Quotes About Self-discovery

How can I come this far and not tell him-he, who would understand it best-that by giving me that flyer, by inviting me to skip Hamlet, he helped me realize that it's not to be that matters, but how to be? How can I come this far and not be brave?

She was in a free fall now. And it wasn't killing her. In fact, she was beginning to wonder if she might've had it backwards. All that fixating on the fall...maybe she should've been paying more attention to the free.

And just in general, I'm better. Better than I've been since Bram died, and in some ways better than I was even before that. No, Lulu didn't break my hear. But I'm beginning to wonder if in some roundabout way, she fixed it.

Of all the things and people she missed lately, it was odd to find herself at the top of the list.

I'm surrounded by people and feel alone. I claim to crave a bit of normalcy but now that I have some, it's like I don't know what to do with it, don't know how to be a normal person anymore.

This isn't about her. It was catalyzed by her, and she's woven up in it, but this is ultimately about him and his life and what he needs to do to make himself whole. He's stopped drifting, he's stopped being tossed around by the wind.

De todos los tugurios del mundo, tenía que entrar en el mío

Pienso en todas las voces que arman barullo en mi cabeza, voces que no son más que versiones mayores, más jóvenes o simplemente mejores de mí mismo, estoy seguro. A veces, cuando las cosas iban realmente mal, he tratado de llamarla a ella, de conseguir que me respondiera, pero nunca lo he conseguido. Sólo logro captarme a mí mismo. Si quiero oír su voz, tengo que recurrir a los recuerdos. Al menos eso no me falta.

Why had she asked a mirror—or anyone for that matter—to tell her who she was?

Me doy cuenta que no es solo a Willem a quien estoy buscando; también es a Lulu

I think of all the voices that clatter around in my head, voices that I'm pretty sure are just some older, or younger, or just better versions of me. There have been times— when things have been really bleak— that I've tried to summon her, to have her answer me back, but it never works. I just get me. If I want her voice, I have to rely on memories. At least I have plenty of those.

Tulisan ini takkan membantuku menemukannya. Tapi dengan menulis, aku merasa lebih baik, bukan, bukan hanya lebih baik, tapi puas.

But in writing, I feel good - no, not just good, but full. Right, somehow. It's a feeling I haven't experienced in a long, long time, and it's this more than anything that convinces me...

É então que, durante uma fração de segundos, eu pergunto a mim própria o que aconteceria se lhes contasse a verdade: que a faculdade não é nada como eu imaginava; que eu não sou nada a estudante do catálogo; que não sou uma aluna universitária feliz da vida; que não sei quem sou. Ou que se calhar sei muito bem quem sou, mas já não quero ser essa pessoa.

Às vezes, a melhor maneira de uma pessoa perceber o que devia ou não fazer é fazendo precisamente aquilo que não devia fazer.

What if the real question is not whether TO be, but HOW to be?

Why had she asked a mirror—or anyone for that matter—to tell her who she was? But then again, why do any of us?

Because you aren't who you think you are. You aren't what everyone else believes. You might have delivered countless deaths but you love more fiercely than anyone I've ever known.

Are you living your parents' dream...or your own?

When people look at me, they automatically assume I'm dark and weird. Why can't they see the truth? I'm just a girl, trying to find my place in the world.

Imagine a man who stands before a mirror; a stone strikes it, and it falls to ruin all in an instant. And the man learns that he is himself, and not the mirrored man he had believed himself to be.

You are not a mistake. You are not a problem to be solved. But you won't discover this until you are willing to stop banging your head against the wall of shaming and caging and fearing yourself. (p. 84)

Imagine not being frightened by any feeling. Imagine knowing that nothing will destroy you. That you are beyond any feeling, an state. Bigger than. Vaster than. That there is no reason to use drugs because anything a drug could do would pale in comparison to knowing who you are. To what you can understand, live, be, just by being with that presents itself to you in the form of the feelings you have...

Staying requires being curious about who you actually are when you don't take yourself to be a collection of memories.When you don't infer your existence form replaying what happened to you, when you don't take yourself to be the girl your mother/father/brother/teacher/lover didn't see or adore. When you sense yourself directly, immediately, right now, without preconception, who are you?