Quotes About Authenticity

I'd trapped myself in a script.... But to be scripted at all is to be prepackaged, programmed, pinned to a page. Only the unwritten can truly live a life. So who I was, what I was, had to be unwritten.

I loved the solar smile he would turn on his friends at times--and on me--nonplussing us when he simply left it on us, full-beam, for such a long, long moment that we'd finally have no choice but to realize this was no social smile, no rote kind of friendliness: this was what it felt like to be completely seen and loved for a moment.

Fiction writing feels more honest to me.

Prayer is about real-world concerns, spoken in real-world language. God does not want us to shift into a stained-glass prayer voice to address Him.

The point is that we know them by their message and their fruit, not by their gifts (Deuteronomy 13:1-5; Matthew 7:15-23)."[56]

Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, believed the most powerful brands are built from the heart.

You've got to roll with the punches to get to what's real.

It's as simple as that. Simple and complicated, as most true things are.

I find I very rarely live up to my words. And since you know me primarily through my words, there are oh so many ways I can disappoint.

If you want to live within the definition of your own truth, you have to choose to go through the initially painful and ultimately comforting process of finding it.

Deep down? That sounds like settling to me. You shouldn't have to venture deep down in order to get to love.

I no longer think she's just being nice. She's being kind. Which is much more a sign of character than mere niceness. Kindness connects to who you are, while niceness connects to how you want to be seen.

It is much harder to lie to someone's face. But. It is also much harder to tell the truth to someone's face.

Because when a guy's a jerk or an asshole, it's easier because you know exactly where you stand.

Do I really have to find a word for it? Can't it just be what it is?

I want to take back at least half of the "I love you"s, because I didn't mean them as much as the other ones.

Simple and complicated, as most true things are.

It's not the easy things that let you get to know a person.

I am so used to hints and mixed messages, saying things that might mean what they sort of sound like they mean. Games and contests, roles and rituals, talking in twelve languages at once so the true words won't be so obvious. I am not used to a plainspoken, honest truth.

me: you know what sucks about love? o.w.g.: what? me: that it's so tied to the truth. I know it sucks, but in a way, it's good....Love and truth being tied together, I mean. They make each other possible, you know?

But I want to feel like life matters. I had something real with you, but then the realness scared me. I decided to go for other things instead.

There has to be a moment at the beginning when you wonder whether you're in love with the person or in love with the feeling of love itself.

There is something so intimate about saying the truth out loud. There is something so intimate about hearing the truth said. There is something so intimate about sharing the truth, even if you are not entirely sure what it means.

Kindness) is much more a sign of character than mere niceness. Kindness connects to who you are, while niceness connects to how you want to be seen. -David Levithan (Every Day)