more effective you are.” — Hall and Simeral

5. “I had chosen to use my work as a reflection of my values.” — Sidney Poitier

An abstract representation of a heart with two matching halves coming together, standing on a pedestal

6. “Living in a way that reflects ones values is not just about what you do, it is also about how you do things.” — Deborah Day

7. “The capacity to reflect is at the heart of what it is to be an effective learner.” — Bill Lucas

8. “I think I’d say that my whole body of work is a reflection of who I am, but not any one specific thing.” — Zooey Deschanel

9. “I’m trying to make work that is reflective and is encouraging of reflection.” — Antony Gormley

10. “You set a goal, and then you get to work. How well you do is a direct reflection of how hard you work.” — Ivanka Trump

A creative heart display where the halves meet to complete the shape representing a quote about work reflection

Final Words

I hope you liked these reflection quotes and that they reminded you of the importance of connecting with your thoughts and feelings and gaining some fresh perspective.

Let them be your companions on the path of self-discovery, mindfulness, and growth!

160 Greatest Reflection Quotes For A Thoughtful Life

  • Quote of the Day
  • Picture Quotes

Reflection Quotes

Standart top banner.

reflective essay quotes

Loneliness is a prerequisite for freedom. Freedom depends on the ability to reflect, and reflection can only begin when one is alone.

Paulo Freire quote: Learning is a process where knowledge is presented to us, then shaped through...

Learning is a process where knowledge is presented to us, then shaped through understanding, discussion and reflection.

The world is your mirror and your mind is a magnet. What you perceive in this world is largely a reflection of your own attitudes and beliefs. Life will give you what you attract with your thoughts think, act and talk negatively and your world will be negative. Think and act and talk with enthusiasm and you will attract positive results.

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.

Since everything is a reflection of our minds, everything can be changed by our minds.

We don't take photographs with our cameras, we take them with our hearts and our minds. They are a reflection of ourselves...wha t we are and what we think.

The beauty you see in me is a reflection of you.

Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.

We all need to get the balance right between action and reflection. With so many distractions, it is easy to forget to pause and take stock.

reflective essay quotes

Like water which can clearly mirror the sky and the trees only so long as its surface is undisturbed, the mind can only reflect the true image of the Self when it is tranquil and wholly relaxed.

Self-reflection entails asking yourself questions about your values, assessing your strengths and failures, thinking about your perceptions and interactions with others, and imagining where you want to take your life in the future.

Everything that happens to us is a reflection of who we are.

I realized that my circumstances, while causing me despair and heartbreak, also held great possibility, if only I could see it. I knew that I was learning one of the most important lessons of my life: that instead of waiting for the perfect opportunity, I should work toward a realization that every opportunity is perfect. Each moment is perfect and heaven-sent, in that each moment holds the seeds for growth. Difficulty creates the opportunity for self-reflection and compassion.

Claude Monet quote: It's on the strength of observation and reflection that one finds a way...

It's on the strength of observation and reflection that one finds a way. So we must dig and delve unceasingly.

Art is not a reflection of reality, it is the reality of a reflection.

The world you see outside of you will always be a reflection of what you have inside of you.

Reflect upon your present blessings

Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.

Time and reflection change the sight little by little 'till we come to understand.

Edith Wharton quote: There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the...

There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.

The mirror never sees itself. The reflection never is itself.

Reflection is the lamp of the heart. If it departs, the heart will have no light.

The mirror is a worthless invention. The only way to truly see yourself is in the reflection of someone else's eyes.

Remember that your perception of the world is a reflection of your state of consciousness. You are not separate from it, and there is no objective world out there. Every moment, your consciousness creates the world that you inhabit.

last adds STANDART BOTTOM BANNER

Send report.

  • The author didn't say that
  • There is a mistake in the text of this quote
  • The quote belongs to another author
  • Other error

Reflection quotes by:

  • Albert Einstein Theoretical Physicist
  • Confucius Philosopher
  • Margaret J. Wheatley Writer
  • John J. Geddes Author
  • Thomas Paine Author
  • Charles Dickens Writer
  • Thomas Merton Writer
  • John Locke Philosopher
  • Soren Kierkegaard Philosopher
  • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Writer
  • T. Harv Eker Author
  • William Shakespeare Poet
  • Eric Hoffer Philosopher
  • Criss Jami Poet
  • William Hazlitt Writer
  • Jane Austen Novelist
  • John Quincy Adams 6th U.S. President
  • George Santayana Philosopher
  • Henry David Thoreau Author

Top Authors

' class=

Get Social with AzQuotes

Follow AzQuotes on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Every day we present the best quotes! Improve yourself, find your inspiration, share with friends

SIDE STANDART BANNER

  • Javascript and RSS feeds
  • WordPress plugin
  • ES Version AZQuotes.ES
  • Submit Quotes
  • Privacy Policy

Login with your account

Create account, find your account.

Inspirationfeed

Inspirationfeed

Inspiring and educating bright minds.

75 Inspiring Reflection Quotes on Change, Success, and Life

reflective essay quotes

Last Updated on August 9, 2024

Table of Contents

There’s no doubt that it’s a cutthroat world out there. From jobs, relationships, to hobbies, it’s like an ongoing carousel of always wanting more.

No wonder most of our days are a blur. We hop from one activity to the next, our planners filled up the minute with meetings, project presentations, business agenda, and more. By the time we hit the hay, we’re so exhausted we drift off to a dreamless sleep almost instantly. But surprisingly, we wake up just as worn out as the day before. Why is that?

Why You Need Time To Reflect On Your Life

reflective essay quotes

Self-reflection isn’t just for steering you in the right direction. It’s also a great way to enhance your relationships, make better decisions, and have a deeper understanding of your innermost self. If you want to reach your full potential, then don’t skip this process.

Reflecting on your life and past mistakes is not only necessary for growth, it helps prevent burn out as well. Just when everything is rushing past you, hit pause. You don’t need to hurry all the time. Many people will tell you that life can still be full of surprises whether you’re 30 or 90.

How To Practice Self-Reflection

reflective essay quotes

It’s difficult to tune out all that outside noise. Social media, friends, family , even well-meaning experts can sometimes influence you to go in a direction that, although would make you successful, may not bring you happiness.

Therefore, practicing self-reflection is crucial to bring clarity and meaning into your life. The first thing you need to do is ask yourself important questions such as:

  • How do I feel about my current situation?
  • Am I happy or contented with what I have achieved thus far?
  • What are the areas that I want to improve on, and why?

It’s also a good idea to jot down your reflections in a private journal . This way, years from now, you can see how much your values and thoughts have changed. Thinking critically about your life can be done while enjoying a walk, too. You can do this at the park, in the woods behind your home, or during a vacation.

Pressed for time? Simple breathing exercises can help. Find a nice, quiet space to simply sit and relax. Calm your thoughts and breathe in deeply, then out. 10 to 15 minutes should suffice. If you want to do self-reflection with a group, we recommend a yoga or meditation class. There is no one perfect way to do this.

Don’t forget to push pause and think about the kind of life you want to lead. This collection of reflection quotes is a good starting place to help you on that road.

Thought-Provoking Reflection Quotes

reflective essay quotes

  • “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” – Søren Kierkegaard
  • “All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
  • “We always see our worst selves. Our most vulnerable selves. We need someone else to get close enough to tell us we’re wrong. Someone we trust .” – David Levithan
  • “Friends are the family you choose.” – Jess C. Scott
  • “Reflect upon your present blessings – of which every man has many – not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” – Charles Dickens
  • “When you loved someone and had to let them go, there will always be that small part of yourself that whispers, “What was it that you wanted and why didn’t you fight for it?” – Shannon L. Alder
  • “Some nights are made for torture, or reflection, or the savoring of loneliness.” – Poppy Z.Brite
  • “Did you ever wonder if the person in the puddle is real, and you’re just a reflection of him?” – Bill Watterson
  • “One of the saddest things in life, is the things one remembers.” – Agatha Christie
  • “If I speak of myself in different ways, that is because I look at myself in different ways.” – Michel de Montaigne
  • “That’s sad . How plastic and artificial life has become. It gets harder and harder to find something…real.” Nin interlocked his fingers, and stretched out his arms. “Real love, real friends, real body parts…” – Jess C. Scott
  • “How sad and bad and mad it was – but then, how it was sweet.” – Robert Browning
  • “The type of person you are is usually reflected in your business. To improve your business, first improve yourself.” – Idowu Koyenikan
  • “The writer’s curse is that even in solitude, no matter its duration, he never grows lonely or bored.” – Criss Jami
  • “Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again.” – Gautama Buddha
  • “Sorry, always sorry. What in the world can you buy with an apology?” – Marie Lu
  • “Sometimes, you have to look back in order to understand the things that lie ahead.” – Yvonne Woon
  • “People will walk in and walk out of your life, but the one whose footstep made a long lasting impression is the one you should never allow to walk out.” – Michael Bassey Johnson
  • “I often stood in front of the mirror alone, wondering how ugly a person could get.” – Charles Bukowski

reflective essay quotes

  • “I am a writer of books in retrospect. I talk in order to understand; I teach in order to learn.” – Robert Frost
  • “Learning without thought is labour lost; thought without learning is perilous.” – Confucius
  • “I know. I was there. I saw the great void in your soul, and you saw mine.” – Sebastian Faulks
  • “Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy ready-made things in the shops. But since there are no shops where you can buy friends, men no longer have any friends.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
  • “It takes a certain ingenuous faith – but I have it – to believe that people who read and reflect more likely than not come to judge things with liberality and truth.” – C. Grayling
  • “ God knows far more about living a life of joy and blessings than we do.” – Randy Loubier
  • “There is music in words, and it can be heard you know, by thinking.” – L. Doctorow
  • “Habit rules the unreflecting herd.” – William Wordsworth
  • “Reflection must be reserved for solitary hours; whenever she was alone, she gave way to it as the greatest relief; and not a day went by without a solitary walk, in which she might indulge in all the delight of unpleasant recollections.” – Jane Austen
  • “No – the light in Tamani’s eyes was much more than a reflection. It was the fire that melted her anger and devastated her resolve, every single time she saw it.” – Aprilynne Pike
  • “Sleep seems to hammer out for me the logical conclusions of my vague days, and offer them to me as dreams.” – H. Lawrence
  • “Who does ever get what they want? It doesn’t seem to happen to many of us if any at all. It’s always two people bumping against each other blindly, acting out old ideas and dreams and mistaken understandings.” – Kent Haruf
  • “The moon is the reflection of your heart and moonlight is the twinkle of your love.” – Debasish Mridha
  • “Believing doesn’t make God real. Unbelief doesn’t make Him disappear. Your opinion doesn’t change reality.” – Randy Loubier
  • “While retreating timely into a break of reflection, we can conquer the sanity of our mental condition and find a piece of stillness in the flurry of the world.” – Erik Pevernagie
  • “Our power lies in our small daily choices, one after another, to create eternal ripples of a life well lived.” – Mollie Marti
  • “The secret and the sacred are sisters. When the secret is not respected, the sacred vanishes. Consequently, reflection should not shine too severe or aggressive a light on the world of the soul.” – John O’Donohue
  • “There’s just something unsettling about studying your reflection. It’s not a matter of being dissatisfied with your face or of being embarrassed by your vanity. Maybe it’s that when you gaze into your own eyes, you don’t see what you wish to see – or glimpse something that you wish weren’t there.” – Dean Koontz
  • “A lake is a landscape’s most beautiful and expressive feature. It is Earth’s eye ; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.” – Henry David Thoreau

reflective essay quotes

  • “The past can’t be changed, can it? It can just be forgiven.” – Elizabeth George
  • “If you can’t prove your freedom in the nanosecond before you spilled rage out of your lips, you have proven your bondage.” – Randy Loubier
  • “If every library is in some sense a reflection of its readers, it is also an image of that which we are not, and cannot be.” – Alberto Manguel
  • “Living in a way that reflects one’s values is not just about what you do, it is also about how you do things.” – Deborah Day
  • “Remember your connection with the cosmos. Remember your connection with the infinity and that remembrance will give you the freedom.” – Amit Ray
  • “Sometimes, a girl just has to dive under the duvet and regroup.” – Jody Gehrman
  • “They seemed no closer to the tops of the peaks that rose before them. It was only by looking back, to the forest far below, that she knew they’d climbed.” – Kristin Cashore
  • “Take time daily to reflect on how much you have. It may not be all that you want but remember someone somewhere is dreaming to have what you have.” – Germany Kent
  • “How could you cleanse yourself if you couldn’t forget?” – Ann Brashares
  • “There is nothing like a train journey for reflection.” – Tahir Shah
  • “Great ideas emerge from useless fragments of thoughts.” – Michael Bassey Johnson
  • “Once a day, especially in the early years of life and study, call yourselves to an account what new ideas, what new proposition or truth you have gained, what further confirmation of known truths, and what advances you have made in any part of knowledge.” – Isaac Watts
  • “There’s something about the thousands of glittering lights, the veil of nighttime that almost makes this place beautiful, especially in the reflection of the water. It makes everything askew, disoriented. There’s more truth in a ripple of water than in a clear day.” – Ellie Lieberman
  • “The outer world is a reflection of our inner selves.” – Bryant McGill
  • “Because you’re a creation of God, you reflect the Divine qualities of creativity, wisdom, and love.” – Doreen Virtue
  • “Usually, when the distractions of daily life deplete our energy, the first thing we eliminate is the thing we eliminate is the thing we need the most: quiet, reflective time. Time to dream, time to contemplate what’s working and what’s not, so that we can make changes for the better.” – Sarah Breathnach
  • “There is no future without a past, because what is to be cannot be imagined except as a form of repetition.” – Siri Hustvedt
  • “…real childhood scars heal, but not when band-aids replace self-reflection.” – Cameron Conaway
  • “People like us, we think differently, don’t we? We are different. We do all the things that others do. But when it comes down to it, we don’t need anyone else. We’re happy doing what we do and having obligation interferes with that. And sometimes I think we don’t even need ourselves. What’s most important is to find out whether we’re right or not.” – Simon Morden

reflective essay quotes

  • “Bewilderment increases in the presence of the mirrors.” – Tarjei Vesaas
  • “Once you reject fear, you will become the perfect candidate to receive and reflect Truth.” – Suzy Kassem
  • “Well, it’s a good life and a good world, all said and done, if you don’t weaken.” – Alan Sillitoe
  • “Pets reflect you like mirrors. When you are happy, you can see your dog smiling and when you are sad, your cat cries.” – Munia Khan
  • “Remembrance and reflection how allied! What thin partitions sense from thought divide!” – Alexander Pope
  • “Rarely if ever, moments come that are so defining in our lives. The years are glutted with benign matters which impact us more deeply than we could have ever imagined in our youth.” – Joel T. McGrath
  • “When you have lived your individual life in your own adventurous way and then look back upon its course, you will find that you have lived a model human life, after all.” – Joseph Campbell
  • “The act of going within, finding our truth, and then sharing it, it helps us far more than we know.” – Kamal Ravikant
  • “We think we’ve seen it all before, we think we know it all by heart.” – Luanne Rice
  • “I look around the room and can’t help but think about how it is the little things we look back on in life. I wonder how often people think that they should pay more attention to them.” – Erika Lance
  • “If the Romans could have fortified their cities the way the human brain fortifies itself, we’d still be wearing togas. The mind is an amazing piece of biomachinery, really. A serious threat presents itself at the gate and up fly the walls, standing firm in the face of earth-shaking revelations, ideological bullets, and plain old logic.” – Kelley Armstrong
  • “I leaned over the sink, closer to my reflection, and stare at myself hard. I don’t know what I see. I don’t even know what I want to see.” – Nina LaCour
  • “Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider.” – Francis Bacon
  • “Here is the world, and you live in it, and are grateful. You try to be grateful.” – Michael Cunningham
  • “Wisdom comes from reflection.” – Deborah Day

reflective essay quotes

Posted by: Nikola Nikolovski

Nikola is a Wordpress expert who makes sure everything runs smoothly on our website. Wordpress optimization and on-site SEO are both his bread and butter.

Rafal Reyzer

8 Tips For Writing A Great Reflective Essay (With Examples)

Author: Rafal Reyzer

Memories, hopes, disappointments, and curiosity run through your life.

By writing a reflective essay, you can capture some of these ephemeral emotions and make sense of who you are. Below, I share eight tips (and a few examples) that will help you do it in a better way. You may have to write a reflective essay as a part of an academic assignment or a college paper. Or perhaps you want to create it for yourself and never show it to anyone. Regardless of the reason, after reading this article, you will hopefully become better at it. They helped a lot of students over the years, so you may check them out.

Here’s how to write a great reflective essay:

1. first, what is a reflective essay.

A reflective essay is a piece of writing in which you analyze your personal experience, reflect on how it changed your life, and what conclusions for the future can you draw from what you’ve learned. It’s a “know thyself” type of essay. The goal here is getting self-knowledge, by stopping to think about your memories, your values, and where you want to go from the present moment onward. By writing your thoughts down, you pursue some kind of deeper truth, about yourself and the world.

a book laying on the bed

2. The power of writing introspectively

Many great men and women (like Charles Darwin or Frida Kahlo ) had a habit of keeping a journal. This seems to be forgotten these days as we record everything through our mobile devices. But the habit of introspective writing and journaling helps you get in touch with your inner self and even improves your mental health. The reflective essay serves a similar purpose. It lets you search for meaning in your life and lets you discover the underlying causes of your actions.

“Life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forwards.” – Søren Kierkegaard

3. How do you start your essay?

You may start with an introduction of experience, an event, or a memory on which you’ll reflect. If your topic is “a life-changing incident you had when you were a child,” you could start with: I used to live on a sunny farm with my parents and grandparents when I was young. A few days after I turned six, something happened that would alter the course of my life forever. I’m fifty-two as I’m writing this…

This beginning has certain elements that make it effective:

  • Introducing the setting and putting the experience in context.
  • Hooking the reader by building curiosity and a story.

Here’s another way to start (this excerpt is taken from Didion’s “ On self-respect ”): Once, in a dry season, I wrote in large letters across two pages of a notebook that innocence ends when one has stripped of the delusion that one likes oneself. In reflective writing, you don’t have to follow any strict guidelines or rules. Follow your heart, put some emotion into it, and you’ll create something of value for yourself and others. Start at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end – as long as it’s coherent, you’ll be fine.

“When I discover who I am, I’ll be free.” – Ralph Ellison

a personal book on a table with coffee

4. Learn how to structure your essay

In terms of length, it all depends on your assignment, but usually, the reflective essay has between 300 and 700 words . It has a rather informal structure and the use of language. After all, you’re drilling into your personal experiences, and often, this requires a poetic turn of the phrase. You’re more than welcome to use a wide range of advanced vocabulary .

Introduction

In this part, you set the tone for your reflection. You implicitly or explicitly say what will you reflect on, and what prompted you to do that. If you’re writing an academic paper , you’ll have to be more direct and for example, say: “What follows, are my reflections on what I’ve learned about life during the first year of college”.

In this part, you talk about your actual experiences, memories, and important events in your life. But the purpose is not just to say what happened – that’s a descriptive essay’s job. The true goal here is to ponder the significance of your experiences and think about how they changed you and what you’ve learned from them. Here you can share concrete examples of changes that took place in your life.

Here, you sum up your essay and leave your audience with a final thought. Look ahead into the future and write about how your experiences are going to affect your life from now on. What’s the direction you’re going to take? What is there to look ahead to? You may also look backward and see how different you were in the past, compared to now. “I think it’s good for a person to spend time alone. It allows them to discover who they are and to figure out why they are always alone.” – Amy Sedaris

5. Create an outline for your essay

As with most writing assignments , the work begins with ideation and then creating some sort of outline . Here’s a simple process you can use to get everything ready before you start writing: a) Scan your mind in search of powerful experiences, meaningful memories, and thoughts about your past. This will serve as a raw material from which you’ll sculpt a piece of prose. b) Consider the attractiveness of your topic from the reader’s point of view. You certainly don’t want to bore anyone, so pick something interesting, but important. c) Organize your essay and divide it into a couple of paragraphs. Each paragraph should contain one important idea. d) Decide in which sequence you would like to share your ideas. Put some logic and chronology behind it. e) Jot down any side notes included in the essay. It’s always better to have an overabundance of material.

“Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” – C.G. Jung

6. The essay-writing process

The best piece of advice on that is to avoid cliches. It might be hard to do this at first, but decide to speak your truth. Talk about things and feelings unique to you and your life. It’s easy to regurgitate what someone else had said before because it’s a safe territory. Your goal is to open doors to which only you have the keys.

Once you have the idea, you can follow a simple process:

  • Write the first draft as quickly as you can (no editing or looking back here)
  • Reorganize the first draft if necessary
  • Edit for clarity (throw out everything unnecessary)
  • Accept that it will not be perfect, and publish it (or keep it to yourself)

leather bound journal in the street

7. How to pick the right topic for your essay

If you’re writing an assignment, you’ll probably receive the prompt from your professor. If that’s the case, follow it diligently. This may be something like: a) Reflect on what you learned during your first year of high school. b) Think about your favorite book and how it changed your life . c) How did your writing skills change over the years? And why? Or it might be something really specific like Write a two-page reflection paper on the Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. Here, it’s not only about your personal experience, but about your interaction with a specific text, event, play, or movie and the effect it had on you. But what if you want to write an essay on your own? Which topic would you choose then? First, pick something meaningful to you. Second, pick something that you know well. Third, pick something that you want to explore and get deep into.

Here’s some more inspiration in the area of topics:

Personal reflection:.

  • What was the hardest thing you’ve ever done and how did it change you?
  • How has your relationship with your parents changed over the years?
  • What did you use to do a lot in the past, but aren’t doing now?
  • What was the most creative act you’ve ever done?
  • What was your favorite game or toy when you were a child?
  • What did you want to become when you were small?
  • How did you overcome your limits?
  • What was your biggest failure and how did you come back on your feet?
  • What are the things from the past that are still haunting you?
  • What gives you the biggest sense of joy in life?
  • What is your passion and how has it shaped your life?

Reflection on life and meaning:

  • What is the meaning of friendship?
  • What is to be done with the time you have in your life?
  • What are the values that make up a good life?
  • Is it possible to find the ultimate truth about anything?
  • Can you know thyself?
  • What should every human do during their lifetime?

Reflection on events:

  • What was your most exciting trip and why?
  • Have you ever had a mystical or psychedelic experience?
  • How did World War 2 change the collective psyche of humanity?
  • What was your favorite musical concert and why?
  • Was there any rite of passage you went through? What was the meaning of it?

You may also consider other great essay topics submitted by the users of Quora.

“Reflect upon your present blessings — of which every man has many — not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” – Charles Dickens

person writing with a magnyfing glass

8. Learn from the masters

Montaigne was the father of the essay as a literary form. He was the first writer to use informal tone, colloquial language, and rather prosaic themes to get to the deeper truth about human nature.

I recommend you check his essays for inspiration, along with other masterworks:

  • The Essays – by Montaigne
  • Shooting an Elephant – by George Orwell
  • On Self Respect – by Joan Didion
  • Meditations – by Marcus Aurelius (it’s a philosophical work, rather than an essay, but the quality of “Meditations” is too high to be overlooked).
  • Once more to the lake – EB White

And here are a few books filled with great reflective essays:

  • A room of one’s own – Virginia Woolf
  • Walden – Henry David Thoreau
  • A collection of essays – George Orwell
  • Arguably – Christopher Hitchens
  • Consider the Lobster and Other Essays  – David Foster Wallace

And here you may find a huge list of 450+ essay books on Goodreads.

“Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.” – Albert Einstein

personal reflections in a notebook

Example #1 of a reflective essay:

The misgivings about the high school football.

Football (soccer) was on the pedestal during my high school years in Poland. You were not judged by the color of your skin (because everyone was roughly the same color) nor by the contents of your character. The worth of a human being is measured by the ability to score goals. Each player had to find their niche in the dominant hierarchy of the pitch. It all started with the selection of players. The gym master would choose two captains at the beginning of the match, and they would choose their teammates. One by one, the best players got picked, and as we went down the line, we were left with the wretched souls, the worst, the smallest guys, or the fat ones, whose self-esteem was shattered from the beginning, simply because they were picked last. But there was a ladder within a ladder. Some players, perhaps in the lower echelons would be defenders, some would be proud midfielders, pushing the ball forward and creating “situations”. Some were the goalkeepers who were chosen for the job because they couldn’t play ball, or because they were specialists, sporting keeper gloves, and getting admired for their technical skills. But the true apex of the hierarchy was occupied by the attackers. The guys who could push through others and ram the ball through the goalkeeper were the true heroes of the field. This self-generated order of youthful self-worth and self-concept was brutal, as it was instructive. Each football match was a psychology class and a lesson in the ways of the world that outweighed math, history, or geography by orders of magnitude. We could witness the natural constellation of humanity based on their genetic makeup and their willingness to face their fears.

Here’s a second, shorter sample of a reflective essay:

The sources of love for instrumental music..

There’s a question I can’t quite answer. Why do I love instrumental music so much? And why, and I’m especially enamored with the music of the East? The Persian, the Indian, the Afghan, the Japanese, the Turkish, the Kurdish, the Arabic? Since I first discovered these musical notes, my life was never been the same. Recently I watched a great documentary about Quincy Jones where he said he touched his first piano at twelve, and these first few taps of fingers defined the rest of his life. Isn’t that strange, that in reality, we don’t choose things? The things choose us. Where do these natural inclinations come from? It must be our environment, our personality, our natural talent. But the other part seems mysterious, like some sort of cosmic accident. I first heard about the Oud when reading “My Name is Red” by Orhan Pamuk. I instantly went online to hear this instrument and from there on, I discovered dozens of beautiful instruments such as tar, setar, sitar, buzuq, sarod, tabla, rebab, shakuhachi, quin, biwa, to the goddamn gamelan drums. Hearing the esraj in a tower of the ancient Indian fort in Jodhpur melted my heart. It was as if this melody was constructed just for me like I’d heard it before. Perhaps in another life.

Looking backward, moving forward

There are certain milestones in your life: finishing high school, falling in love for the first time, your first journey abroad, the first kiss, the first psychedelic trip, graduating from the university, getting your first job, getting married, having children… Each of these brings something new and unexpected and makes you grow as an individual. But you can run through life and never reflect on how it all changed , how silly and incompetent you were just a few years ago. And how you’ll think the same thing about the present in a few years. Perhaps you should compose a reflective essay and think about all of this, and about what’s coming. Next up, you may want to explore a list of the best essays of all time .

AI marketing tools cover

Get your free PDF report: Download your guide to 80+ AI marketing tools and learn how to thrive as a marketer in the digital era.

Rafal Reyzer

Rafal Reyzer

Hey there, welcome to my blog! I'm a full-time entrepreneur building two companies, a digital marketer, and a content creator with 10+ years of experience. I started RafalReyzer.com to provide you with great tools and strategies you can use to become a proficient digital marketer and achieve freedom through online creativity. My site is a one-stop shop for digital marketers, and content enthusiasts who want to be independent, earn more money, and create beautiful things. Explore my journey here , and don't miss out on my AI Marketing Mastery online course.

COMMENTS

  1. 160 Greatest Reflection Quotes For A Thoughtful Life

    Here are the best reflection quotes I could find online to remind you to pause and get a fresh perspective on the world around you. Let them light your way through life's complexities! ... myself in different ways, that is because I look at myself in different ways." ― Michel de Montaigne, The Complete Essays. 18. "Self-reflection ...

  2. TOP 25 REFLECTION QUOTES (of 1000)

    Reflection Quotes. facebook; twitter; googleplus; Without reflection, we go blindly on our way. Margaret J. Wheatley. Way, Unintended Consequences, Reflecting 208 Copy quote. Loneliness is a prerequisite for freedom. Freedom depends on the ability to reflect, and reflection can only begin when one is alone. ...

  3. 98 Reflection Quotes For Quiet Moments (2024)

    Reflection Quotes To Make You Wiser. Confucius was a Chinese philosopher who lived during the 6th and 5th centuries BCE. His thoughts and ideas have profoundly influenced Chinese culture and society. Regarding reflection, Confucius believed it was essential for individuals to reflect on their actions and choices.

  4. 10 Inspiring Self-Reflection Quotes to Ignite Personal Growth

    - Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays (1942) ... In conclusion, these 10 inspiring self-reflection quotes have shed light on the importance of taking the time to pause, reflect, and grow on our personal journeys. They remind us that true growth comes from within and that self-reflection is the key to unlocking our full potential.

  5. Famous Quotes on Reflection and Well-Being

    Personal reflection is an important habit to develop for living well. People who reflect on what they learn build confidence, research shows, and that leads to greater well-being and learning outcomes.Let these famous quotes on reflection and well-being motivate you to spend time reflecting on your thoughts regularly:

  6. 75 Inspiring Reflection Quotes on Change, Success, and Life

    Thought-Provoking Reflection Quotes "Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." - Søren Kierkegaard "All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking." - Friedrich Nietzsche "We always see our worst selves. Our most vulnerable selves. We need someone else to get close enough to tell us we're wrong.

  7. Reflection Quotes

    Explore 600 Reflection Quotes by authors including Confucius, Thomas Paine, and Leonardo da Vinci at BrainyQuote. "The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection." - Thomas Paine. Site. Home. Authors. Topics. Quote Of The Day. Top 100 Quotes. Professions. Birthdays. About. About Us.

  8. 50 Best Reflective Essay Examples (+Topic Samples)

    Reflective essays are very honest, personal, and emotional, especially those which describe painful experiences. Reflective Paper Examples. Download 29 KB #10. Download 217 KB #11. Download 27 KB #12. Download 18 KB #13. Download 17 KB #14. Download 24 KB #15. Download 33 KB #16. Download 449 KB #17.

  9. How to Write a Reflective Essay

    Reflective essays are often written for college applications and cover letters as a way for the writer to discuss their background and demonstrate how these experiences shaped them into an ideal candidate. For example, a college applicant might write a reflective essay about how moving every few years because of their parent's military ...

  10. 8 Tips For Writing A Great Reflective Essay (With Examples)

    4. Learn how to structure your essay. In terms of length, it all depends on your assignment, but usually, the reflective essay has between 300 and 700 words. It has a rather informal structure and the use of language. After all, you're drilling into your personal experiences, and often, this requires a poetic turn of the phrase.