Quotes About Individuality

At least I know who I am. What I want,

Bird laughs. For the first time in his life, he is unremarkable, and this feels like power.

the problem with rules, he reflected, was that they implied a right way and a wrong way to do things. When, in fact, most of the time there were simply ways, none of them quite wrong or quite right, and nothing to tell you for sure which side of the line you stood on.

For Mia, however, the photographs were only a vague approximation of what she wanted to express, and she soon found herself not only altering the prints – with everything from ballpoint pen to splashes of laundry detergent – but experimenting with the camera itself, bending its limited range to her desires.

they implied a right way and a wrong way to do things. When, in fact, most of the time there were simply ways, none of them quite wrong or quite right, and nothing to tell you for sure which side of the line you stood on.

Don't ever smile if you don't want to," she said, and Hannah, half-blinded by the spotlight of Lydia's whole attention, nodded. "Remember that.

How had it begun? Like everything: with mothers and fathers. Because of Lydia's mother and father, because of her mother's and father's mothers and fathers. Because long ago, her mother had gone missing, and her father had brought her home. Because more than anything, her mother had wanted to stand out; because more than anything, her father had wanted to blend in. Because those things had been impossible.

People decide what you're like before they even get to know you. They think they know all about you. Except, you're never who they think you are.

Sometimes you almost forgot: that you didn't look like everyone else.

she did not know how to be anything else.

Don't ever smile if you don't want to,' she said.

Hers had been just one of the pale, pretty faces, indistinguishable from the next, and though he would never fully realize it, this was the first reason he came to love her: because she had blended in so perfectly, because she had seemed so completely and utterly at home.

Moody slid shrieking down the hill, backward and belly first and three at a time and once – in Trip's case – standing up like a surfer. Mrs. Richardson, perched atop the hill, applauded and cheered. Then Izzy went down

Maybe sometimes, she thought, the bird with its head held high took flight. Maybe sometimes, the nail that stuck up pierced the foot that stomped down.

Mas o problema das regras (...) era que subentendiam um jeito errado e um jeito certo de fazer as coisas, quando, na verdade, na maior parte do tempo havia apenas jeitos, sendo que nenhum deles era exatamente certo ou errado e nada podia indicar com certeza de que lado da linha você estava.

Mia didn't care, Mrs. Richardson realized, what people thought of her. In a way, this made her dangerous.

a completely different kind of woman leading a completely different life, who seemed to make her own rules with no apologies.

You can't just do what you want, she thought. Why should Mia get to, when no one else did?

People decide what you're like before they even get to know you." She eyed him suddenly fierce. "Kind of like you did with me. They think they know all about you. Except you're never who they think you are.

Different has always been a brand on his forehead, blazoned there between the eyes. It has tinted his entire life, this word; it has left its smudgy fingerprints on everything.

If you went on neglecting your own tastes like this, did you, in the end, cease to have any tastes? Cease, in fact, to be a person at all, and become merely a labour-saving gadget around the house?

I'd sooner wear white shoes in February, drink unsweetened tea, and eat Miracle Whip instead of Duke's than utter the words 'you guys'.

I feel guilty looking at those "People of Walmart" photos you see on the Internet. It's not cool to make fun of pitiful people. You really think anyone who wasn't batshit crazy would walk out of the house in a camouflage mankini and a Confederate flag ball cap to go buy some new furnace filters? No, he's cray-cray.

The first time she'd gotten a short haircut-- paid for with her own money, thank you very much-- her mother had demanded to know if she was a lesbian.