Natalie Goldberg Quotes

I'm a human being. I'm not perfect.

I remember 'vulnerability' being an unattractive word for most of my life, and I resented it as a direction coming from a director just because it implied weakness so I get the job. But it is that humbling place that creates compassion.

The main thing in life is not to be afraid of being human.

I am a human being, with feelings and emotions and scars and flaws, just like anyone else.

I think you're not a human being unless you have doubts and fears.

I understand now that the vulnerability I've always felt is the greatest strength a person can have. You can't experience life without feeling life. What I've learned is that being vulnerable to somebody you love is not a weakness, it's a strength.

We love in others what we lack in ourselves, and would be everything, but what we are.

I think there's an ongoing effort involved in trying to get a bigger perspective, trying to let go of things that limit your capacity to love and be loved or your capacity to hear and to really speak.

I don't have to research humanity, I just have to be courageous enough to share that part of myself with everybody.

When we have ceased to love the stench of the human animal, either in others or in ourselves, then are we condemned to misery, and clear thinking can begin.

I stopped caring so much about what people might think if I sung about love and humanity.

I think our capacity for wholeheartedness can never be greater than our willingness to be broken-hearted. It means engaging with the world from a place of vulnerability and worthiness.

I'm a human being. I've got opinions, I'm not always right, I'm not always on time, I don't always say things in the proper way, but my intentions are always extremely pure.

I'm a man of many emotions, so I'm a human being, and I think that's what people tend to forget sometimes.

I think you need to think of yourself as a flawed human being with aspirations for goodness and never start to think, 'Oh, I am a good guy. These other people are bad guys. They're dumb, I am smart.'

I believe the arts are the best way to help people go on a journey of self-discovery toward their own compassion and empathy for humanity and themselves.

One of the biggest challenges for me is that I'm still a human being. I'm a very imperfect human being. I'm very open about the fact that I'm not trying to pretend to be better than anyone else.

How am I different than anyone else? I'm a human being, and I have my faults, too.

If I can show people how vulnerable and how flawed I am, maybe others will relate.

When you start to find balance, then you start to ask more important questions, like, 'Who am I really?' That's when you start seeing that every single person around you is a human being just doing the best that they can.

The message of 'The Distance To Here' is no secret. It is a message of love and an invitation to myself and to those who want to come along to ask the big questions and not feel uncool doing it.

I think that with everything I've done, in the end, whoever the central character is, they would find a way to forgive, because that's really important to me.

Everybody has parts of themselves that they're not 100% happy with - that's what makes you human. And being an actor, your job is to play human beings. Your job is to play real people.

It is going to take a very brave man to love me.

I guess you could say that no matter what the characters are enduring, I try to make them retain their humanity. Their self-absorbed, grouchy, selfish, aggravating humanity.