James Fenton Quotes

People are decisions and actions.

A man really determines himself by what he does.

The question of what we are can only be answered by ourselves. We each decide what we are by the life choices we make. How we were made, who are parents are, where we are from, the color of our skin, who we choose to love, all those things do not define us. Our actions define us, and will keep defining us until even after death.

I cannot be other than what I am, and I am the choices of all my days.

I think the issues of identity mostly are poppycock. We are what we have done, which includes our promises, includes our hopes, but promises first.

I am responsible for everything... except my very responsibility.

You can't blame me for who I am.

Since we own our bodies, we also inevitably own the effects of our actions, be they good or bad. If we own the effects of our actions, then clearly we own that which we produce, whether what we produce is a bow, or a book - or a murder.

No one can occupy your generosity except you. Who can occupy your patience when impatience roars through you? Who except you can choose not to act with judgment when all of your thoughts are judgmental? Your life is yours to live, no matter how you choose to live it. When you do not think about how you intend to live it, it lives you.

Either accept people for what they are, or don't. So, in other words, man, if people don't know me, I think they do themself an injustice. Because, as a whole, I think I'm a good person.

You can't get away from who you are I guess.

It seems that different people have an idea of what I am, and what I should be. And then there's me.

I couldn't change who I am; I couldn't change the kind of player I am.

People pay for what they do, and still more for what they have allowed themselves to become. And they pay for it very simply; by the lives they lead.

We are people in circumstances who make choices that we think are right at the time.

Figure out who you are.

I've always been very conscious of who I am.

I'm really not sure what people think or expect me to be, but I am surprised when people say, 'You're not supposed to be like that... ' I'm not exactly sure what 'that' is, so I choose to take it as a compliment.

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.

In this life, we have to make many choices. Some are very important choices. Some are not. Many of our choices are between good and evil. The choices we make, however, determine to a large extent our happiness or our unhappiness, because we have to live with the consequences of our choices.

Only free people have an incentive to be virtuous. Only people who bear the consequences of their own acts will care about those consequences and try to learn from their mistakes.

I've never, ever labeled myself.

People are always judging you based on where you're from, where you went to school, how you look, how you talk. But at the end of the day, you're going to have to look into the mirror and accept who you are. It's all about being authentic.

Human beings should be held accountable. Leave God alone. He has enough problems.

It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.