Quotes About Self-expression

I grew up in the Bronx. I used to remember going to all these fancy stores in Manhattan to run errands or whatever, and I felt intimidated, like they did not talk to me because I was from the Bronx. I never want anyone to be intimidated by fashion. Fashion is fun or, at least, should be.

I'm just going to be myself. And when you're bein' yourself, you don't have to back up lies or the stories you told. You don't got to sugarcoat nothin'.

Like the greats, you want to make your own story yourself, and not be a copy of another.

Anyone can write your own life story.

Every human is an artist. And this is the main art that we have: the creation of our story.

Everybody has their own story - it's who you are. If I wasn't five-foot, I wouldn't be who I am!

I have been getting proposals to play the lead from a long time but I rebuffed those offers. I wanted to work in a storyline that has scope for me.

I'm hardly a known name, but I don't want to go, like, 'Oh, people call me a storyteller comedian, let me just go up and just talk about my day.' I don't want that to happen.

I was never taken to a play or concert or church. Yet I was a show-off, a dreamer, a storyteller.

Social media allowed us to become our own storytellers. With it, we seized the power of our truth.

I'm not an example for how people should live their lives. Never in my life would I ever set out to be an example for people on how to live their lives. If you need an example for how to live, then you just shouldn't have been born. Straight up.

I had always thought that once you grew up you could do anything you wanted - stay up all night or eat ice-cream straight out of the container.

I don't think I'm generous enough to be the straight guy. I sort of make my own way and make my own statement. Do I mind pushing myself forward? Not at all.

I'm louder and bigger with my curls. There's power in that. Also, straight hair is kind of annoying. It gets caught in my collar.

I've given up on trying to explain myself, or trying to set the record straight, or trying to get people to understand what I'm really like as a man, outside of my acting, outside of my job.

I stayed with my pants to the back and my big clothes for as long as I wanted to, and when I felt like, 'Oh all these girls giving body, let me show I got something to work with too.' So that's what that was all about. It had nothing to do with letting people know I was straight or gay.

When I was a kid, I wanted a Chanel bob and bangs. My mom said no. I went to the salon anyway, and they said, 'No way - we are not going to do that to your hair.' So I did it myself. Big mistake. Instead of my bangs going down straight, they were sticking up like a cat. It was horrible.

Being able to live my life transparently does empower me to feel like I can be myself more. It's easier for me to flirt with girls now that girls know that I'm gay. It almost makes it a sexier encounter than if I was trying to pretend that I was straight.

As a closeted gay man, Jim McGreevey lived a life of presentation, a gay man portraying a straight man.

I remember going through that process of growing my hair out, straightening it, cutting off the relaxed hair. I finally got to a point where I went to the Dominicans because they can straighten it real good. By the end of the day, the part of my hair that had just been pressed straight was already starting to coil back up.

I would straighten and dye my hair. I'd wear blue contacts to school. I got to a point when I was 16 and I realised this isn't me and this isn't who I am and I just cut that all out. I really owned myself and who I was.

What you're doing is acting with yourself. Well, I'm my favourite actor, so in a way it's quite straightforward for me.

I'm pretty much an out-front, straightforward chick, and I get a bit confused by expectations.

Far from being a showbiz gimmick, for me dressing as I please has signalled the end of a lifelong performance of straightforward masculinity.