Quotes About Authenticity

I hate that phrase "the real world." Why is an aircraft factory more real than a university? Is it?

There are those usual people who try desperately to appear unusual and there are unusual people who try to appear usual.

Worship may produce an outward change, but our inner condition will eventually be revealed

First, babies are very expressive emotionally, giggling or crying or recoiling in terror or disgust so strongly that you have no doubt what they're feeling. Also, babies are blissfully ignorant of social constraints. An adult might try to stifle a guffaw if he thinks the humor in a video clip is sophomoric (albeit hilarious) and censor a disgusted grimace if he thinks showing disgust is unmanly. Babies wear their emotions on their sleeves.

Simple Prayer involves ordinary people bringing ordinary concerns to a loving and compassionate Father. There is no pretense in Simple Prayer. We do not pretend to be more holy, more pure, or more saintly than we actually are. We do not try to conceal our conflicting and contradictory motives from God—or ourselves. And in this posture we pour out our heart to the God who is greater than our heart and who knows all things (1 John 3:20).

God, what is man's best gift to mankind? To be beautiful of soul and then let people see into your soul.

The offering of ourselves can only be the offering of our lived experience, because this alone is who we are. And who we are—not who we want to be—is the only offering we have to give. We give God therefore not just our strengths but also our weaknesses, not just our giftedness but also our brokenness.

Superficiality is the curse of our age.

When you are considering an apartment, a condominium, or a house, thought should be given to livability rather than how much it will impress others.

You see, by dint of will people can make a good showing for a time, but sooner or later there will come that unguarded moment when the "careless word" will slip out to reveal the true condition of the heart.

If we are full of compassion, it will be revealed; if we are full of bitterness, that also will be revealed. It

Watch, for example, how much of our speech is aimed at justifying our actions. We find it almost impossible to act and allow the act to speak for itself.

It is a hallow feeling to be in the company of someone with whom we long to have a satisfying personal exchange, only to watch hope dissolve as the time together is drained by superficial chatter or surface distractions.

The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.

Stop trying to impress people with your clothes and impress them with your life.

Las Vegas is a counterfeit version of the New Jerusalem. And it shares something of the glorious reality that it mocks.

People who are brutally honest get more satisfaction out of the brutality than out of the honesty.

Home late. Be naked.

True confidence is allowing yourself to feel the full spectrum of your emotions. Sometimes you may feel strong, loud and powerful. At other times, you might feel quiet, insecure and scared. All of these feelings are you, and all of them are absolutely okay.

You know, that's what I hate: when you start talking like this, like you just pull in these things from the shit you read, and you haven't thought it out for yourself, no bearing on the world around us, and totally unoriginal.

Our country needs more tough critics like you who don't just swallow the hype like everyone else. So many writers might as well be on the payroll — be it entertainment industry or government.

A great many preachers die of style, that is, of trying to soar; when, if they would only consent to go afoot as their ideas do, they might succeed and live.

Let us begin by committing ourselves to the truth to see it like it is, and tell it like it is, to find the truth, to speak the truth, and to live the truth.

What condemnation could possibly be more harsh than one's own, when self-pretense is no longer possible?