Quotes About Self-expression

Don't judge it. Just write it. Don't judge it. It's not for you to judge it. Interview in Esquire Magazine 10/10

I wouldn't so much as stick my head in a pool hall. Oh, look, this is as far as I go explaining what I am and am not like. I will not explain myself one more time. I will not make an inventory of my attributes for people or mention my goddamn sense of duty. I will not take one more round of his ridiculous, nonsensical crap!" Whereupon

Mom is old-fashioned about babies. Maybe it's because she was born male, but changed so she could experience her own pregnancy with Jamie, and then with me. I asked her why she never changed back and she said she was having more fun this way, she said I should make up my own mind…

If I am a homosexual, then I am that way by choice.

We'll never really tame this girl. We'll just learn to live with her." She used to say that a lot, even after I kept reminding her, "I'm not Kylee, I'm Kyle! I'm not a girl anymore. I'm a boy now.

Vanda (as Dunayev): When she becomes herself--an individual. Thomas (as Kushemski): you only say that because you yourself are so individual. Vanda (as Dunayev): A man usually says that to a woman whose individuality he is about to undermine.

I am proud that I defy your categories. I am proud that I don't fit easily into any box. I am proud of all the things I am and all the things i can be. Question yourself every time you think you only see one thing in me.

Let me give you some free advice. She's a runner for sure- she'll run away every time without saying a word. But here's the thing- you are not a runner. And deep down, I don't think Norah wants to run, either. She's just feels like she has to. Partly because she's a tiresome spoiled-brat smartass with no fashion sense. And partly because she's a fucking human being.

The world loves stupid labels. I wish we got to choose our own.

if my whole world is going to crash down around me, then i am going to make the sound of the crashing

Freedom isn't just about voting and marrying and kissing on the street, although all of these things are important. Freedom is also about what you will allow yourself to do.

I want to write my life. I want to be able to write my life. You are a second away from saying it. You have no idea how much I love you.

How can you spend hours every day trying in small ways to figure out who you are, then have a near-stranger give you a sentence of yourself that says it better than you ever could?

It's like you're a character in this book that everyone around you is writing, and suddenly you have to say, 'I'm sorry, but this role isn't right for me'. And you have to start writing your own life and doing your own thing.

I don't like to do what people expect. Why should I live up to their expectations instead of my own?

Max is a marvel to us. He will never have to come out because he will never have been kept in. Even though he has a mom and a dad, they made sure from the beginning to tell him that it didn't have to be a mom and a dad. It could be a mom and a mom, a dad and a dad, just a mom, or just a dad. When Max's early affections became clear, he didn't think twice about them. He doesn't see it as defining him. It is just a part of his definition.

No, he finally said. I don't think you're boring. I think there are times you don't allow yourself to be interesting...but clearly that can change.

It's just nice to see you out from his shadow. Because things don't grow in the shadows, you know? So it was frustrating to see you standing there...and really cool to see you step out of it. I don't know who this new guy is, but make sure when you're with him, you're not standing in his shadow. Stand where everyone can see you.

Whatever everyone else was not, I was willing to be.

No. I don't. You don't always have to be who they want you to be, you know.

There are two approaches to going to a party. One approach is to try to make yourself into someone you're not. The other approach is the one I'm trying to use: instead of trying to be someone you're not, you can simply try to emphasize who you really are.

i want to say to her: i just want to be myself. and i want to be with someone who's just himself. that's all. i want to see through all the performance and all the pretending and get right to the truth.

In a field, I am the absence of field. In a crowd, I am the absence of crowd. In a dream, I am the absence of dream. But I don't want to live as an absence. I move to keep things whole.

I stole Judy Blume's 'Forever' from my sister when I was eight,' I say. 'I figured if it was by the author of 'Superfudge', it had to be good. Well, I soon realized why she kept it under her bed. I'm not sure I understood it all, but I thought it was unfair that the boy would name his, um, organ, and the girl wouldn't name hers. So I decided to give mine a name.' Rhiannon is laughing. What was its name?' Helena. I introduced everyone to her at dinner that night. It went over really well.