Zadie Smith Quotes

I have no control over what people think, and if I were to spend energy on that, I would be a lifeless, deadened human being.

Believe in yourself and try not to take anything personally.

We can't be as good as we'd want to, so the question then becomes, how do we cope with our own badness?

I don't like to talk much, even when people speak bad about me. Inside me, I say, 'Why do they have to think of me that way?' But I know how I am. My objective is not that people follow me, but I'm happy that they do.

Some people are more fluid than others at just being themselves and recognizing what's good about themselves.

The man whose action habitually bears the stamp of his mind is a genius, but the greatest genius is not always equal to himself, or he would cease to be human.

Self-awareness is value-free. It isn't scary. It doesn't imply that you will subject yourself to needless pain.

When you're writing personal stories, you have to be totally uncompromising - to the extent that you can be - about yourself. I know that if I am uber-uncompromising with myself, that gives me some latitude to write about others.

Books are not brands. Some people are very willing to see themselves as a brand, but you can't be a certain type of writer to a certain type of person all the time. It will kill you.

I'm not perfect; I've never professed to be, and I don't want to be. How much fun is that?

Sometimes I may be totally arrogant, sometimes I may totally be the most humble guy you've ever met, sometimes I may be in between. But that's life. Who isn't like that? What's the big deal if I had an arrogant moment.

If I weren't the way I am, I shouldn't write my symphonies.

Every person my size has a different life, a different history. Different ways of dealing with it. Just because I'm seemingly O.K. with it, I can't preach how to be O.K. with it. I don't think I still am O.K. with it. There's days when I'm not.

These days I settle for feeling only 85 percent sure about most things, most of the time. I believe this is keeping me sane, and I also believe that it's keeping me human. In fact, I'm 85 percent sure of it.

If only I may grow: firmer, simpler, quieter, warmer.

I know that sounds selfish, but you have to look at what it's doing to you personally - are you frustrated because of the way people perceive you, or are you happy enough about the things you've realized about yourself that you can tolerate the way people perceive you?

The secret of how to live without resentment or embarrassment in a world in which I was different from everyone else. was to be indifferent to that difference.

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

I always feel like I'm so boring, but I don't get bored with me.

This is who I am. I'm not perfect. I don't want to try to be perfect.

I have my flaws and my issues, past and present and who knows what will happen in the future. I want people to know I'm vulnerable too and each one of us is.

We're all unique as actors. To yourself, you are unique. You have to think, 'I'm me. I'm not going to bunch myself with other people.' Agents and producers have to get you into a box to accommodate their limited imaginations.

I know now that most people are so closely concerned with themselves that they are not aware of their own individuality, I can see myself, and it has helped me to say what I want to say in paint.

I'm trying to get a thicker skin. I like to be aware of people's perceptions of me, but when you put it as a priority, as a means to judging your worth, that's when it can be dangerous.

I was a different kind of kid, oversensitive and all that.