“We re miserable because we think that we are mere individuals, alone with our fears and flaws and resentment and mortality.”
“I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.”
“Everything that happens to you is a reflection of what you believe about yourself. We cannot outperform our level of self-esteem. We cannot draw to ourselves more than we think we are worth.”
“As long as you look for someone else to validate who you are by seeking their approval, you are setting yourself up for disaster. You have to be whole and complete in yourself. No one can give you that. You have to know who you are - what others say is irrelevant.”
“for once, you believed in yourself. you believed you were beautiful and so did the rest of the world.”
“Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.”
“My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.”
“Be faithful to that which exists within yourself.”
“I don t want everyone to like me; I should think less of myself if some people did.”
“Self pity becomes your oxygen. But you learned to breathe it without a gasp. So, nobody even notices you re hurting.”
“The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize. [Modernism s Patriarch (Time Magazine, June 10, 1996)]”
“I never loved another person the way I loved myself.”
“Good for you and be proud of yourself because you have your priorities in order. Be proud of yourself if you are responsible, reliable, persistent, and take your job and education seriously.”
“Aren t fairy godmothers supposed to be nice and make you feel better about yourself? ...No, you re confusing fairy godmothers with sales clerks.”
“Maybe your country is only a place you make up in your own mind. Something you dream about and sing about. Maybe it s not a place on the map at all, but just a story full of people you meet and places you visit, full of books and films you ve been to. I m not afraid of being homesick and having no language to live in. I don t have to be like anyone else. I m walking on the wall and nobody can stop me.”
“I... There was a time when I stopped talking. Just like you. My reasons were a little bit different, but I think the feelings of being ashamed of myself and hating myself are the same. Here, it says to like yourself. What does that mean? Good things- how are you supposed to find them? I only know things that I hate about myself. Because that s all I know, I hate myself. But even if you force yourself to find good things, it feels so empty. It doesn t work that way. People like your teacher just don t get it. I think when you hear someone say they like you, for the first time, then you can begin to like yourself. I think when someone accepts you, for the first time, you feel like you can forgive yourself a little. You can begin to face your fears with courage.”
“Don t try to fix me, I m not broken...”