Quotes About Self-discovery

I did have an emo phase. It was sort of like armor for me.

I know I dressed way too provocatively when I look back. I was in that weird phase of feeling suddenly like my body was a woman's body and not a kid's body.

In 1998 when I did the album 'Blue,' that was my worst phase.

I think everyone has their awkward phases. Growing up isn't easy for everyone. I definitely had my awkward moments.

I went through a few phases of finding myself: I dabbled in musical theater, chess club, dance troupe, splatter-painting, school mascot (go Wildcats), babysitter, photojournalist, drill team girl, emo kid - and not one of them defined me, but every single one will always play a part in who I am.

Like a lot of us, I went through some phases on the way to finding what I felt comfortable in as myself.

Phil is my father. He's a part of who I am. But I don't want to be defined by that.

There was a time I was no longer going to be black. I was going to be an 'intellectual.' When I was first looking around for colleges, thinking of colleges I couldn't afford to go to, I was thinking of being a philosopher. I began to understand then that much of my feelings about race were negative.

I don't want to be overly philosophical, but I think there are things you earn for yourself as you go.

I'm not different for the sake of being different, only for the desperate sake of being myself. I can't join your gang: you'd think I was a phony and I'd know it.

I never set out to be a photographer.

A lot of photographers walk around looking for something 'out there,' but I'm very much interested in what's 'in here.'

I look back at old photographs and videotapes, and I go, Who was I trying to be? Who was I doing this for?

From birth until I went to art college when I was 19, there are perhaps less than a dozen photographs of me.

I love photography - I fell in love with photography, I think, because it was my own thing, it wasn't something I needed other people's permission to do. So, it was really freeing for me actually to be able to not be a famous person and just to take pictures.

The boy I was crazy about was super into photography, so I weaseled my way into AP Photo to impress him and spend more time with him. He never liked me back, but I ended up spending most my senior year in the darkroom - it became a sort of safe haven for me.

When I was young, I felt my talent lay in photography, not movies.

You learn a lot about yourself doing physical work.

I feel like I'm evolving quickly with my confidence, physically, just everything.

I don't put boundaries on myself when I sit at the piano.

All the things you put off, like learning to play the piano or leaning a different language? You're like, what's the point? I'm not really gonna do that, am I?

Homer Collyer's chosen form of self-expression is the piano, although late in life, when his hearing also goes, he takes to writing.

People ask me, what was your rock bottom? I say, pick.

When I was in high school, I wasn't really popular. I was picked on a lot. And then I did a talent show, and kids started to tell me that I did a good job. It was the first time that my peers told me that they liked what I was doing. Something clicked, and I knew that this is what I wanted to do.