John Hawkes Quotes

Most of the time, I'm a little bewildered or sort of feel out of place.

I never felt comfortable in my own skin, and I feel like I missed out on a lot of high school experiences because I was so worried about where I fit in because I was so confused.

I've always felt myself to be an outsider. I've always felt awkward.

At some point in our lives there's something about every one of us that makes us feel like an outsider, I believe.

I felt like, 'How do I fit in?' But then I never fit in. The whole time, I've never fit in.

I've often felt I don't belong quite wherever I am.

Even though my parents were famous actors, I honestly felt most of the time that I didn't understand what was going on.

I don't feel that I belong anywhere. Or rather, if there's a place I belong, I don't feel I'm there.

From the time I was little, I always felt like an outsider. I always felt nervous and uncomfortable with myself.

I stand on the end platform of the tram and am completely unsure of my footing in this world, in this town, in my family. Not even casually could I indicate any claims that I might rightly advance in any direction. I have not even any defense to offer for standing on this platform, holding on to this strap, letting myself be carried along by this tram, nor for the people who give way to the tram or walk quietly along or stand gazing into shop windows. Nobody asks me to put up a defense, indeed, but that is irrelevant.

You described the feeling you’d always had of being misplaced, of always standing to one side of yourself, of watching yourself in the world even as you were being in the world, and wondering if this was how everyone felt. That you always believed that other people had a clearer idea of what they were doing, and didn’t worry quite so much about why.

I was very lost as a teenager. Which is a horrible way to feel.

As a teenager at high school, I felt like an outsider.

When people are struggling, that's a painful place to be in, to not know who you are and where you belong and what you desire.

When I was growing up, I always wanted to be somebody else and live somewhere else. I've always felt a little uncomfortable around people.

I write about outsiders. I write about people who are outside and don't know quite how to get in because it's how I've always felt.

I was a very, I think, lonely kid, very introspective. I felt very much at odds with my environment and my culture... Probably a genetic flaw. I can't really explain it.

Everyone has strange teenage years. It's not like I can claim some particularly unique set of high school horrors. I think I was just an awkward kid who never felt comfortable in his own skin. I think I was alone a lot by circumstance and then by choice.

Nobody notices me. Nobody thinks I'm me. But then I look less like me than most of the people coming to our concerts.

I think every teenager feels like a Martian in something, whether it's in their family, I think, or in their school. I think every teenager, every human being has a sense that they don't belong somewhere.

I just feel very often like a child in an absolutely weird world. I think that life is quite weird sometimes.

I have never felt out of place in my entire life. But I did at Yale.

I always felt different in a lot of ways and didn't really know how to express that.

I think everyone kinda feels a little out place sometimes.

I don't feel like I make sense in the world. I don't feel like I look right. I don't feel like I act right or do right. It's very frustrating to me that I just walk around with this all the time.