What can we see, read, acquire, but ourselves? – Emerson

We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are. – Anais Nin (from the Talmud?!)

God himself sees in things only himself. – Lichtenberg

We discover no cause in things but notice only that which corresponds to something within ourselves. Wherever we look we see only ourselves. – Lichtenberg

…we cannot remember too often that when we observe nature, & especially the ordering of nature, it is always ourselves alone we are observing. – Lichtenberg