Brennan Manning Quotes

When people can be vulnerable to one another then you're kind of giving people permission to really be yourself and not try to impress all the time and you get into more interesting work. You're being real and you're not afraid to mess up or seem weird.

I'm not perfect-looking and I don't say the right things, I'm a little different, nothing really special, but I guess I come across as a little more real to people and that comes through on the screen. I know I look young, but with the right make-up I can look older. I definitely feel older.

I'm not for everyone. I'm barely for me.

I love Lady Gaga. She's not afraid to take risks and be herself.

Even if we're not doing anything wrong, there are certain things we want to do that we don't think can withstand the scrutinizing eye of other people. And those are often the most important things that we do. The things we do when other people are watching are things that are conformist, obedient, normal, and unnotable.

I think the key to great art and great artists is to just fully be yourself and not be scared of that, and be the extremes of your personality. Show the extremes of your personality and embrace the imperfections. Embrace the things about yourself that you might not like.

How terrible would it have been if I had come out with some watered-down version of who I am? People fell in love with the real me, and I still feel blessed that that was how the journey began.

I'm quite an odd little part of the Venn diagram. I'm not a movie star and beautiful in that way. I do an odd thing that's funny and sad, and my face and my old body can take that.

I think that my music is really empowering. I just want people to know - especially young people, but really everyone - that you don't have to be so caught up in what everyone else is thinking. You don't have to be the coolest, most popular person. You can just be you and be vulnerable.

I am an open book, and I'm fine being me: I'm not a perfect person.

When we are honest - that's my saying - if we are honest then we will reveal ourselves. But we do not have to make an effort to be individualistic, different from others.

The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.

This is who I am. I'm not perfect. I don't want to try to be perfect.

I get a kick out of not being ideal. I think it's awesome. That's entirely the point. And I think my creator is quite a character for letting that be.

I freely admit that I am a bit of a misfit.

Records don't have to be perfect. Everyone doesn't have to move left when everyone else moves left. I love hearing the mistakes.

The writer wants to be understood much more than he wants to be respected or praised or even loved. And that perhaps, is what makes him different from others.

You have to be OK with your own fears. If you're an honest person, you'll make mistakes, but that's when the most interesting things happen.

I'm no missionary, and I can't wear any armor, either. I just gotta be the way I am.

I'm a little quirky, a little offbeat, and I'm certainly not a classic beauty.

I'm not conventional. I try to be raw and vulnerable and gross.

We all try to pretend we're the person we want to be when we're really not, and you've just gotta be willing to say, 'Here are all my flaws; here's who I am - take it or leave it. If you love me still, then let's do this.'

Don't try to be anybody else, because that's what I do. I do me. I'm not trying to impress anybody. I'm not trying to please my pastor at church. I'm not trying to even please my mom, to be honest.

All of my favorite artists who inspired me were never afraid to be uncool and never afraid to wear their hearts on their sleeves - no matter how much flak they took for it.

We can be shiny and perfect and admired, or we can be real and honest and vulnerable and loved. But we actually do have to choose.