Nicholas Sparks Quotes

Nobody else can tell you what you are.

We hear a lot about identity theft when someone takes your wallet and pretends to be you and uses your credit cards. But the more serious identity theft is to get swallowed up in other people's definition of you.

I'm fascinated by what makes up a self, how one becomes a self, how much is it an answer to others and how much is it an essence of self.

I don't know if there is a personal identity. We all imagine that we are absolute individuals. But when we begin to look for where this individuality resides, it's very difficult to find.

I didn't want to have to deal with having any moniker or separation between the self that I see and know myself as.

I've never, ever labeled myself.

Some people want to define themselves, and they should, as it's part of their identity. For me personally, I've never really had a label for myself.

I know what my identity is.

What is I? It's what you are, not what others make of you.

A man's name is not like a mantle which merely hangs about him...but a perfectly fitting garment, which, like the skin, has grown over him, at which one cannot rake and scrape without injuring the man himself.

You're not gonna tell me who I am. I'm gonna tell you who I am.

It's not a little thing to lose your identification and who you believe yourself to be.

...that I alone hold the definition of what I am.

Every act is an act of self definition.

Identity is this incredible invisible force that controls your whole life. It's invisible, like gravity is invisible, but it controls your whole life.

The most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, knowledge and education, physical appearance, special abilities, relationships, person and family history, belief systems, and often nationalistic, racial, religious, and other collective identifications. None of these is you.

I have no issues with my identity.

I can't stand outside myself and be anybody else.

If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive.

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

Carving out an identity for yourself is important so I'm trying to do that as well.

I try not to define myself. Other people are going to do that for you anyway.

When you don't inherit an identity you have to define it on your own.

I couldn't put into a capsule one thing that represents me, I don't think.

I love tennis. But even if I become the greatest of all time, I still don't only want to be defined by tennis. I'm my own person. And I want to be remembered as I really am.