Madeleine L'Engle Quotes

I have to live in the truth that this is who I am. That's what I need to focus on.

We cannot forever hide the truth about ourselves, from ourselves.

You are.

People create the sort of myths they want to believe about themselves.

I am who I am, you are who you are, and everything else is a perception based on acceptance, deception, smoke, mirrors, and so on. It's what's between us that seems to justify our accidental identities.

What does it mean to know and experience my own “nothingness?” It is not enough to turn away in disgust from my illusions and faults and mistakes, to separate myself from them as if they were not, and as if I were someone other than myself. This kind of self-annihilati on is only a worse illusion, it is a pretended humility which, by saying “I am nothing” I mean in effect “I wish I were not what I am.

You can run, run, run away from a lot of things in life, but you can't run away from yourself. And the key to happiness is to understand and accept who you are.

I always felt like if I lived in true authentic self-expression and lived in service and in support of many other people, I would be exempt from having to deal with yet another crisis in my life. I was wrong.

Dandyism is a lie which reveals the truth, and the truth is that we are what we pretend to be.

I suppose my life has always been about pleasing people, making sure they're all right, doing the right thing. Then, suddenly, you have to face up to what you want and be honest about it.

Nature never deceives us; it is we who deceive ourselves.

You never find yourself until you face the truth.

I'm selfish, impatient, and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I'm out of control, and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.

I want to stop transforming and just start being.

I come out of real life.

Getting in touch with your true self must be your first priority.

I thought I was going to school to be other people, but really, what I learned was to be myself - accepting myself, my strengths and weaknesses.

I have faced up to what I am.

I'm looking for the truth. The audience doesn't come to see you, they come to see themselves.

Always be yourself... unless you suck.

I definitely have come out of my shell a lot more. When you question who you are, you can't be proud of who you are. Now that I'm trying to peel off those layers and really understand who I am, I don't have anything to be shy about.

The most important tool of my trade was a mirror.

The truth is that you shouldn't match your insides to other people's outsides. Life is an inside job, and we just have to do our best.

I feel pretty comfortable with who I am. After a while, if you're not, it's like, what are you hoping for?

I don't want to change anything about myself.