--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I do nothing upon myself, and yet I am my…" description: "\"I do nothing upon myself, and yet I am my own executioner.\" — John Donne" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fa3/john-donne-933_executioner_i-do-nothing-upon-myself-and-yet-i-am-my_1748831.png" --- # I do nothing upon myself, and yet I am my own executioner. ![“I do nothing upon myself, and yet I am my own executioner.” quote by John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fa3/john-donne-933_executioner_i-do-nothing-upon-myself-and-yet-i-am-my_1748831.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fa3/john-donne-933_executioner_i-do-nothing-upon-myself-and-yet-i-am-my_1748831.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fa3/john-donne-933_executioner_i-do-nothing-upon-myself-and-yet-i-am-my_1748831.png) > “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. He feels powerless over his fate, yet he is the cause of his own suffering. **In simple terms:** Self‑destruction through inaction. Key Takeaway Recognize personal responsibility for outcomes. Themes philosophy self‑reflection existence Mood somber introspective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - personal goal setting - habit change - therapy sessions - leadership decisions Key Concepts free will self‑sabotage moral agency Questions to Reflect On - What habits keep you stuck? - How can you break the cycle? A Different Perspective Denial can obscure self‑blame. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Self sabotage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self-sabotage/) ## Related quotes > [But I do nothing upon myself, and yet I am my own executioner.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/but-i-do-nothing-upon-myself-and-yet-i-am-my-own-executioner/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [“I think it’s pretty common to hold onto people, to bribe them with things, say, a body, in the hopes of keeping them from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kris-kidd/i-think-it-s-pretty-common-to-hold-onto-people-to-bribe-them-with/) [Kris Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kris-kidd/) > [“When you self-sabotage, you undermine yourself and act in ways that dishonor your mind, body and soul, and ultimately weaken you.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tanesia-harris/when-you-self-sabotage-you-undermine-yourself-and-act-in-ways-that/) [Tanesia Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tanesia-harris/) > [We need to ascend beyond our own petty Resistance, our own negative self-judgment and self-sabotage, our own "I'm not worthy" mind-set.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pressfield/we-need-to-ascend-beyond-our-own-petty-resistance-our-own-negative/) [Steven Pressfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pressfield/) > [Turning pro is a mindset. If we are struggling with fear, self-sabotage, procrastination, self-doubt, etc., the problem is, we're thinking like amateurs. Amateurs don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pressfield/turning-pro-is-a-mindset-if-we-are-struggling-with-fear-self-sabotage/) [Steven Pressfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pressfield/) > [“I am the greatest obstacle to my greatest dreams.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-d-lounsbrough/i-am-the-greatest-obstacle-to-my-greatest-dreams/) [Craig D. Lounsbrough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-d-lounsbrough/) > [“I've always believed that we don't choose the life we want, we choose the life we think we deserve. We self-sabotage as a way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-paul-evans/i-ve-always-believed-that-we-don-t-choose-the-life-we-want-we-choose/) [Richard Paul Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-paul-evans/) > [“I decry the injustice of my wounds, only to look down and see that I am holding a smoking gun in one hand and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-d-lounsbrough/i-decry-the-injustice-of-my-wounds-only-to-look-down-and-see-that-i/) [Craig D. 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Rock bottom is a surprisingly comfortable place to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kris-kidd/there-is-stability-in-self-destruction-in-prolonging-sadness-as-a/) [Kris Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kris-kidd/) > [I don't want to completely self-sabotage everything that I've got and alienate everyone. But I definitely want to take some chances as I always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katy-perry/i-don-t-want-to-completely-self-sabotage-everything-that-i-ve-got-and/) [Katy Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katy-perry/) > [Withholding love is a form of self-sabotage, as what we withhold from others we are withholding from ourselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-williamson/withholding-love-is-a-form-of-self-sabotage-as-what-we-withhold-from/) [Marianne Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-williamson/) > [“Self-sabotage is knowingly doing things that can ruin different aspects of your life and hinder you from reaching your highest potential.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tanesia-harris/self-sabotage-is-knowingly-doing-things-that-can-ruin-different/) [Tanesia Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tanesia-harris/) > [“We have the tools and technologies in our hands with which we can make this world a paradise, or turn it into a living…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sadhguru/we-have-the-tools-and-technologies-in-our-hands-with-which-we-can/) [Sadhguru](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sadhguru/) ## 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/) > [But I do nothing upon myself, and yet I am my own executioner.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/but-i-do-nothing-upon-myself-and-yet-i-am-my-own-executioner/) [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/) [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/) > [But I do nothing upon myself, and yet I am my own executioner.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/but-i-do-nothing-upon-myself-and-yet-i-am-my-own-executioner/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [“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 > [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/) Browse all 79 Executioner quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "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/i-do-nothing-upon-myself-and-yet-i-am-my-own-executioner/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Executioner" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/i-do-nothing-upon-myself-and-yet-i-am-my-own-executioner/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fa3/john-donne-933_executioner_i-do-nothing-upon-myself-and-yet-i-am-my_1748831.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fa3/john-donne-933_executioner_i-do-nothing-upon-myself-and-yet-i-am-my_1748831.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fa3/john-donne-933_executioner_i-do-nothing-upon-myself-and-yet-i-am-my_1748831.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“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": "I do nothing upon myself, and...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/i-do-nothing-upon-myself-and-yet-i-am-my-own-executioner/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/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 } } ] } ```