Quotes About Authenticity

Turkey bacon. It's like saying "shoot" instead of "shit." It just doesn't quite carry the moment.

A slender acquaintance with the world must convince every man that action, not words, are the true criterion of the attachment to friends; and that the most liberal professions of good-will are very far from being the surest marks of it.

Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light.

Though I am young, I scorn to flitOn the wings of borrowed wit.

First of all, be what you are.

Chantal's only ruse ... was her shattering simplicity.

When writing of oneself one should show no mercy.

Je crois, je suis sûr que beaucoup d'hommes n'engagent jamais leur être, leur sincérité profonde. Ils vivent à la surface d'eux-mêmes, et le sol humain est si riche que cette mince couche superficielle suffit pour une maigre moisson, qui donne l'illusion d'une véritable destinée.

I believe, in fact I am certain, that many men never give out the whole of themselves, their deepest truth. They live on the surface, and yet, so rich is the soil of humanity that even this thin outer layer is able to yield a kind of meager harvest which gives the illusion of real living.

Truth exists, only lies are invented.

Truth exists, only falsehood has to be invented.

being alone is better than being with someone who is just filling space.

Someone else's vision will never be as good as your own vision of your self. Live and die with it 'cause in the end it's all you have. Lose it and you lose yourself and everything else. I should have listened to myself.

I said to myself, I have things in my head that are not like what anyone has taught me - shapes and ideas so near to me - so natural to my way of being and thinking that it hasn't occurred to me to put them down. I decided to start anew, to strip away what I had been taught.

I said to myself 'I have things in my head that are not like what anyone has taught me--shapes and idea so near to my-- so natural to my way of being and thinking that it hasn't occurred to me to put them down.' I decided to start anew to strip away what I had been taught...

Frieda was very special," O'Keeffe recalls. "I can remember very clearly the first time I ever saw her, standing in a doorway, with her hair all frizzed out, wearing a cheap red calico dress that looked as though she'd just wiped out the frying pan with it. She was not thin, and not young, but there was something radiant and wonderful about her.

I don't see why we ever think of what others think of what we do—isn't it enough just to express yourself.

I realize I must be different than when I came out [to Ghost Ranch], but it seems so long ago that I can't remember what I was like---so I can't lapse back to it---I can only be as I am---and I feel terribly alive---

When I write a page that reads badly I know that it is myself who has written it. When it reads well it has come through from somewhere else.

True intimacy comes from honesty, not the illusion of sweetness.

Answer me this: is it worse to end a stupid task falsely or to continue a stupid task honestly?

I'm a Ford, not a Lincoln.

Only horses were honest, in the end.

Agesilaus, the Spartan king, was once invited to hear a mimic imitate the nightingale, but declined with the comment that he had heard the nightingale itself.