Harold Brodkey Quotes

I don't really care so much what people say about me because it usually is a reflection of who they are. For example, if people wish I would sound like I used to sound, then it says more about them than it does me.

I have never felt that the one thing that I am 'known for' is what I am.

I don't want everybody to just see the baseball side of me.

Some people work hard to be something that they're not, and I don't work at all, I'm just me. And that can bother anybody I'm not working nearly as hard as the other guys, and they don't like it.

I tried to assimilate and mix myself in with everybody, but I still stood out because of my mannerisms, the way I spoke, my interests, the way I walked, all those things that make us stand out in a crowd. Then I got to a point where I stopped caring, because people were calling me names no matter what, so I thought I might as well just do what I wanted to do.

It's interesting how when you walk into a room in LA there's a sense of what you walk in, as is sort of what you can do. So I spent a lot of time choosing different things to hopefully show people that maybe that's not the case.

And people get all fouled up because they want the world to have meaning as if it were words... As if you had a meaning, as if you were a mere word, as if you were something that could be looked up in a dictionary. You are meaning.

It's probably unfair to expect the world at large, or even most people, to see us for all we are. It is essential, however, that we see ourselves for all we are.

I'm not super conservative, and I have no problem with people being risque or owning your sexuality or even putting it out there. I have a problem when it's all you are because you're not being fair to yourself; you have more depth than this.

I don't think a lot of people are like, "I'm just quirky!" Or if they are, it's a stage they're going through as they figure out who they are. I never felt like I was choosing roles that were quirky.

Pay close attention to when you're being the real you & when you're trying to impress an invisible jury.

The greatest fear people have is that of being themselves. They want to be 50 Cent or someone else. They do what everyone else does even if it doesn’t fit where and who they are. But you get nowhere that way; your energy is weak and no one pays attention to you. You’re running away from the one thing that you own – what makes you different. I lost that fear. And once I felt the power that I had by showing the world I didn’t care about being like other people, I could never go back.

I'm not acting; I'm not playing me. People forget that their actions make them who they are.

Never judge anyone by another's opinions. We all have different sides that we show to different people.

You don't know me. You know one me, just like I know one you. And you can't know every me, and I can't know every you.

If you act weird, people are going to treat you weird, but if you're just yourself, people respond to that.

To me, the most interesting part of 'True Blood' is that the entire crux of the show is based on identity and finding your true identity.

I've got a wonky nose. Is it classical, is it not? That's what's hard work, getting down into the nitty-gritty of who are the human beings behind the front of what they present?

When you know who you are, you know who you are. That's the real dangerous thing in Hollywood, because they all want to create you and mold you.

I understand people have preconceived notions of who I am or what I do.

What is interesting about me isn't that I am a mother, it is who I am. I love my family, but if I just talk to you about being a mother, it's boring. I am sorry, but it's reducing who I really am, and it's really boring.

You feel like people are looking at you like, 'I wanted the old Kathleen. Where's the old Kathleen?' I felt that way in the beginning of Le Tigre. I felt people were like, 'You're not angry enough anymore.' People still ask me that. 'Are you still angry?' I'm like, 'About what? About that question? Yes.'

I didn't want to come up with some generic Johnny Bravo type name. I'm not that cool, so I might as well stick with my birth name.

Do whatever it takes to convey your essential self.

Our subjectivity is so completely our own.