A kind of joy came upon him, as if borne in on a summer breeze. He dimly recalled that he had been thinking of failure–as if it mattered. It seemed to him now that such...

While the 20th century was dominated by confrontations between ideologies, ‘identity’ is emerging as one of the characteristic divisive features of the 21st century.

. . . None of us are born as passive generic blobs waiting for the world to stamp its imprint on us. Instead we show up possessing already a highly refined and individuated soul.Another way...

The idea of reappropriation isn’t a new one. The process of turning negative words, symbols, or ideas into positive parts of our own identity – was used for social justice movements long before hipsters thought...

That’s what is so great about this line, that each player has his own different identity. That’s why it clicks so well.

In a world full of cynics, critics, and competitors, we get to choose instead to be cheerleaders for others.

I realised with a prickle of discomfort why he bothered me: it was not so much that I resented the hearty backslapping bonhomie of English upper-class gentlemen, for I could tolerate it well enough in...

We hear a lot about identity theft when someone takes your wallet and pretends to be you and uses your credit cards. But the more serious identity theft is to get swallowed up in other...

She fixed a smile that she hoped looked authentic. Pretending to be content continued to be hard work.

Be as thou wast wont to be.See as thou wast wont to see.

The trick. . .is to find the balance between the bright colors of humor and the serious issues of identity, self-loathing, and the possibility for intimacy and love when it seems no longer possible or,...

It is easier to live through someone else than to complete yourself. The freedom to lead and plan your own life is frightening if you have never faced it before. It is frightening when a...

Who you are and what you believe in is your real home, the only home no one can take from you, the only home that will last.

Carving out an identity for yourself is important so I’m trying to do that as well.

Not a believer in the mosque am I,Nor a disbeliever with his rites am I.I am not the pure amongst the impure,I am neither Moses nor Pharaoh.Bulleh, I know not who I am.Not in the...

The willingness to reach inside every part of yourself opens the door to total understanding. You place your entire identity on the line, not just an isolated part. This may sound daunting, but actually it’s...

What is this ‘I’? If you analyse it closely you will, I think, find that it is just a little bit more than a collection of single data (experiences and memories), namely the canvas upon...

Shall I be’her’?

The deeper I go into myself the more I realize that I am my own enemy.

Besides, who is to say that the feelings he writes in his diary are his true feelings? Who is to say that at each moment while the pen moves he is truly himself? At one...

I hate how I don’t feel real enough unless people are watching.

It’s scary telling someone you care about, someone you love who you really are.

Of all the smiths from goldsmiths to John Smiths, the most powerful is the wordsmith, because he can influence your emotions and cognitions. And while you are standing there pondering what he said, he can...

I know you don’t think that any tongue I speak is mine; it must be rented. I am always denial, or pretense. A child born mid-flight has no nation. I can pull on either culture,...

Walls get made, walls crumble, buildings get built, buildings collapse, memories get made, memories last.

Everyone, either from modesty or egotism, hides away the best and most delicate of his soul’s possessions; to gain the esteem of others, we must only ever show our ugliest sides; this is how we...

I don’t want to inhabit the human world under false pretenses.

What’s wrong with me? I lose my footing, in here.’ He touched his head. ‘When a neuro-typical looses their footing, they yell or escape to the TV, or maybe the doctor throws them on depression...

Det var en uppväxt av brist. Inte en materiell sådan, där hade vi så vi klarade oss, utan en identitetsmässig. Vi var inga. Våra föräldrar var inga. Våra förfäder hade betytt noll och intet för...

Lovers are not snails; they don’t have to protrude from their shells and meet each other halfway. Meet me within your own self.

I am a cultural Frankinstein

I was familiar with the little mating rituals of getting to know each other, of dragging out the stories from childhood, summer camp, and high school, the famous humiliations, and the adorable things you said...

Yesterday Allison bought me nail polish in the annoying shade of mauve. How can anyone look at me and think mauve?

Though we rush ahead to save our time, we are only what we feel

The most important things to be acquired for freedom and democracy, are identity and dignity.

The path you walk is unique and needed. There is no other like yours. On your path you experience love, joy and peace, as well as loneliness, sadness and torment. These all are specific lessons...

Maybe such questions bothered me so much because they are being asked about me, all the time, within the echo chamber of my own fallen psyche and by unseen rebel angels all around. Are you...

I am myself when I get up, I am myself throughout the day and I am myself when I go back to sleep, you probably might have met someone else when I was asleep and...

The barber’s assistant asks if I am a Swede. An American? Not that either. A Russian? Well, then, what are you? I love to answer such nationalistically tinted questions with a steely silence, and to...

Jerry-5486: “The most apparent thing that I noticed was how most of the people in this study derive their sense of identity and well-being from their immediate surroundings rather than from within themselves, and that’s...

So the being grows rings; identity becomes robust. What was fiery and furtive like a fling of grain cast into the air and blown hither and thither by wild gusts of life from every quarter...

Anyone could be anybody. (Eric)

A proper community, we should remember also, is a commonwealth: a place, a resource, an economy. It answers the needs, practical as well as social and spiritual, of its members – among them the need...

Felt good, though, just being what I was.

Normal is unique!

But some memories are more important than others,’ she says. ‘Because some memories belong to more than just one other person…Some memories tell us about who we are. They need to be kept safe so...

Remember that every person who you come into contact to on any given day has a story that is probably far more amazing than you will imagine and no one is going to just offer...

Our identity is like that of an onion; with each experience we endure, a layer is peeled away, finally revealing who we really are at the core.

The end comes to all of us…but the end comes quicker to those who do not live their lives as they choose. If your life is not your own, then in what way is it...

I am two people. One goes through the motions, rolling from one thing to the next; the other is withdrawn, watching a complete stranger.