George Santayana Quotes

I have prayed for years for one good humiliation a day, and then, I must watch my reaction to it. I have no other way of spotting both my denied shadow self and my idealized persona.

Look in the mirror. The face that pins you with its double gaze reveals a chastening secret.

It's easy to forget who you are.

Throughout my life, I have grappled with my own identity, who I am. As a young child, I often felt ambivalent about myself, in fact, confused.

I know it sounds pathetic, but I don't know who I am.

I have to live in the truth that this is who I am. That's what I need to focus on.

The more forcibly I'm made aware of the fact that I'll never be the kind of storyteller I most admire, the less I'll be troubled by that. I'll probably just become more myself.

Without a musket to raise, a barricade to storm, a flag to wave, the question hit me in the face like the cold air: 'Who am I?'

Introspection! I hate it!

What people don't understand is that it wasn't about Dean or Eddie, it was about whether or not I was in the right place.

My first four books, from 'Fight Club' to 'Choke,' dealt with personal identity issues. The crises the narrators found themselves in were generated by themselves.

I don't have a lot of shame. That doesn't mean I can't feel bad about the way someone reacts to me or about something I read about myself online. But I don't have a lot of guilt, no. I've always been this way. I'm missing a chip.

I think, for me, it has been important to remain 'Petra from Fulnek.'

I've always been fascinated by this idea of who we are versus who we want to be.

Every one of us at some point in our lives has had the struggle with identity.

I don't even know who I am. All I know is that I am the sibling, daughter, sister, the friend of somebody, and I need to know who I am outside of that.

It feels weird to say there's more to me than that, like I'm being overdramatic, and a tear rolls down my cheek. But, no - I do like I feel like there's more to me than just baseball.

Rejection should ignite soul-searching, and the soul-searching must be absolutely honest.

If something evokes a strong emotional reaction in me, I need to push myself in that direction.

I'm not even sure who I really am sometimes.

There is a business side to me and a spiritual side.

Be authentic, true to yourself, genuine. Question what you really love along the way. There are so many voices out there. And you can lose yourself.

I think I spent a lot of my mid-twenties thinking it was a problem of my onstage persona. But, actually, it was my actual personality. I was still working out what kind of person I was.

I feel I'm a strange mixture of insecurity and strength. Most of us, probably most people. I'm transferring that same concept to the people I photograph.

Self-knowledge is an anchor that makes unpredictability tolerable.