Quotes About Self-discovery

Mrs. Pontellier was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her.

That is, he could not see that she was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which to appear before the world.

She was becoming herself, casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment.

It sometimes entered Mr. Pontellier's mind to wonder if his wife were not growing a little unbalanced mentally. He could see plainly that she was not herself. That is, he could not see that she was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which to appear before the world.

In short, Mrs. Pontellier was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her.

She let her mind wander back over her stay at Grand Isle; and she tried to discover wherein this summer had been different from any and every other summer of her life. She could only realize that she herself--her present self--was in some way different from the other self. That she was seeing with different eyes and making the acquaintance of new conditions in herself that colored and changed her environment, she did not yet suspect.

Qualche volta al signor Pontellier veniva il dubbio che sua moglie cominciasse ad accusare qualche lieve squilibrio mentale. Vedeva chiaramente che non era più lei. O meglio, non vedeva che Edna stava diventando se stessa, e che ogni giorno si liberava di quella falsa identità che adottiamo come un abito con cui presentarci davanti al pubblico.

He could see plainly that she was not herself. That is, he could not see that she was becoming herself and daily casting aside the fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which to appear before the world.

One of these days, she said, I am going to pull myself together for a while and think - try to determine what character of a woman I am; for, candidly, I don't know.

She was terribly pleased, because she had always, secretly, deep within her heart, believed that she could fly. And now here she was, doing what she had long suspected she could do, and she could not deny that it was gratifying in the extreme.

He must, he realized, know somewhere, deep inside him, more things than he had ever dreamed of.

There was, truly no place for him. The home of his childhood was long gone, and it had never been his home, even when he was a child. His mother had said to him, Do not anger your father. Try to do as he says. Try to be who he wants you to be. But he had not known how to do that, had he? He still did not know how to do that. He knew, only, how to be himself. And shouldn't home be the place where you are allowed to be yourself, loved as yourself?

He looked at me, and, my goodness, his eyes were bright, and it occurred to me that they were probably so bright because he had never had to ask himself who he was or where he belonged or who he wanted to be.

It is very dangerous for you to be who you are, said Brother Edik. and so you must pretend to be someone you are not. But how can I pretend to be someone I am not when I don't know who I am?

She was working to remind herself of who she was. She was working to remember that, somewhere, in another place entirely, she was known and loved.

Who was I without the Flying Elefantes? Who was I without Granny? And who was I without a curse upon my head?

I thought I was going nowhere, but now I see there was a pattern.

We must all learn the measure of our strength. Otherwise we exhaust ourselves striving for that which we can never gain.

And once you saw the world from three, or five, different roads, the view was never the same. The map changed and altered, and its details became more accurate. The landmarks receded or grew, depending on the angle from which you observed them, and at once, there might be an escarpment from which the astonished traveler would rendezvous with her selves and could suddenly comprehend the land as it truly was.

Life is just a process to figure out who we are.

And without even trying, she fell in love. Not with some guy who sent her an e-mail or posted a profile. No, she'd found someone else. Someone who'd always been around but to whom she'd never really given a second thought. Herself.

When you've lived alone for a number of years I'm afraid that you begin to realize how hard it would be to accommodate to living with someone else. Adjusting to or even indulging his desires and his life. It was clear to me that I was married to my job. And that I loved it.

I suppose if alcohol had been available to me that November, I would have become a drunk. As it was, the only thing I could lose my miserable self in was books.

Perfume should tell a story – the story of who you are, who you might be, perhaps even of who you fear becoming…