Catherynne M. Valente Quotes

I believe that man is in the last resort so free a being that his right to be what he believes himself to be cannot be contested.

For the first time I'm free to be myself.

I have to believe that I know what's best for me. For instance, I choose all my songs. I never record anything I don't want to record. No one tells me what concerts to do.

I just don't like people to be dictated to. I think you should dress however you want.

I wear what I want to wear and I do what I want to do and I think everyone should do that.

I'm not trying to live anybody else's life.

I am not defined to be in any mould and I can be whatever I want to be.

Always be yourself and rebel against what people tell you should be and be whatever you want to.

I fight for the right to be an individual. I have to be meself.

You don't have to live anybody else's story.

I've lived a life that's full, I traveled each and ev'ry highway, And more, much more than this, I did it my way.

Only in those moments when I exercise my freedom am I fully myself.

The child who refuses to travel in the father's harness, this is the symbol of man's most unique capability. "I do not have to be what my father was. I do not have to obey my father's rules or even believe everything he believed. It is my strength as a human that I can make my own choices of what to believe and what not to believe, of what to be and what not to be.

I haven't even had a life I could call my own, and you're ready to slot me into the grand design. Well, I don't think I want to go. I want to be my own design.

I leave you free to be yourself: to think your thoughts, indulge your tastes, follow your inclinations, behave in ways that you decide are to your liking.

I don't turn to anyone for advice. I do what I want.

I want to live life on my own terms.

You've got to make choices that make sense for you because there's always going to be somebody who'll think you should do something differently.

Don't let anyone tell you what you ought to like.

I refuse to act the way someone expects me to.

I was intelligent enough to make up my own mind. I not only had freedom of choice, I had freedom of expression.

I never concerned myself with other people's decisions.

I think one of the most important things I can give my children is the right to be themselves.

I don't have to be what you want me to be.

Whatever I do, I do it because I want to do it and because it's completely, 100% me.