Quotes About Authenticity

Which is to say that we all have dragons to slay in life. This one is mine. I hope that doing so will provide a model to others on how to find the bravery to be true to oneself, even if it means doing something that seems impossible.

It makes me wonder just how many supposedly brave people in the world are just men and women trying to imitate someone more courageous than themselves.

The more we feel compelled to keep explaining ourselves, the less like others we become.

I have always been quite good at falling in love, but I don't pretend to know anything about literal happily ever afters.

Will you show me what you really look like? You don't sparkle, do you?

I can only speak for myself, and hope people hear my words and see me on television speaking for myself. And, hopefully, they'll be able to make their own judgment. And at the end of the day, I just want my work to speak for itself.

but the truth is that it is only in knowing who you are at your core and staying true to yourself that you can possibly see the difference between passion and real love.

but whenever it feels uncomfortable to tell the truth, that's often the most important time to tell it.

Sometimes you have an idea of a person — about who they are, about what you'd be like together. But sometimes that's all that it is: an idea. And for so long, I have been afraid that I loved the idea of Emily more than I will ever be capable of loving anyone real." He looked at me like the act of doing so was painful and sweet. "It was never just the idea of you, Avery.

Don't you ever apologize for being what you are.

Sometimes you have an idea of a person — about who they are, about what you'd be like together. But sometimes that's all that it is: an idea. And for so long, I have been afraid that I loved the idea of Emily more than I will ever be capable of loving anyone real." He looked at me like the act of soing so was painful and sweet. "It was never just the idea of you, Avery.

Don't," Judd told her sharply. "Don't you ever apologize for being what you are.

It was warm and safe and happy-but it wasn't me. [Cassandra Hobbes]

I wasn't a puzzle. I was just a girl.

I don't ever want for you-for us, for this-to become a game. - Jameson Hawthorne

telling the story so no one else tells it for you.

your hips are utterly incapable of falsehood.

It doesn't have to be anything other than what it is. No messy feelings. No obligations. No promises. No expectations.

For the first time in my life, I felt like I belonged somewhere. With my fellow Naturals, I never had to pretend to be someone I wasn't. I couldn't have, even if I'd wanted to.

Reggie was so sick of it all. The things people knew (or thought they knew) about other people. Maybe everyone had a secret life, not just Vera. She suddenly hated all of it. She wanted people to be as see-through as fish tanks, no more murkiness, no misdirection. No lies and bullshit. No secret rooms or lies about being the star of some goddamn play that didn't even exist.

I understand now that Martin has never known the real me. There is only one person who ever did—who saw all of me, all the beauty along with the ugliness. And it is that person I long for now. Auntie.

Ruthie had found the idea that we were only a series of neatly constructed puzzle pieces or building blocks vaguely unsettling—even at eight, she wanted there to be more to it than that.

Though you work like mad to keep parts of you undiscovered, it is horrible to imagine that you will be completely successful. As the psychologist D.W. Winnicott wrote, "It is a joy to be hidden, but a disaster not to be found.

All I know is what I wonder: Which of my feelings are real? Which of the mes is me? There is only one me I've ever really liked, and he was good and awake as long as he could be.