Claire Danes Quotes

I had a bonding problem when I went off and boxed for five years. I was over in Europe and Asia fighting because I wanted to do something different; I was tired of acting. But the thing is, when I was done doing that, I couldn't get a job.

When I was 18 I went to college for two years and didn't work for a year which was essential for me, because my identity had been so influenced by my being an actor and I think I just needed to discover what it was to be myself, divorced from all that responsibility.

Definitely working on 'Deal or No Deal' was a learning experience, and it helped me to understand what I would rather be doing.

I know it sounds pathetic, but I don't know who I am.

It was sort of an experiment to try to leave the violin. Can I be a real person without this thing? It was a big part of my identity.

I went straight from high school to 'Gossip Girl,' and both were very structured, scheduled environments, so I never had freedom to explore and carve my own path.

People go to college to find who they are as a person and find what they want to do in life, and I kind of already know that so it would be like I'd be taking a step back or something.

I was in college that first semester, and I was like, 'Wow, this isn't who I am. This isn't what I want to do.' I was like, 'Oh God, I'm going to have to go out and make something of myself, and I have no clue what that is.'

Then, at some point, you get identified with certain things.

There's nothing harder than defining oneself.

I grew up with my career being thrust upon me. It took me a long time to believe that I could do more than that one aspect of our business.

I know for myself, and maybe I'm weird or whatever, but the whole thing is about constantly redefining identity.

I change my style maybe every month. I'm, like, punk one month, ghetto fab the next, classy the next. I'm just young and finding out who I am.

I think that until we're 21, human beings don't get to know themselves very much.

Every one of us at some point in our lives has had the struggle with identity.

As we wrestle with questions of identity, we imitate those actions we think best fill an ambiguity we have within ourselves. And that goes for everyone; no one is free from this condition.

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.

I went through so many phases when I was young - surfer girl, tom boy, punk - but they weren't mistakes, just moments.

When I started my career, I was faced with a challenge of making my own identity.

I'm not even sure who I really am sometimes.

The search for a personal identity is the life task of a teenager.

We spend so much of our early lives trying to figure out who we really are. And we spend the rest of our lives preparing ourselves to let it go.

One thing we can do really well for our students is to help them figure out their identity.

I think this is what college is all about: self-examination and dealing with those questions of "Who am I?"

It's not easy to know who you are and it's very painful and takes a lot of time and that is why a lot of people don't want to put in the effort.