--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: But I do nothing upon myself, and yet I…" description: "\"But I do nothing upon myself, and yet I am my own executioner.\" — John Donne" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/980/john-donne-933_executioner_but-i-do-nothing-upon-myself-and-yet-i-a_37219.png" --- # But I do nothing upon myself, and yet I am my own… ![“But I do nothing upon myself, and yet I am my own executioner.” quote by John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/980/john-donne-933_executioner_but-i-do-nothing-upon-myself-and-yet-i-a_37219.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/980/john-donne-933_executioner_but-i-do-nothing-upon-myself-and-yet-i-a_37219.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/980/john-donne-933_executioner_but-i-do-nothing-upon-myself-and-yet-i-a_37219.png) > “But I do nothing upon myself, and yet I am my own executioner.” [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Self-inflicted suffering arises from internal conflict, not external forces. **In simple terms:** Inner turmoil causes self-punishment. Key Takeaway We are often our own worst enemies. Themes self-awareness psychology existentialism personal responsibility inner conflict Mood melancholic reflective somber Type aphorism philosophical observation When to use this quote - grieving a loss - facing moral failure - experiencing imposter syndrome - dealing with chronic self-criticism - navigating a crisis of conscience Key Concepts self-judgment agency pain identity Practical Applications - therapy or counseling to reframe self-blame - mindfulness practices to reduce self-criticism Questions to Reflect On - What internal narratives keep you trapped in self-punishment? - How can you shift from self-execution to self-compassion? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Executioner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/executioner/) [My own](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/my-own/) ## Related quotes > [I do nothing upon myself, and yet I am my own executioner.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/i-do-nothing-upon-myself-and-yet-i-am-my-own-executioner/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [Am I missing something because of my lack of education? Being an intellectual - I'm not. So I hire him as a corner man,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-schiller/am-i-missing-something-because-of-my-lack-of-education-being-an/) [Lawrence Schiller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-schiller/) > [“Why do the slaves applaud for the executioner?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tahani-shihab/why-do-the-slaves-applaud-for-the-executioner/) [Tahani Shihab](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tahani-shihab/) > [“Which executioner is the more humane, he who kills you in a few minutes or he who drags the life out of you in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anton-chekhov/which-executioner-is-the-more-humane-he-who-kills-you-in-a-few/) [Anton Chekhov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anton-chekhov/) > [“That's how I am! eyes peeled, scientific! first things first! the big ones! the small ones!...if they're going to behead you...for example!...you don't take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-ferdinand-celine/that-s-how-i-am-eyes-peeled-scientific-first-things-first-the-big/) [Louis-Ferdinand Céline](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-ferdinand-celine/) > [Yet is every man his greatest enemy, and, as it were, his own executioner.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/yet-is-every-man-his-greatest-enemy-and-as-it-were-his-own-executioner/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“it is always he, unfortunate wretch, who assumes the rôle of executioner in the process of value-disintegration, and on the day when the trumpets…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-broch/it-is-always-he-unfortunate-wretch-who-assumes-the-r-le-of/) [Hermann Broch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-broch/) > [I am the Executioner. Murder someone in my town, and I’m the one that you get to see. Once.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurell-k-hamilton/i-am-the-executioner-murder-someone-in-my-town-and-i-m-the-one-that/) [Laurell K. Hamilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurell-k-hamilton/) > [“Yet is every man his greatest enemy, and as it were, his owne executioner.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-browne/yet-is-every-man-his-greatest-enemy-and-as-it-were-his-owne/) [Thomas Browne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-browne/) > [I knew from the moment I heard you, the moment I saw the gun and realized that this lovely, petit woman was the executioner,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurell-k-hamilton/i-knew-from-the-moment-i-heard-you-the-moment-i-saw-the-gun-and/) [Laurell K. Hamilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurell-k-hamilton/) > [“The character of Moses, as stated in the Bible, is the most horrid that can be imagined. If those accounts be true, he was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/the-character-of-moses-as-stated-in-the-bible-is-the-most-horrid-that/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [Capital punishment kills immediately, whereas lifetime imprisonment does so slowly. Which executioner is more humane? The one who kills you in a few minutes,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anton-chekhov/capital-punishment-kills-immediately-whereas-lifetime-imprisonment/) [Anton Chekhov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anton-chekhov/) > [“She told herself that she was happy to meet her executioner.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-maclean/she-told-herself-that-she-was-happy-to-meet-her-executioner/) [Sarah MacLean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-maclean/) > [“Death used to be an executioner, but the gospel has made him just a gardner.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-herbert/death-used-to-be-an-executioner-but-the-gospel-has-made-him-just-a/) [George Herbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-herbert/) > [If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-we-continue-to-develop-our-technology-without-wisdom-or-prudence/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by John Donne > [Our critical day is not the very day of our death; but the whole course of our life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/our-critical-day-is-not-the-very-day-of-our-death-but-the-whole/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/all-mankind-is-of-one-author-and-is-one-volume-when-one-man-dies-one/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [We study health, and we deliberate upon our meats and drink and air and exercises, and we hew and we polish every stone that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/we-study-health-and-we-deliberate-upon-our-meats-and-drink-and-air/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [Commemoration of Pandita Mary Ramabai, Translator of the Scriptures, 1922 A memory of yesterday's pleasures, a fear of tomorrow's dangers, a straw under my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/commemoration-of-pandita-mary-ramabai-translator-of-the-scriptures/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [Various content To your eyes, ears, and tongue, and every part. If then your body go, what need you a heart?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/various-content-to-your-eyes-ears-and-tongue-and-every-part-if-then/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [“Batter my heart, three-person'd God ; for you As yet but knock ; breathe, shine, and seek to mend ; That I may rise,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/batter-my-heart-three-person-d-god-for-you-as-yet-but-knock-breathe/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [Young men mend not their sight by using old men's spectacles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/young-men-mend-not-their-sight-by-using-old-men-s-spectacles/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [That which attempts to elevate the ugly to the level of beauty becomes neither; but an obscenity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/that-which-attempts-to-elevate-the-ugly-to-the-level-of-beauty/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [For I am every dead thing In whom love wrought new alchemy For his art did express A quintessence even from nothingness, From dull…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/for-i-am-every-dead-thing-in-whom-love-wrought-new-alchemy-for-his/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [As states subsist in part by keeping their weaknesses from being known, so is it the quiet of families to have their chancery and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/as-states-subsist-in-part-by-keeping-their-weaknesses-from-being/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [All Kings, and all their favorites, All glory of honors, beauties, wits, The sun itself, which makes times, as they pass, Is elder by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/all-kings-and-all-their-favorites-all-glory-of-honors-beauties-wits/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [On a huge hill, Cragged, and steep, Truth stands, and hee that will Reach her, about must, and about must goo.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/on-a-huge-hill-cragged-and-steep-truth-stands-and-hee-that-will-reach/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [How many times go we to comedies, to masques, to places of great and noble resort, nay even to church only to see the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/how-many-times-go-we-to-comedies-to-masques-to-places-of-great-and/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell, And poppy, or charms, can make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/thou-art-slave-to-fate-chance-kings-and-desperate-men-and-dost-with/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [Send home my long strayed eyes to me, Which (Oh) too long have dwelt on thee.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/send-home-my-long-strayed-eyes-to-me-which-oh-too-long-have-dwelt-on/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) [Explore all 325 John Donne quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) ## More Executioner quotes > [If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-we-continue-to-develop-our-technology-without-wisdom-or-prudence/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Death used to be an executioner, but the gospel has made him just a gardner.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-herbert/death-used-to-be-an-executioner-but-the-gospel-has-made-him-just-a/) [George Herbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-herbert/) > [“She told herself that she was happy to meet her executioner.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-maclean/she-told-herself-that-she-was-happy-to-meet-her-executioner/) [Sarah MacLean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-maclean/) > [Capital punishment kills immediately, whereas lifetime imprisonment does so slowly. Which executioner is more humane? The one who kills you in a few minutes,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anton-chekhov/capital-punishment-kills-immediately-whereas-lifetime-imprisonment/) [Anton Chekhov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anton-chekhov/) > [“The character of Moses, as stated in the Bible, is the most horrid that can be imagined. If those accounts be true, he was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/the-character-of-moses-as-stated-in-the-bible-is-the-most-horrid-that/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [I knew from the moment I heard you, the moment I saw the gun and realized that this lovely, petit woman was the executioner,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurell-k-hamilton/i-knew-from-the-moment-i-heard-you-the-moment-i-saw-the-gun-and/) [Laurell K. Hamilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurell-k-hamilton/) > [“Yet is every man his greatest enemy, and as it were, his owne executioner.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-browne/yet-is-every-man-his-greatest-enemy-and-as-it-were-his-owne/) [Thomas Browne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-browne/) > [I am the Executioner. Murder someone in my town, and I’m the one that you get to see. Once.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurell-k-hamilton/i-am-the-executioner-murder-someone-in-my-town-and-i-m-the-one-that/) [Laurell K. Hamilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurell-k-hamilton/) > [“it is always he, unfortunate wretch, who assumes the rôle of executioner in the process of value-disintegration, and on the day when the trumpets…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-broch/it-is-always-he-unfortunate-wretch-who-assumes-the-r-le-of/) [Hermann Broch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-broch/) > [Yet is every man his greatest enemy, and, as it were, his own executioner.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/yet-is-every-man-his-greatest-enemy-and-as-it-were-his-own-executioner/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“That's how I am! eyes peeled, scientific! first things first! the big ones! the small ones!...if they're going to behead you...for example!...you don't take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-ferdinand-celine/that-s-how-i-am-eyes-peeled-scientific-first-things-first-the-big/) [Louis-Ferdinand Céline](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-ferdinand-celine/) > [“Which executioner is the more humane, he who kills you in a few minutes or he who drags the life out of you in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anton-chekhov/which-executioner-is-the-more-humane-he-who-kills-you-in-a-few/) [Anton Chekhov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anton-chekhov/) > [“Why do the slaves applaud for the executioner?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tahani-shihab/why-do-the-slaves-applaud-for-the-executioner/) [Tahani Shihab](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tahani-shihab/) > [Am I missing something because of my lack of education? Being an intellectual - I'm not. So I hire him as a corner man,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-schiller/am-i-missing-something-because-of-my-lack-of-education-being-an/) [Lawrence Schiller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-schiller/) > [On his mounting the scaffold to be beheaded: 'I pray you, Master Lieutenant, see me safely up, and for my coming down, let me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-more/on-his-mounting-the-scaffold-to-be-beheaded-i-pray-you-master/) [Thomas More](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-more/) [Browse all 79 Executioner quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/executioner/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "But I do nothing upon myself, and yet I am my own executioner.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "John Donne" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/but-i-do-nothing-upon-myself-and-yet-i-am-my-own-executioner/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Executioner" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/but-i-do-nothing-upon-myself-and-yet-i-am-my-own-executioner/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/980/john-donne-933_executioner_but-i-do-nothing-upon-myself-and-yet-i-a_37219.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/980/john-donne-933_executioner_but-i-do-nothing-upon-myself-and-yet-i-a_37219.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/980/john-donne-933_executioner_but-i-do-nothing-upon-myself-and-yet-i-a_37219.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“But I do nothing upon myself, and yet I am my own executioner.” — John Donne", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "John Donne", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "But I do nothing upon myself,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/but-i-do-nothing-upon-myself-and-yet-i-am-my-own-executioner/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/but-i-do-nothing-upon-myself-and-yet-i-am-my-own-executioner/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```