“Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.”
“Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everyone I ve ever known.”
“It s like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.”
“We know what we are, but not what we may be.”
“You are not your job, you re not how much money you have in the bank. You are not the car you drive. You re not the contents of your wallet. You are not your fucking khakis. You are all singing, all dancing crap of the world.”
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one s definition of your life, but define yourself.”
“He allowed himself to be swayed by his conviction that human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but that life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves.”
“We can spend our lives letting the world tell us who we are. Sane or insane. Saints or sex addicts. Heroes or victims. Letting history tell us how good or bad we are. Letting our past decide our future. Or we can decide for ourselves. And maybe it s our job to invent something better.”
“You are a gift to the entire planet earth”
“I said uselessly, Sam, don t go. Sam cupped my face in his hands and looked me in the eyes. His eyes were yellow, sad, wolf, mine. These stay the same. Remember that when you look at me. Remember it s me. Please.”
“Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. [Stanford University commencement speech, 2005]”
“Who are you? No one of consequence. I must know. Get used to disappointment.”
“You will be required to do wrong no matter where you go. It is the basic condition of life, to be required to violate your own identity. At some time, every creature which lives must do so. It is the ultimate shadow, the defeat of creation; this is the curse at work, the curse that feeds on all life. Everywhere in the universe.”
“I seem to have run in a great circle, and met myself again on the starting line.”
“Why not? It s true. My best hope is to not disgrace myself and... He hesitates. And what? I say. I don t know how to say it exactly. Only... I want to die as myself. Does that make any sense? he asks. I shake my head. How could he die as anyone but himself? I don t want them to change me in there. Turn me into some kind of monster that I m not. I bite my lip feeling inferior. While I ve been ruminating on the availability of trees, Peeta has been struggling with how to maintain his identity. His purity of self. Do you mean you won t kill anyone? I ask. No, when the time comes, I m sure I ll kill just like everybody else. I can t go down without a fight. Only I keep wishing I could think of a way to... to show the Capitol they don t own me. That I m more than just a piece in their Games, says Peeta. But you re not, I say. None of us are. That s how the Games work. Okay, but within that frame work, there s still you, there s still me, he insists. Don t you see? A little, Only... no offense, but who cares, Peeta? I say. I do. I mean what else am I allowed to care about at this point? he asks angrily. He s locked those blue eyes on mine now, demanding an answer.”
“All the books we own, both read and unread, are the fullest expression of self we have at our disposal. ... But with each passing year, and with each whimsical purchase, our libraries become more and more able to articulate who we are, whether we read the books or not.”