Barry Jenkins Quotes

I never had time to dream about being anyone else.

I have always felt that I am the sum total of my parts.

I don't even know who I am. All I know is that I am the sibling, daughter, sister, the friend of somebody, and I need to know who I am outside of that.

When we're growing up there are all sorts of people telling us what to do when really what we need is space to work out who to be.

I've come to believe that whoever I am didn't start on December 14, 1946, and isn't going to end on whatever that mysterious date is in the future.

I'm not interested in nostalgia; I'm interested in who I am.

I think Zippy is part of me, but I'm not Zippy.

What you are is a question only you can answer.

Every character is asking: 'What's my place? Why am I here? I don't want the answer to be 'Just because.' You find your own purpose. Each finds the reason to be here and how to contribute.

If you asked me for my New Year Resolution, it would be to find out who I am.

I want to challenge people to find out who they are.

One isn't born one's self. One is born with a mass of expectations, a mass of other people's ideas - and you have to work through it all.

It is very important to know who you are. To make decisions. To show who you are.

I think that we're all continually searching for who we are, and that's ever-evolving and changing.

If I'm not a successful human being, who I am?

Fighting for identity is something that is very much in my life.

I developed a sense of self before moving to crazy Hollywood, which was really important.

To get what you want out of life, all you can really do is find out who you are, and do that.

An identity would seem to be arrived at by the way in which the person faces and uses his experience.

I am who I am: I have my life experiences and my professional experiences.

'Who do you think you are?' That's the big one, isn't it? A flourishing life depends on how you answer that.

I can't tell you what your purpose is, that's got to come from you.

I think that's one of the things that's missing in a lot of people's lives. That's finding out what works for you and doing that.

You have to look yourself in the eye and ask, 'Who are you?' It can't be all about work.

I just don't spend maybe enough time figuring out my place. Maybe I do in the world, but not so much in Hollywood.