Quotes About Self-discovery

I never really sang for anyone, apart from in the shower or with my best friend. I was shy. I didn't want to take voice lessons. I knew I could sing, but I just didn't tell anyone.

I could have hidden in Boston and lived at home for three years, gone through my transition, taken voice lessons to make my voice more feminine, gotten gender reassignment surgery, and spent time to complete my transition, but I didn't want to wait. I wanted to be in the world.

As a singer I tried on all these hats, these voices, these clothes, and eventually out came me.

There were two very distinct voices going on in my head and I moved easily between them. One had to do with sports, street life and establishing myself as a male... The other voice, the one I had from my street friends and teammates, was increasingly dealing with the vocabulary of literature.

I always appreciate people's opinions, but sometimes I have to take a step back and remember why I'm writing and what I want to do with it. Shutting out the voices is difficult but it's been good for me.

I established early what I was and wasn't willing to accept. People tried to say what I had to do, whether it be pop or R&B, to be successful. Even when I was in the girl group, they would try to make our voices sound very radio-friendly and fit that mold. But even before I got signed, I knew who I was and who I wanted to be.

When you finish a series like 'Ugly Betty,' there are so many voices around you telling you what you should be doing next and what would be good for your future, sometimes you can't hear yourself. I've gotten pretty good at tuning everyone else out. Now it's just me; what pleases me creatively.

What's happened in my career has been about knowing myself and realizing my flaws are my strengths, and to embrace them; to access what I'm really good at, and what I'm not so good at; and tune out the voices that get inside your head and make you think you can't do something.

I was really young, just playing with puppets a lot and doing all the voices and acting it out - normal kid stuff. But then I'd hear my mother talking about it to her relatives, marveling at it as if it was something unique. And it made me realize, 'Oh, maybe I do have a talent for something.'

I used to spend a lot of time alone as a kid, creating characters and doing voices in my room, and I thought to myself, I'm either going to go absolutely nuts, or I'm going to find something to put that energy into.

Be authentic, true to yourself, genuine. Question what you really love along the way. There are so many voices out there. And you can lose yourself.

I don't sing very loud, which some people have given me trouble about, but we all have to figure out what our voices are, embrace that.

I never noticed my voice. I did become aware as a little kid at camp that I liked doing accents. We'd do plays and skits, and I realized I loved speaking in voices that weren't my own.

I used to bury myself in character parts and put on a lot of makeup and use a lot of props. At first I thought it was clever to put on false noses and to do funny voices, but then I suddenly thought, no, that's wrong, you don't do it from the outside, you work from within.

I definitely feel more complete than before. There's a void you have when you don't feel you've found the other part of who you are, so I'm in a different place now and that's nice to experience.

I'm relevant because I fill a void for people who aren't doing what they want to do in life.

Even if you're not ready to live at your full volume, turn it up halfway and get there.

I have a lot of shame, and until I got sober at 42 years of age, I had never voted. I was just a hippie.

You never really forget who you are. If you did, you'd need to seek some professional help.

You cannot be seeking yourself when you're making money.

Accepting all that you are will lead you to live your best life and will allow you to be free and your true authentic self.

College was just so essential for my sense of self and my development.

We are all very individual. You have to find out what you can do best, and be self-conscious about that.

It's important to let kids be themselves and to let them make mistakes. Self-discovery goes a long way.