Quotes About Authenticity

Carrie didn't answer because it was true and she

it is possible to hang around other Christians a lot, meet regularly for worship, study our Bibles, join a church and even call ourselves a community but not change at all in ways that count.

Behind my heroic image of myself I saw my tiresome perfectionism, my resentment of those who did not try as hard as I did, and my huge appetite for approval.

Ask me not where I live      or what I like to eat. . . .      Ask me what I am living for      and what I think is keeping me      from living fully for that. THOMAS MERTON, Thoughts in Solitude

Self-knowledge and self-examination. Parker Palmer makes this very sobering statement about leadership: "A leader is a person who must take special responsibility for what's going on inside him/herself, inside his or her consciousness, lest the act of leadership create more harm than good.

The struggle is real because the danger is real. It is the danger of living the whole of our life as one long defense against the reality of our condition.

One thing we can know for sure is that when we are confessing our sin to God but not to the people around us in ordinary, nitty-gritty life, there is not much real spiritual transformation going on

God, gather me5 to be with you as you are with me. Keep me in touch with myself, with my needs, my anxieties, my angers, my pains, my corruptions, that I may claim them as my own rather than blame them on someone else. O Lord, deepen my wounds into wisdom; shape my weaknesses into compassion; gentle my envy into enjoyment, my fear into trust, my guilt into honesty. O God, gather me to be with you as you are with me.

Truly, the best thing any of us have to bring to leadership is our own transforming selves.

The natural is so awesome that we need not go beyond it.

The more stars in your itinerary, the less likely you are to find the real life of another country. I'd forgotten how money becomes a barrier insulating you from ordinary life.

That was with me for years--feeling I wasn't myself. And I do think I wasn't my real self then. Of course, I'm not sure there is such a thing as a real self. You could ransack your innards looking for the real you and never find it--slice yourself open and all you'll find is blood and muscle and bone.

And just because I've written this book, don't think I've changed. I'm like I was back then, really.

No forgiveness for lies.

I think I've been incredibly raw my whole career. A lot of people spend a lot of time trying to look cool and spend time being guarded and putting up walls. I just never had the time. It seems more honest to say, 'Hey, this is who I am.'

If the character is true, the movie will fall into place. Or at least that's what you hope.

I think it's more interesting to see people who don't feel appropriately. I relate to that, because sometimes I don't feel anything at all for things I'm supposed to, and other times I feel too much. It's not always like it is in the movies.

Appearances: People tend to focus on the outer appearances but it's the inner self that really matters. What you see on the outside doesn't always match what's on the inside. You might be something very special on the inside but people are so fixated and judgmental about what they see on the outside that they don't give you a fair chance and that's an injustice, a tragedy.

Be humble, be modest, but try not to be dishonest.

Most people will show you courtesy, but in a fraudulent, untruthful, way.

Face the facts of being what you are, for that is what changes what you are.

So please, for the love of gender- go bloom. Or water someone else while they do.

You should move toward whatever changes, whatever surgeries, whatever renovations or alterations or restorations will create you in the glory you deserve, oh yes you should. And you should do it with your usual style, and you should do it without shame, and when you're healed up and ready we can go shopping for something fabulous to showcase the many wonders of you.

You can't love someone if they've never shown you who they really are … I've only ever shown one person who I really am. And I'm looking at her right now.