Quotes About Self-expression

I cannot understand why any young man - or young woman, for that matter - would wish to undergo the painful process of disfiguring the skin with various multicolored representations of people, animals, and various symbols.

I don't care what people think about me. I care what people think about my work. As a young woman, I was so eager to please that I served others' happiness and even their values before my own.

I'm a young woman, and I'm growing up and trying to do it in a way I feel comfortable with.

It's particularly important for a young woman to be in control of her image - to a certain extent. I mean, there's only so much you can do, because people take photos with you and then all of a sudden they pop up all over the place, they're completely out of context and you have no control over how they're used.

As a young woman, I just think there's something really confident and empowering about being able to flirt back.

When our world is telling girls and women who they should be or what they should look like, it is critical that we empower those girls and young women to be confident with who they are.

My goal is to send a message to Muslim women and young women everywhere that it's okay to break stereotypes and be yourself.

I've been very honest with the press, even when I had work done on my face. A lot of people would cover that up. I want to be a voice for young women. I want to empower them. I've been through a lot, and I want to send them a relatable message.

If I'm with a man, is that going to prevent me from achieving my goal? What sacrifices will I have to make in terms of being myself, if I'm with a man? Something that young women find out really quickly is that when you start dating, all of a sudden you're supposed to have a role. You're not allowed to just be yourself.

I think that we could be more careful about what we're saying to young women in terms of their expectations. It's unrealistic to expect people to always be in designer clothes. Girls growing up deserve more freedom in how they look and how they feel about how they look.

Having the chance to walk at New York Fashion Week for Yeezy and Milan Fashion Week for Alberta Ferretti and Max Mara in a hijab is so significant. It sends a message to young women everywhere that you can be beautiful for just being you.

I think there's still this huge glass ceiling for women owning sexuality. And especially young women. If you're an old lady like me, I can do anything now.

I feel confident that I'm presenting myself in a feminist way that is good for young women.

I'm just trying to be myself and encourage other young women to be themselves.

We can do it all and have it all. That's what I want young women to know. Make their own music. If nobody's making music for them, make your own. Do what you are passionate about and don't let anybody or anything stop you or convince you that you are not worthy.

I often think I can see it in myself and in other young writers, this desperate desire to please coupled with a kind of hostility to the reader.

When I was younger, I used to try to fit in, but now I'm much more comfortable with just being myself.

My accent has changed my whole life. When I was younger, it was very Nigerian, then when we went to England, it was very British. I think I have a very strange, hybrid accent, and I've worked very hard to get a solid American accent, which is what I use most of the time.

I remember walking into drugstores when I was younger and seeing all the hair color boxes on the shelves and just being so in awe. Having the control to dye your hair and change your look is such a part of self-expression.

When I was younger, all I cared about was what people thought of me and my films. Now I care less about catering, hand-serving, hand-feeding the audience. I've gotten to the point now in my life where I'm serving myself.

I had a rat-tail when I was younger. I had this nice Bobby Brown fade, with a rat-tail that was long enough to wrap around my face. I used to chew on the end and bite it.

When I was much younger, I sometimes felt rejected by feminists because of an image that I sold because it paid the bills. Any fool could tell my hair is dyed.

When I was younger, I was terrified to express anger because it would often kick-start a horrible reaction in the men in my life. So I bit my tongue. I was left to painstakingly deal with the aftermath of my avoidance later in life, in therapy or through the lyrics of my songs.

When I was younger, it was harder for me to find a black eyeliner that would actually show up on my skin. Being a dark-skinned woman, when you find something that actually shows up on your face, you love it even more.