Who can that be . . .
“I wish I knew who I am.” -Sarah Zettel (born 1966): “Dust Girl” (2012); author website http://www.sarahzettel.com/
“You are what you believe yourself to be.” -Paulo Coelho (born 1947)
“We have all been placed on this Earth to discover our own path, and we will never be happy if we live someone else’s idea of life.” -James Van Praagh (born 1958)
“Can you remember who you were before the world told you who you should be?” -Danielle LaPorte (born 1969)
“I am a person before I am anything else. I never say I am a writer. I never say I am an artist . . . I am a person who does those things.” -Edward Gorey (Edward St. John Gorey (1925 - 2000))
“You were born an original work of art. Stay original.” -Suzy Kassem (born 1975)
People travel to wonder at the height of mountains,
at the huge waves of the sea,
at the long courses of rivers,
at the vast compass of the ocean,
at the circular motion of the stars;
and they pass by themselves without wondering.
-Augustine of Hippo (C.E. 354 - C.E. 430)
“Accept no one’s definition of your life, but define yourself.” -Harvey Fierstein (Harvey Forbes Fierstein (born 1952))
“Know thyself? If I knew myself I would run away.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)
“You have to be brave to be yourself.” -Author Unknown
“One of the most courageous things you can do is identify yourself, know who you are, what you believe in, and where you want to go.” -Sheila Murray Bethel (born 1965)
“Looking for who I am is who I am.” -Tom Spanbauer (born 1946): “The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon” (1991)
“The hardest battle you’re ever going to fight is the battle to be just you.” -Leo F. Buscaglia (Felice Leonardo ‘Leo’ Buscaglia (1924 - 1998))
“Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you.” -Dr. Seuss (pseudonym of Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904 - 1991))
“Are you what others say and think you are? Or are you who you are regardless of what others say and think?” -Richelle E. Goodrich (Richelle Elaine Goodrich (born 1968)): “Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, and Grumblings for Every Day of the Year” (23 June 2015)
“You are the stories and incidents that you never tell to anyone. You are the thoughts that you get while standing under the shower. You are those memories that won’t let you sleep at night peacefully. You are those words that you will never say while speaking with someone. You are those scars that you always hide from everyone. You are those little secrets that you will never let the world know. You are everything that you hide under the identity that you call the real you.” -Akshay Vasu; author website https://akshayvasu.com/
“Be yourself, but always your better self.” -Karl G. Maeser
“How shall we learn to know ourselves? By reflections? Never; but only through action. Strive to do thy duty; then shalt thou know what is in thee.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)
“We don’t know who we are until we see what we can do.” -Martha Grimes (born 1931)
“We must not allow other people’s limited perceptions to define us.” -Virginia Satir (Virginia Pagenkopf Satir (1916 - 1988))
“We know what we are, but know not what we may be.” -William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616): “Hamlet” (1600 - 1601), Act iv, Scene 5, Line 43
“Our sense of identity is in large measure conferred on us by others in the ways they treat or mistreat us, recognize or ignore us, praise us or punish us. Some people make us timid and shy . . . In some groups we are made leaders, while in others we are reduced to being followers . . . Without realizing it, we often behave in ways that confirm the beliefs others have about us. Those subjective beliefs create new realities for us. We often become who other people think we are, in their eyes and in our behavior.” -Philip G. Zimbardo: “The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil” (2007)
“What a man thinks of himself, that it is which determines, or rather indicates his fate.” -Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)
“Act as if you are the person you want to be.” -Bernie Siegel
“You, being yourself, unknowingly inspire others to be themselves.” -Mooji
“Don’t let other people tell you who you are.” -Diane Sawyer (Lila Diane Sawyer (born 1945))
“Regard not so much what the World thinks of thee, as what thou thinkest of thyself.” -Thomas Fuller (1654 - 1734)
“Look to see what you are doing today. Is this how you choose to define yourself?” -Neale Donald Walsch (born 1943)
“You can’t let other people tell you who you are. You have to decide that for yourself.” -Author Unknown
“Resolve to be thyself; and know that he who finds himself, loses his misery.” -Matthew Arnold (1822 - 1888)
“The value of identity of course is that so often with it comes purpose.” -Richard Grant (Richard E. Grant (born 1957 as Richard Grant Esterhuysen)) at https://www.richard-e-grant.com/
“Never sacrifice who you are just because someone else has a problem with it.” -Author Unknown
“It is the individual who knows how little he knows about himself who stands a reasonable chance of finding out something about himself.” -S. I. Hayakawa (Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa (1906 - 1992))
“Self-image sets the boundaries of individual accomplishment.” -Maxwell Maltz (1899 - 1975)
“The opinion which other people have of you is their problem, not yours.” -Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004)
“If we have no identity apart from our jobs, we are truly vulnerable.” -Dan Miller: “The Rudder of the Day: Stories & Wisdom to Kick Start Your Workday” (2003); author website https://www.48days.com/
“Focus on what you are, not on what you are not.” -Author Unknown
“We are all apt to believe what the world believes about us.” -George Eliot (pseudonym of Mary Anne Evans (1819 - 1880))
“Until you make peace with who you are, you’ll never be content with what you have.” -Doris Mortman (born 1944)
“How hurtful it can be to deny one’s true self and live a life of lies just to appease others.” -June Ahern; author website http://www.juneahern.com/
“Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are.” -James Allen (1864 - 1912)
“What people think about you is not important. What you think about yourself means everything.” -Author Unknown
“Self-respect is the noblest garment with which a man can clothe himself, the most elevating feeling with which the mind can be inspired.” -Samuel Smiles (1812 - 1904)
“What others think of us would be of little moment did it not, when known, so deeply tinge what we think of ourselves.” -Paul Valéry (Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules ‘Paul’ Valéry (1871 - 1945))
“What we truly and earnestly aspire to be, that in some sense we are. The mere aspiration, by changing the frame of the mind, for the moment realizes itself.” -Anna Jameson (Anna Brownell Jameson (1794 - 1860))
“One of the greatest regrets in life is being what others would want you to be, rather than being yourself.” -Shannon L. Alder at https://www.shannonalder.com/
“Be faithful to that which exists within yourself.” -André Gide (André Paul Guillaume Gide (1869 - 1951))
“Don’t accept that others know you better than yourself.” -James Allen (1864 - 1912)
“Finding oneself was a misnomer; a self is not found but made.” -Jacques Barzun (Jacques Martin Barzun (1907 - 2012)): “From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life” (2000)
“Defining myself, as opposed to being defined by others, is one of the most difficult challenges I face.” -Carol Mosely-Braun (Carol Elizabeth Moseley Braun (born 1947))
“By all resources realize yourself . . . Fetters fall off of themselves when the knowledge of self is gained.” -A. L. Linall, Junior
“When I discover who I am, I’ll be free.” -Ralph Ellison (Ralph Waldo Ellison (1913 - 1994)): “Invisible Man” (14 April 1952), chapter 11
“I am a free human being with an independent will.” -Charlotte Brontë (1816 - 1855): “Jane Eyre” (16 October 1847)
“Be not another, if you can be yourself.” -Paracelsus (born Phillip von Hohenheim, later adopting the name Philippus Theophrastus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim (1493 - 1541))
“Knowing who you are and who you can become impacts how you view your options for the future.” -Emily Grabatin: “Dare to Decide: Discovering Peace, Clarity and Courage at Life’s Crossroads” (17 July 2020); author website https://www.emilygrabatin.ca/
“You shouldn’t compare yourself to the best others can do.” -Author Unknown
“So who do I want to be tomorrow?” -Paula Hawkins (born 1972): “The Girl on the Train” (6 January 2015)
“So far as other people are concerned, you are your behavior. So far as you are concerned, you are your feelings.” -Peter Honey (born 1937) at https://peterhoney.org/
“This above all: to thine own self be true.” -William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616): “Hamlet” (1600 - 1601), line 78; words spoken by fictional character Polonius
“Someone else’s opinion of you does not have to become your reality.” -Les Brown (Leslie Calvin ‘Les’ Brown (born 1945))
“Never allow yourself to be defined by someone else’s opinion of you.” -Author Unknown
“Be yourself. Who else is better qualified?” -Frank J. Giblin, II: as quoted in “Reader’s Digest”
“If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)
“Life isn’t always about finding yourself. More often than not, it’s about discovering who God created you to be.” -David A. R. White (David Andrew Roy White (born 1970)): “Between Heaven and Hollywood: Chasing Your God-Given Dream” (25 October 2016)
“You are what you are and not what people think you are.” -O. W. Polen (Olly W. Polen (1920 - 2010))
“The one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can.” -Neil Gaiman (Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (born 1960 as Neil Richard Gaiman)): keynote address (17 May 2012) at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
“Maybe you are what you can’t not be.” -John Green (John Michael Green (born 1977)): “Turtles All the Way Down” (10 October 2017)
“We would be wise to remember that the world’s definition of us will always diminish God’s design within us.” -Craig D. Lounsbrough (born 1959) at https://www.craiglpc.com/
“Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, ‘This is the real me,’ and when you have found that attitude, follow it.” -William James (1842 - 1910)
“When you stop living your life based on what others think of you, real life begins. At that moment, you will finally see the door of self-acceptance opened.” -Shannon L. Alder at https://www.shannonalder.com/
“Follow your own star!” -Dante Alighieri
This is MFOL! . . . where you decide who you are . . . and then if you like, keep everyone else guessing . . .
“I wish I knew who I am.” -Sarah Zettel (born 1966): “Dust Girl” (2012); author website http://www.sarahzettel.com/
“You are what you believe yourself to be.” -Paulo Coelho (born 1947)
“We have all been placed on this Earth to discover our own path, and we will never be happy if we live someone else’s idea of life.” -James Van Praagh (born 1958)
“Can you remember who you were before the world told you who you should be?” -Danielle LaPorte (born 1969)
“I am a person before I am anything else. I never say I am a writer. I never say I am an artist . . . I am a person who does those things.” -Edward Gorey (Edward St. John Gorey (1925 - 2000))
“You were born an original work of art. Stay original.” -Suzy Kassem (born 1975)
People travel to wonder at the height of mountains,
at the huge waves of the sea,
at the long courses of rivers,
at the vast compass of the ocean,
at the circular motion of the stars;
and they pass by themselves without wondering.
-Augustine of Hippo (C.E. 354 - C.E. 430)
“Accept no one’s definition of your life, but define yourself.” -Harvey Fierstein (Harvey Forbes Fierstein (born 1952))
“Know thyself? If I knew myself I would run away.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)
“You have to be brave to be yourself.” -Author Unknown
“One of the most courageous things you can do is identify yourself, know who you are, what you believe in, and where you want to go.” -Sheila Murray Bethel (born 1965)
“Looking for who I am is who I am.” -Tom Spanbauer (born 1946): “The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon” (1991)
“The hardest battle you’re ever going to fight is the battle to be just you.” -Leo F. Buscaglia (Felice Leonardo ‘Leo’ Buscaglia (1924 - 1998))
“Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you.” -Dr. Seuss (pseudonym of Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904 - 1991))
“Are you what others say and think you are? Or are you who you are regardless of what others say and think?” -Richelle E. Goodrich (Richelle Elaine Goodrich (born 1968)): “Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, and Grumblings for Every Day of the Year” (23 June 2015)
“You are the stories and incidents that you never tell to anyone. You are the thoughts that you get while standing under the shower. You are those memories that won’t let you sleep at night peacefully. You are those words that you will never say while speaking with someone. You are those scars that you always hide from everyone. You are those little secrets that you will never let the world know. You are everything that you hide under the identity that you call the real you.” -Akshay Vasu; author website https://akshayvasu.com/
“Be yourself, but always your better self.” -Karl G. Maeser
“How shall we learn to know ourselves? By reflections? Never; but only through action. Strive to do thy duty; then shalt thou know what is in thee.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)
“We don’t know who we are until we see what we can do.” -Martha Grimes (born 1931)
“We must not allow other people’s limited perceptions to define us.” -Virginia Satir (Virginia Pagenkopf Satir (1916 - 1988))
“We know what we are, but know not what we may be.” -William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616): “Hamlet” (1600 - 1601), Act iv, Scene 5, Line 43
“Our sense of identity is in large measure conferred on us by others in the ways they treat or mistreat us, recognize or ignore us, praise us or punish us. Some people make us timid and shy . . . In some groups we are made leaders, while in others we are reduced to being followers . . . Without realizing it, we often behave in ways that confirm the beliefs others have about us. Those subjective beliefs create new realities for us. We often become who other people think we are, in their eyes and in our behavior.” -Philip G. Zimbardo: “The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil” (2007)
“What a man thinks of himself, that it is which determines, or rather indicates his fate.” -Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)
“Act as if you are the person you want to be.” -Bernie Siegel
“You, being yourself, unknowingly inspire others to be themselves.” -Mooji
“Don’t let other people tell you who you are.” -Diane Sawyer (Lila Diane Sawyer (born 1945))
“Regard not so much what the World thinks of thee, as what thou thinkest of thyself.” -Thomas Fuller (1654 - 1734)
“Look to see what you are doing today. Is this how you choose to define yourself?” -Neale Donald Walsch (born 1943)
“You can’t let other people tell you who you are. You have to decide that for yourself.” -Author Unknown
“Resolve to be thyself; and know that he who finds himself, loses his misery.” -Matthew Arnold (1822 - 1888)
“The value of identity of course is that so often with it comes purpose.” -Richard Grant (Richard E. Grant (born 1957 as Richard Grant Esterhuysen)) at https://www.richard-e-grant.com/
“Never sacrifice who you are just because someone else has a problem with it.” -Author Unknown
“It is the individual who knows how little he knows about himself who stands a reasonable chance of finding out something about himself.” -S. I. Hayakawa (Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa (1906 - 1992))
“Self-image sets the boundaries of individual accomplishment.” -Maxwell Maltz (1899 - 1975)
“The opinion which other people have of you is their problem, not yours.” -Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004)
“If we have no identity apart from our jobs, we are truly vulnerable.” -Dan Miller: “The Rudder of the Day: Stories & Wisdom to Kick Start Your Workday” (2003); author website https://www.48days.com/
“Focus on what you are, not on what you are not.” -Author Unknown
“We are all apt to believe what the world believes about us.” -George Eliot (pseudonym of Mary Anne Evans (1819 - 1880))
“Until you make peace with who you are, you’ll never be content with what you have.” -Doris Mortman (born 1944)
“How hurtful it can be to deny one’s true self and live a life of lies just to appease others.” -June Ahern; author website http://www.juneahern.com/
“Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are.” -James Allen (1864 - 1912)
“What people think about you is not important. What you think about yourself means everything.” -Author Unknown
“Self-respect is the noblest garment with which a man can clothe himself, the most elevating feeling with which the mind can be inspired.” -Samuel Smiles (1812 - 1904)
“What others think of us would be of little moment did it not, when known, so deeply tinge what we think of ourselves.” -Paul Valéry (Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules ‘Paul’ Valéry (1871 - 1945))
“What we truly and earnestly aspire to be, that in some sense we are. The mere aspiration, by changing the frame of the mind, for the moment realizes itself.” -Anna Jameson (Anna Brownell Jameson (1794 - 1860))
“One of the greatest regrets in life is being what others would want you to be, rather than being yourself.” -Shannon L. Alder at https://www.shannonalder.com/
“Be faithful to that which exists within yourself.” -André Gide (André Paul Guillaume Gide (1869 - 1951))
“Don’t accept that others know you better than yourself.” -James Allen (1864 - 1912)
“Finding oneself was a misnomer; a self is not found but made.” -Jacques Barzun (Jacques Martin Barzun (1907 - 2012)): “From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life” (2000)
“Defining myself, as opposed to being defined by others, is one of the most difficult challenges I face.” -Carol Mosely-Braun (Carol Elizabeth Moseley Braun (born 1947))
“By all resources realize yourself . . . Fetters fall off of themselves when the knowledge of self is gained.” -A. L. Linall, Junior
“When I discover who I am, I’ll be free.” -Ralph Ellison (Ralph Waldo Ellison (1913 - 1994)): “Invisible Man” (14 April 1952), chapter 11
“I am a free human being with an independent will.” -Charlotte Brontë (1816 - 1855): “Jane Eyre” (16 October 1847)
“Be not another, if you can be yourself.” -Paracelsus (born Phillip von Hohenheim, later adopting the name Philippus Theophrastus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim (1493 - 1541))
“Knowing who you are and who you can become impacts how you view your options for the future.” -Emily Grabatin: “Dare to Decide: Discovering Peace, Clarity and Courage at Life’s Crossroads” (17 July 2020); author website https://www.emilygrabatin.ca/
“You shouldn’t compare yourself to the best others can do.” -Author Unknown
“So who do I want to be tomorrow?” -Paula Hawkins (born 1972): “The Girl on the Train” (6 January 2015)
“So far as other people are concerned, you are your behavior. So far as you are concerned, you are your feelings.” -Peter Honey (born 1937) at https://peterhoney.org/
“This above all: to thine own self be true.” -William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616): “Hamlet” (1600 - 1601), line 78; words spoken by fictional character Polonius
“Someone else’s opinion of you does not have to become your reality.” -Les Brown (Leslie Calvin ‘Les’ Brown (born 1945))
“Never allow yourself to be defined by someone else’s opinion of you.” -Author Unknown
“Be yourself. Who else is better qualified?” -Frank J. Giblin, II: as quoted in “Reader’s Digest”
“If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)
“Life isn’t always about finding yourself. More often than not, it’s about discovering who God created you to be.” -David A. R. White (David Andrew Roy White (born 1970)): “Between Heaven and Hollywood: Chasing Your God-Given Dream” (25 October 2016)
“You are what you are and not what people think you are.” -O. W. Polen (Olly W. Polen (1920 - 2010))
“The one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can.” -Neil Gaiman (Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (born 1960 as Neil Richard Gaiman)): keynote address (17 May 2012) at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
“Maybe you are what you can’t not be.” -John Green (John Michael Green (born 1977)): “Turtles All the Way Down” (10 October 2017)
“We would be wise to remember that the world’s definition of us will always diminish God’s design within us.” -Craig D. Lounsbrough (born 1959) at https://www.craiglpc.com/
“Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, ‘This is the real me,’ and when you have found that attitude, follow it.” -William James (1842 - 1910)
“When you stop living your life based on what others think of you, real life begins. At that moment, you will finally see the door of self-acceptance opened.” -Shannon L. Alder at https://www.shannonalder.com/
“Follow your own star!” -Dante Alighieri
This is MFOL! . . . where you decide who you are . . . and then if you like, keep everyone else guessing . . .
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