Dorothy Allison Quotes

I've seen a lot of good things and a lot of the bad of what Hollywood can bring. At the end of the day, I've found that when you try and fit in, that's a way to go crazy; you kind of lose yourself. I'm sometimes the different one at the table, but I don't care.

I always tried so hard to fit in, and then I figured out that I didn't want to fit.

In our society, no one dares to be themselves.

I'm not being asked to conform to some prior expectation of what a Congress member is, but I'm just getting to be me.

But at the end of the day, I'm a girl. I'm from Santa Monica. I'm going to look how I want to look and play how I want to play, and if people don't like it, then they don't like it.

Be stupid, be dumb, be funny, if that's who you are. Don't try to be someone that society wants you to be; that's stupid. So be yourself.

Be yourself, be an individual - people are scared to be themselves.

The Element is about discovering your self, and you can't do this if you're trapped in a compulsion to conform. You can't be yourself in a swarm.

I must be allowed to be as I am.

I just don't conform very well.

You were once wild here. Don't let them tame you.

People relate to the spirit of the band, which is to live your way and succeed on your own terms. There's no hypocrisy in being successful and still railing against conformity.

I think pop culture underestimates people. The message is, 'Being yourself is the worst thing you could possibly be.' But people are still attracted to it.

I have an aversion to being mislabeled. Here's a label I'd accept: I'm an 'individual.' I'm someone who can't follow, and doesn't want to lead.

Where's your will to be weird?

We have to wake up. We have to refuse to be a clone.

I know that many people kill off their real personality just to fit into this society, but why do we have to compromise? I never understood that. I decided to try to be myself and to live by my own values rather than those of others.

But for everyone, I think, there is always a pressure to conform, and I guess as you get older you realize it's less interesting to do that. It starts with you, though, saying, 'I know what I like doing and that's what I'm going to do.'

I don't want to be somebody else.

I love iconoclasts. I love individuals. I love people that are true to themselves, whatever the cost.

I don't care much about conforming.

I never thought I was normal, never tried to be normal.

I just get really bored with sticking to the norm and having the proper conservative image. That's just so not me.

I can't be anybody but myself.

I feel like when I try to fit in, it comes across as not genuine, and that is not good. I'd rather just do me and have people say, 'Oh. That's interesting,' than try to fit in.