- “Never dull your shine for somebody else.” ― Tyra Banks
- “The Ego is the ‘thing’ that you’ve created to keep hiding from your Shadow, convinced that it’s all the ‘light’ or ‘good’ things about you – when in reality, the ego is neither ‘good’ nor ‘bad’ because it’s totally unreal.” ― Oli Anderson, Shadow Life: Freedom from Bullshit in an Unreal World
- Understand: you are one of a kind. Your character traits are a kind of chemical mix that will never be repeated in history. There are ideas unique to you, a specific rhythm and perspective that are your strengths, not your weaknesses. You must not be afraid of your uniqueness. Robert Greene
- “At the end of the day, it’s your life. If you turn out good, the world celebrates you and with you (not minding how you achieved it). If bad, they abandon you (even if they gave you the advice that led you to doom). Just be you and follow your heart.” ― Omoakhuana Anthonia
- I’m going to do what I want to do. I’m going to be who I really am. And I’m going to figure out what that is. Stephen Chbosky
- Some people around you will not understand your journey. They don’t need to; it’s not for them. Paulo Coelho
- Wanting to be someone else is a waste of who you. Kurt Cobain
- We all have different gifts, so we all have different ways of saying to the world who we are. Fred Rogers
- “The mirror is the worst judge of true beauty” ― Sophia Nam
- If you don’t like what someone has to say, argue with them. Noam Chomsky
- You want to be uncommon amongst uncommon people. Period. David Goggins
- My philosophy is: It’s none of my business what people say of me and think of me. I am what I am and I do what I do. I expect nothing and accept everything. And it makes life so much easier. Anthony Hopkins
- Curiosity is insubordination in its purest form. Vladimir Nabokov
- Not till we have lost the world do we begin to find ourselves. Henry David Thoreau
- “Follow no crowd; and the crowd may eventually follow you.” ― Omar Cherif
- “Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.” ― Marilyn Monroe
- “Plants are more courageous than almost all human beings: an orange tree would rather die than produce lemons, whereas instead of dying the average person would rather be someone they are not.” ― Mokokoma Mokhonoana
- Appear as you are, be as you appear. Rumi
- We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be. May Sarton
- As we go through life we gradually discover who we are, but the more we discover, the more we lose ourselves. Haruki Murakami (Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage)
- “Decide what you want to be….Pay the Price …And be what you want to be.” ― John A Widtsoe, In a Sunlit Land
- The worst curse to befall anyone is stagnation, a banal existence, the quiet desperation that comes out of a need for conformity. Deepak Chopra (The Return of Merlin)
- Every man who says frankly and fully what he thinks is so far doing a public service. We should be grateful to him for attacking most unsparingly our most cherished opinions. John Stuart Mill (On Liberty)
- A flower does not think of competing to the flower next to it. It just blooms. Sensei Ogui (Zen Shin)
- “Happiness grows best in the soil of contentment.” ― Tim Fargo
- “Stop comparing yourself to others. Always strive to improve yourself to become better today than you were yesterday to serve those around you and the world.” ― Roy T. Bennett
- “You cannot change what you are, only what you do.” ― Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass
- He who obeys, does not listen to himself. Friedrich Nietzsche (Thus Spoke Zarathustra)
- “Control Your Own Destiny or Someone Else Will” ― Jack Welch
- “Nothing can be more hurtful to your heart than betraying yourself.” ― Roy T. Bennett