Quotes About Authenticity

It's nice to be nice, but it can be extremely draining and self-destructive when it mutes our voice, holds us back, and undermines our authenticity.

So great becomes the fear of losing what we have that many of us rush back to hide under the temporary shelter of convention rather than follow the path of self-discovery wherever it might lead. Given adequate time and sufficient fear, we may hide so long that we hardly notice we're slowly suffocating.

I can change nearly everything about myself. I can run from my children and trade in my spouse, move to another country and raise green rabbits for a living, but unless I care for my soul, I will not have changed who I am.

being connected in a shallow way to the entire world can prevent us from being deeply connected to those closest to us—including ourselves.

Too many of us leave our lives—and, in fact, our souls—behind when we go to work.

live fuller, more complete lives, aligned with what matters: A life that isn't defined by our salaries and résumés.

Sherry Turkle, MIT professor and author of Alone Together, has written about the cost of constantly documenting—i.e., photographing—our lives. These interruptions, she writes, "make it hard to settle into serious conversations with ourselves and with other people because emotionally, we keep ourselves available to be taken away from everything." And by so-obsessively documenting our experiences, we never truly have them.

The harder we press on a violin string, the less we can feel it. The louder we play, the less we hear.… If I "try" to play, I fail; if I race, I trip. The only road to strength is vulnerability. —STEPHEN NACHMANOVITCH

Never let life's Iagos—flatterers, dissemblers—onto your train.

I didn't know if the cure for my life was to lie to everyone about everything or to become brutally honest.

Sex is one of the most interesting things we as humans have to play with, and we've reduced it to polyester underpants and implants. We are selling ourselves unbelievably short.

If you cannot be yourself in a relationship, you no longer have one.

Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.

I had to learn that I knew nothing. I also had to learn that it was okay to think for myself and that my happiness, my true salvation, was not dependent on the approval of others. --Gregory Michael Brewer

Unplugging helps you refocus on yourself instead of being pulled in a zillion different directions. Those directions may all be important, but you are just as important. Unplugging allows you to focus on being in the moment, here and now. It helps you step away from the emotional roller coaster that you ride reacting to a friend's story, a news article, or outrage over worldwide events. Unplugging gives you the chance to remember who you are at your core.

Your true self is not necessarily the self you wish you could be; it is the self you actually are.

If…if you don't feel anything for me then don't touch me! Don't act like you care!

Ci dicono che se adesso ci impegniamo, il nostro futuro sarà felice... ma non esiste una garanzia del genere. Quindi vivi come più ti piace, senza pretendere di essere ciò che non puoi

you." "Bullshit.

I would treat her like an egg, the shell of which we remove before eating it; I would take off her mask and then kiss her pretty face.

The high-minded man must care more for the truth than for what people think.

I don't know why my smile has become a signature pose. I think it's a nice change. I think people want to see happiness, so a smile is what can bring that. I didn't make it my trademark on purpose.

Laugh all you want and cry all you want and whistle at pretty men in the street and to hell with anybody who thinks you're a damned fool!

I know I can't tell you what it's like to be gay. But I can tell you what it's not. It's not hiding behind words, Mama. Like family and decency and Christianity.