“Erfahrung heißt gar nichts. Man kann seine Sache auch 35 Jahre lang schlecht machen.” - Kurt Tucholsky

Which DeepL translates to

“Experience means nothing. You can do a bad job for 35 years.”

Not strictly life changing, but a very valuable reminder, if you need to deal with ‘that’ kind of person.

I’ve always prided myself on being empathetic and sympathetic to people no matter what. During the me too times, a lady was being interviewed about why survivors and victims don’t go to the authorities about their treatment from (men) powerful people.

She said something along the lines of “stand with us if you want things to change, but don’t you dare stand opposite to tell me how offended I’m allowed to be”. In an instant I realised I’d been guilty of minimizing the suffering of others simply because I’d not been through what they’d been through (in a sense - if I wouldn’t be offended why should they?). Changed my whole outlook on life actually

“You cannot love someone else until you love yourself.”

My dad raised me on this. If don’t see yourself worthy of love from even yourself, you’ll never be able to accept it from someone else. Healthy love is mutual. Also, this ties back into the idea that if you don’t see yourself worthy of love, it means you need to work on yourself until you do rather than trying to fill that gap with someone else.