Quotes About Identity

Northern Virginia could never decide whether it was a suburb of New York or a part of the Confederacy.

They look like wounds, not tattoos.

Maree opened her eyes wide. "Wait, wait . . . I know you." She regarded me with a frown. I must have blinked in surprise. Had we met? The woman added, "You're on that reality show. The Vacation from Hell. You're the tour guide.

A spy in what her mother called the land of Mackerel Snappers and Shanty Irish.

Charlotte McKenzie was present. No longer saddled with her fake role as a diplo, she was wearing black slacks, a dark blouse and a supple leather jacket. She was still grandmotherly—but she was a grandmother who might practice tae kwon do and enjoy white-water rafting, if not big-game hunting.

Let me tell you something. Do you know why those Turkish girls cover their faces? You think it's because of religion? No. It's because otherwise no one can stand to look at them!

He was becoming aware that there was no such thing as over-the-top with Lawrence Davenport, as long as you were talking to Lawrence Davenport about Lawrence Davenport.

Just as soon as I get this cast off, Fletcher said, I'm going to kick your ass. You shouldn't speak to Dr Renwick like that, after all he's done for you, said Nat, with a grin. Why not? asked Fletcher. He filled me up with your blood, so now I'm half the man I was. Wrong again, said Nat. You're twice the man you were, but still half the man I am.

The English are the biggest snobs on earth Harry.

A police uniform, he was warned by the commander on his first day on parade, could change a person's personality, and not always for the better.

But I have discovered with advancing years that few things are entirely black or white, but more often different shades of gray. I can best sum it up, my lord, by saying that it was an honor to have served Sir Nicholas Moncrieff and it has been a privilege to work with Mr. Cartwright. They are both oaks, even if they were planted in different forests. But then, m'lord, we all suffer in our different ways from being prisoners of birth.

And then he realized—it had to be Tom Bradshaw's father.

you shouldn't assume that just because you're clever, they will accept you as one of them. There are many who are suspicious of a first-class mind, while others will make a judgement based not on the words you say, but the accent in which they're pronounced, and some will be against you the moment they hear your name.

Whenever you're interviewed, think British, act Yiddish

Emma could be the offspring of the same father. At

an apple is an apple whoever bites it.

Who do we become when we step through the monitor into the Blue Nowhere? From The Blue Nowhere

What William wanted was of no importance, and he gradually lost his sense of self. He once described himself as an empty hole inside. If you have no sense of self, you are totally dependent. There is an emptiness inside, and the only way to fill it is to rely on someone else, someone who has a sense of self.

he has trouble separating from his family for even short periods of time. He cannot grow up and leave home. He has a fused self.

The boundary between who you are and who they are becomes blurred. You might adopt other people's goals and opinions as your own. You might adopt other people's values. You might lose yourself in the other. There is a chance that you might subjugate yourself to a group, particularly a group with a charismatic leader. You might even find some attraction to cult groups.

The mind self-edits. The mind airbrushes. It's a different thing to be inside a body than outside. From outside, you can look, inspect, compare. From inside there is no comparison.

I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974.

It was possible to feel superior to other people and feel like a misfit at the same time.

It's often said that a traumatic experience early in life marks a person forever, pulls her out of line, saying, Stay there. Don't move.