The Ego (n.) is the conscious strata that is surrounded by the unconscious self which radiates outward and surrounds the ego on all sides. The ego is unconscious prefigured by the self such that it is not I who create myself... rather, I happen to myself.
The Ego (n.) is a mere bagatelle, a feather whirled by every gust — sometimes the sacrificed and sometimes the sacrificer, and able to hinder neither.
The Ego (n.) is a very limited and fragile thing; only the self is a match for the world.
The Ego (n.) is a complex of ideas at the centre of consciousness, with a high degree of continuity and identity — but only one complex among others, not the whole psyche.
The Ego (n.) that stays stable between opposites and the symbol that is stronger than both are two sides of the same coin.
The Ego (n.) owes its existence to individual differentiation and so stands in direct opposition to the collective instincts — which is why a psychology of instinct must neglect it.
The Ego (n.) is, for Freud, an appendage of Eros; for Adler, love is just a means to the ego's ascendency — and each side will never be reconciled to the other's view.
The Ego (n.) is a touchy, egotistical bundle of personal wishes, fears, hopes and ambitions that always needs correcting from below; widened consciousness becomes instead a bond with the world.
The Ego (n.) is tossed like a shuttlecock between outer and inner demands — and over against it stands an arbiter one should not call by the deceptive name 'conscience'.
The Ego (n.) provokes an encroachment from the unconscious with every encroachment of its own; drop the claim to victory and possession ceases.
The Ego (n.) keeps its integrity only by refusing to identify with either opposite and holding the balance between them — which leaders, political and religious, all make hard by demanding decision for one side.
The Ego (n.) enriched by assimilated unconscious contents is ousted from the centre and finds it better to be taken down a peg than to fight a hopeless struggle in which it always gets the dirty end of the stick.
The Ego (n.) is, in dreams, a mere fragment or shadow of the waking ego — consciousness is never wholly extinguished in sleep, only restricted.
The Ego (n.) is not a simple thing but a complex of fluctuating composition, its many images held together as by gravity toward a virtual centre.
The Ego (n.) does not comprise the whole person: it has forgotten infinitely more than it knows, and thoughts spring up fully formed beyond its range without its knowing.
Ego (n.) is a synthesis of several 'sense-consciousnesses' — as Helen Keller shows, touch and bodily sensation alone can suffice for a consciousness.
The Ego (n.) alone makes a dull life — not only for the person himself but for all concerned; only a life lived in a certain spirit is worth living.
The Ego (n.) believes itself master in its own house only because we like to flatter ourselves: we cannot turn a bad mood good, summon or banish dreams, or drive out obsessive thoughts — and who today is sure he is not neurotic?
The Ego (n.) has a great but relative significance: after letting go, it must hold fast like Job when the wave rebounds — only conscious will can do that.
The Ego (n.) is not the centre of the personality but only the centre of the lit field — a point of reference, not the whole house.