Betty Smith Quotes

I realized that I had to be honest about where I was, where I was coming from, and what I was trying to do.

One of the commitments I made to myself when I decided to write a book was to be brutally honest, particularly about myself.

A writer should have this little voice inside of you saying, Tell the truth. Reveal a few secrets here.

Nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself

You've got to demand the truth from yourself.

One of the key elements is the ability to be honest with yourself.

Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise.

Just be honest with yourself. That opens the door.

If you're gonna tell your life story, you gotta be honest, or don't do it.

The man who cannot endure to have his errors and shortcomings brought to the surface and made known, but tries to hide them, is unfit to walk the highway of truth.

A nice person is a 'yes' person, whereas a good person is a person who accepts their responsibility in things and moves forward and tries to constantly evolve and isn't afraid to say no or challenge someone or be honest or truthful.

I've always seen writing as a way of telling the truth. For me, writing is about truth. I have always tried to be faithful to my own experience.

Day to day and doing the work and getting to that honest point - that, for me, is always about - and always will be as long as I do this - refining and refining and refining and refining the truth... constantly being as truthful and honest and raw and real as you can be.

You've got to make a decision when you write about your life, and I decided I was going to be honest, and some of those things will be embarrassing.

I try to be honest with myself.

To be honest to oneself, and that is very hard to do.

I don't tell the truth any more to those who can't make use of it. I tell it mostly to myself, because it always changes me.

If we judge our lives by what we know or by what we say, we can easily deceive ourselves into thinking that we are something we are not; it is wiser to evaluate ourselves by the amount of truth we actually live. This is very humbling.

When writing about oneself, one must strive to be truthful. Truth is more important than modesty.

There is nothing of permanent value (putting aside a few human affections) nothing that satisfies quiet reflection--except the sense of having worked according to one's capacity and light to make things clear and get rid of cant and shams of all sorts.

You can't write your life story and leave out one of the most important things that happened to you in your life. I think that that would be dishonest, and it would be something people would be very angry about.

You learn how to do good work by being honest with yourself.

I'm interested in trying to explore what I think is the truth at a given time in my life, and part of the process of being honest is - in my mind - talking about the idea that you're watching a movie.

Have the boldness to tell yourself the truth - every bit of it.

I think the currency of leadership is transparency. You've got to be truthful. I don't think you should be vulnerable every day, but there are moments where you've got to share your soul and conscience with people and show them who you are, and not be afraid of it.