Quotes About Validation

I'm proud of what I write and feel endorsed by my readers.

I didn't feel the need for anonymous affection, for people in the dark applauding. To me, it would be like writing a novel and then getting up every night and reading your novel.

I used to draw cartoons. I'd just show them to some of my friends, expecting that they were going to appreciate them, that they were going to enjoy reading them.

My mom says: 'Why aren't you a doctor?' and I'm like, 'I am a doctor!' and she's all, 'No, I mean a real doctor.' She reads my books, but she says they give her a headache.

But I honestly don't read critics. My dad reads absolutely everything ever written about me. He calls me up to read ecstatic reviews, but I always insist that I can't hear them. If you give value to the good reviews, you have to give value to the criticism.

The most annoying and full-of-crap thing a writer says is, 'I write only for myself, I don't care if anyone reads it.' A writer without a reader doesn't exist.

When I'm deciding to read a book, I never open to the first chapter, because that's been revised and worked over 88 times. I'll just turn to the middle of the book, to the middle of a chapter, and just read a random page and I'll know right away whether this is the real deal or not.

There comes a time when you have to put forth the action and actually see whether you're really just talking to promote yourself, just to sell yourself, or to build your confidence or build confidence around you... or are you the real deal?

People looked at me - people still look at me - as 'this is Gucci Mane's producer.' But the music that me and Future put together was so different than what me and Gucci do, it just made people look at the music like, 'Hold on - Zaytoven is the real deal.'

Obviously, beating Alvarez was the first step to getting my name out there. Now people now know who I am and see, at least in some part, that I'm the real deal.

I really hope post-Covid no one asks me when I'm going to get a real job again.

Successful fiction does not need to be validated by 'real life'; I cringe whenever a writer is asked how much of a novel is 'real'.

People come up to me and say, 'You look so much better in real life.'

I hope that people who don't believe depression is a real thing will stop calling people crazy, because that's dismissive and not a medical diagnosis.

You realise fame is something that if you court it too much or if you indulge in it too much, it will have a negative effect ultimately on your mental health and self esteem, because fame is ultimately about achieving positive self esteem through external factors, and that's a losing game, I would say.

You realise that there's nothing more endearing than people who are desperately trying to be liked or trying to be the hero, you know? Who also probably just need a hug or want to impress their dad?

I was a late bloomer, but I realised that people really liked it when I played blues scales and, with the piano, I had that insatiable need to prove myself.

I was told I could play at the top long before I realised I could. A few people told me that. I've always had a 'name,' and I don't know how I got it, but I was blessed with people in the right situations saying good things about me.

I spent my entire childhood going 'look at me, look at me, look at me,' before realising I needed someone to look at me for more than just what I was showing off for.

People ask for autographs, and I wonder why before realising, 'Oh, that's right, I'm doing well in boxing.'

Documents create a paper reality we call proof.

I don't really care if people think I'm good-looking or not; it doesn't define me as a person.

I guess I'm going to have to go Google myself and see why people think I shouldn't be coaching.

I search my name on Tumblr more than I Google myself, and I Google myself every day.