Quotes About Authenticity

Oh, the miraculous energy that flows between two people who care enough to get beyond surfaces and games, who are willing to take the risks of being totally open, of listening, of responding with the whole heart. How much we can do for each other.

The world changes in direct proportion to the number of people willing to be honest about their lives.

You must be willing to risk everything to really express it all.

I've never been willing to lie about my age. Why on earth would I want to tell people I'm 35, which I'm not, and have them say, 'Oh that's nice,' when I could tell them I'm 47, which I am, and have them look at me and go, 'Whoa!'. I'm not afraid of aging. I stopped being afraid of life a long time ago.

Look, I'm not a perfect person. I have my warts. I sometimes say things that get me in trouble. I wear suits that are cheap. But I say what I think and I believe what I say, and I'm willing to say things that are not popular but ordinary people know are right.

To write well you must be willing to go naked into the world.

I'm willing to make fun of myself.

I mean, that's kind of what this business is about in some ways. You're trying to make everybody like you. But you can't do that. You can't force everybody - anybody to like you if they're just not willing to do it.

People are tired of the same ol' garbage. They want people that are willing to speak out, speak up, be open and honest with them.

Acting came easy to me, I think. There's something about it that's a lot easier for me in the sense that you're playing someone else. In music, you're giving somebody 'you.' Being able to do that and being willing to share that is an entirely different thing.

I'm not willing to say I want to return to private life because I'm too old to begin telling lies now.

Don't commit to being a columnist unless you're willing to do it right. Report your behind off, so you have something original and useful to say. Say it in a way that will interest someone other than you, your family and your sources.

To be willing to sort of die in order to move the reader, somehow. Even now I'm scared about how sappy this'll look in print, saying this.

I know I'm never going to be a big pop star, because I'm not willing to conform.

Somebody's willingness to let me photograph them, and willingness to tell me a story, has nothing to do with the words I say. It all has to do with the energy I'm giving off, which hopefully is very genuine, very interested energy. It's just two people having a conversation in the street. I think that's where genuine content comes from.

Sincerity: willingness to spend one's own money.

The key to me is being different not for the sake of being different, but being the most authentic version of what you do. And definitely it takes a willingness to be different, because there was resistance for me early on, and I feel like that's usually the case when there's a certain paradigm or trend happening, and you step outside of that.

Life tests our willingness, in ways large and small, to tell the truth.

I'm from the Bob Wills and the Little Richard school of music. Bob Wills did what the hell he thought, Little Richard did what he thought, and those were my big influences.

I know I'm not Freddie Mercury or Ann Wilson, and that's okay. You don't have to be a great singer to sing rock and roll. That's not what it's about.

I'll never be August Wilson - but what I can be is more of myself.

I've pretty much been portrayed as every style thing you can be. After Wimbledon you are Andy Everyman, who everybody is rooting for. I think the meat and potatoes of who I am hasn't been covered yet.

I'm not one of those pop guys. That's for wimps like Vanilla Ice.

Sometimes we be playing the politics too much and forget who we are just to win.