Mary Gaitskill Quotes

I was just learning to be by myself. He seemed to really see me, see through the bullshit...He was so handsome, and he could dance. I thought, 'He won't be interested in me; I'm not a contender. He was so cool, so funny - I was such a fan of his and had always fancied his speed and his intelligence. I thought, 'I'm not beautiful enough or his type.'

When we realize that we are both wretched and beautiful, we are freed up to see others the same way.

Maybe you just don't see your own beauty.

Human beings can be beautiful. If they are not beautiful it is entirely their own fault. It is what they do to themselves that makes them ugly. The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes. If you foolishly ignore beauty, you will soon find yourself without it.

I have to figure out why I worked at a job I hated for years. I have to find out why I can’t see what everyone else sees in me. I don’t feel beautiful. When I look in the mirror, I never saw beautiful. For this to happen to someone like me, it’s devastating, Jonas. I don’t want you to think it’s vanity, it isn’t. I can’t see me and I need to be able to do that. I need to find out what I’m like and what I want. I have to be comfortable in my own skin before I can be in a relationship the way you want.

Seems like the only one who doesn't see your beauty is the face in the mirror looking back at you.

To me, beauty is confidence. I think I’m pretty confident in the decisions and the choices I make in my personal life and career, but the same time I also let my fans know that, just like them, I have insecurities. I have moments when I don’t feel good about myself. I think people can forget that, at the end of the day, I’m just a normal girl dealing with lots of the same issues as them.

Some of the most beautiful people in the whole world wake up some days and they don't think that they're pretty.

If you think about Audrey Hepburn, I think she became more beautiful when she stopped being an actress and started working with humanitarian campaigns. The more engaged you can become the more you can shed your self-consciousness.

I still don't think I'm really a beautiful person, but I know that I can be beautiful inside.

Each woman needs to know herself and think that the clothes are here to make her more beautiful, because the person is more important than the clothes.

If I were somebody else looking at my character, I'd be like, "She's beautiful." I'm practicing. I'm not succeeding.

Oh, very well, do you want to know why I really think you should keep a journal?" She nodded. "Because someday you're going to grow into yourself, and you will be as beautiful as you already are smart.

I think there is a part of me that's always a little bit like, "Why would I torture myself? Just in case you forgot how big the shoes are you're walking in, take a look again". Like, I think I pussy out. So, I'm not that kind of person.

A lot can change because you are embarrassed by something.

I was so beautiful but I didn't realise it for years. I saw pictures of myself and even I was stunned.

My weaknesses... I wish I could come up with something. I'd probably have the same pause if you asked me what my strengths are. Maybe they're the same thing.

I will continue to be intelligent, I vowed, no matter how beautiful I become.

I'm not good at watching myself.

I never saw myself as beautiful. I can look back and see it now, but then? Never.

I really fell into drama school - I had a lot of lot of luck. I didn't take criticism very well while I was there; in fact, I took it personally. With every note I got, I felt like they were telling me I was a bad person.

I didn't think of myself as beautiful, but, in retrospect, I guess I was.

When I think about any of the missteps in my life that I've made, all of which I'm grateful for, it's because I just so wanted to be truly seen and heard for who I am and was afraid I wasn't or wouldn't be.

Really, at the end of the day, the only thing you can control is yourself; the only person you can truly educate is yourself. You have to redefine what beauty is to you so you can't be affected by what people are saying.

Everybody knows that I'm not the most beautiful woman in the world.