James Baldwin Quotes

You can spend time self-identifying and figuring out what you are on that, but at some point, you just want to be who you are and not walk around telling people.

One of the other reasons for writing this book [My Beloved World] was to hold on to the person you first met. More of the world knows about me now and follows me in a way that never happened before. I didn't want me, the inside of me, to change. Because I liked Sonia, the Sonia who has been. So another reason for writing the book was to hold on to that - whatever the best in Sonia was, to try to capture it.

I don't know what else I would be if I wasn't me. I am not looking from the outside, looking back. I am who I am.

No matter where you go, you are what you are playa.

The greatest discovery in life is self-discovery. Until you find yourself you will always be someone else. Become yourself.

I am who I am. I'm unique. I'm my own self.

I like people who are authentically themselves, and they own it, and most importantly, they own their story.

I'm trying to know who I am and be honest about it.

But 40 told me to do me and don't listen to anybody that knew me. Cause to have known me would mean that there's a new me and if you think I've changed, then the slightest could have fooled me.

We can run away from where we are, but not from what we are.

You are meant to understand the nature of your inner self, and to manifest it outward.

All one can do is to achieve nakedness, to be what one is with all one's faculties and perceptions, strengthened by all the skill which one can acquire. And then to stand before the judgement of time.

Always try to be yourself.

I understand that nobody understands me, but I can't be someone I'm not.

Becoming yourself is really hard and confusing, and it's a process. It's often not cool to be the person who puts themselves out there.

The biggest mistake a woman can make is not to be herself in public or private.

Without being and remaining oneself, there is no love.

Please, please, PLEASE be yourself. If you catch yourself not, take a step back.

She used to say 'You can be whoever you want, even yourself'.... Yeah, I show up knowin exactly who I was and never leave as myself

Fundamentally, you can never be someone else. You can only be less of who you are.

I can only be who I am.

It's so much easier to know who you are when there aren't a thousand people telling you who they think you are.

If you can understand the inner life, then you can wear the uniform, the tattoos, or whatnot and realize that the things that are different about us become superficial.

My interest lies in my self-expression - what's inside of me - not what I'm in.

Coming to terms with our true natures and who we really are has always been a fascination to humans. I know it fascinates me.