Quotes About Identity

Le persone si riconoscono nelle loro merci; trovano la loro anima nella loro automobile, nel giradischi ad alta fedeltà, nella casa a due piani, nell'attrezzatura della cucina. Lo stesso meccanismo che lega l'individuo alla sua società è mutato, e il controllo sociale è radicato nei nuovi bisogni che esso ha prodotto.

The farther a society progresses, the more clearly the individual becomes the antithesis of the group.

Ein Individuum, das sich nicht in einen bürgerlichen Zustand zwingen [lässt], [kann] den Segnungen des Begriffs "Person" nicht teilhaftig werden.

Culture, therefore, sinks into the background; man must first become a son of God before he can be, in a genuine sense, a cultured being.

Conversion is a turning back to God, but at the same time a coming to one's self.

People who oppose Obama are said to be racists - so I guess I'm a racist.

Most of the ancestors that I can trace were born here in the United States of America. And then it goes back to slavery. And I'm sure my ancestors go all the way back to Africa, but I feel more of an affinity for America than I do for Africa. I'm a black man in America.

The majority of the people in the country don't care what color I am.

They call me racist too just because I disagree with a president who happens to be black. You are not racists - you are patriots.

All visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard masks… strike, strike through the mask!

And what is it, thought I, after all! It's only his outside; a man can be honest in any sort of skin.

So he explored, explored within himself, scanning himself with a lamp, as if it were not himself at all but some strange monster that he had been commanded to guard.

Young man, until you know that all names are false you know nothing; not even the clothes on your body are what they seem to be.

As a body everyone is single, as a soul never.

What constitutes a real, live human being is more of a mystery than ever these days, and men each one of whom is a valuable, unique experiment on the part of nature are shot down wholesale.

Bob is just my name, Bobby is my job.

With mathematics we stand precisely at that intersection of bondage and freedom that is the essence of the human itself.

they derive much of their sense of identity from their title and employer and that such overidentification with any institution can lead to stunted growth in other arenas. Far into our careers, we can remain the victims of other people's values and expectations.

Becoming our own person, breaking free from our "ought selves"—the identity molded by important people in our lives—is at the heart of the transition process.7 So is ridding ourselves of an unhealthy overidentification with the organizations that employ us, a harder-to-recognize but equally problematic self-definition.

This is not to say that "what we do" is tantamount to "who we are," but for most of us, work is an important source of personal meaning and social definition. Work activities and relationships are tightly woven into the fabric of our lives. In fact, work often provides the defining framework within which we set priorities and make decisions about other important facets of our lives. It is no wonder we feel so lost when that framework is in question.

Self-creation is a lifelong journey. Only by our actions do we learn who we want to become, how best to travel, and what else will need to change to ease the way.

The vastness around him was now his flesh. And yet, nothing -not the countless footsteps taken or knowledge acquired, not the adversaries bested or the friends made, not the love felt or the blood shed- had made it his.

After thousands of nights under those same stars, he woke up as many thousands of mornings under that same sun and trudged for as many thousands of days under the same sky, always feeling out of place.

Nothing more private than pain. It can only involve one. But who? Who is "I" in "I hurt"? The one who inflicts the pain or the one who suffers it? And does "hurt" refer to the inflicting or the suffering?