Look calmly at your own dark side and you will love people better.

Carl Jung, Two Essays (1928), I, ch. II 'The Sexual Theory'

What it means

People who refuse to see their own faults tend to find them everywhere in others. Look at your own lower side without panic or excuses, and you stop needing someone else to blame. What is left is understanding, and from there, love.

The source

"Look calmly at your own dark side and you will love people better." Carl Jung said it in Two Essays (1928), I, ch. II 'The Sexual Theory'. Translated by H. G. and C. F. Baynes, 1928.

"If men can be trained to look dispassionately at the lower side of their own natures, it may be hoped that in this way they may also learn to understand and to love their fellow-men better."

H. G. and C. F. Baynes, 1928, Two Essays (1928), I, ch. II 'The Sexual Theory'. Text read at archive.org.

Who said it

Carl Jung (1875–1961). Swiss psychiatrist who broke with Freud and founded analytical psychology. He mapped the persona, the shadow, the collective unconscious and the lifelong work of becoming yourself, which he called individuation. Our lines come only from his writings published before 1931, in our own translations from the German or in English translations of the time.

Questions

What does "Look calmly at your own dark side and you will love people better." mean?: People who refuse to see their own faults tend to find them everywhere in others. Look at your own lower side without panic or excuses, and you stop needing someone else to blame. What is left is understanding, and from there, love.
Who said "Look calmly at your own dark side and you will love people better."?: Carl Jung (1875–1961). Source: Two Essays (1928), I, ch. II 'The Sexual Theory'.
What is the original wording?: If men can be trained to look dispassionately at the lower side of their own natures, it may be hoped that in this way they may also learn to understand and to love their fellow-men better (H. G. and C. F. Baynes, 1928). Translated by H. G. and C. F. Baynes, 1928.
Is "Look calmly at your own dark side and you will love people better." on a shirt?: Yes. We print it to order on our tees in 6 illustrated looks, from $44, with free US shipping.

Cite this line

"Look calmly at your own dark side and you will love people better." (Carl Jung, Two Essays (1928), I, ch. II 'The Sexual Theory', trans. H. G. and C. F. Baynes, 1928). https://spartansurfers.com/quotes/look-calmly-at-your-own-dark-side-and