Samuel R. Delany Quotes

There are lots of things a warrior can do at a certain time which he couldn't do years before. Those things themselves did not change; what changed was his idea of himself.

I believe that men are here to grow themselves into best good that they can be - at least, this is what I want to do.

I have not the slightest doubt that this form of individuation represents a higher stage in the evolution of mankind.

Before you can do something you must first be something.

I don't know that you can put a label on growth. I'm just me.

Humans don't really improve on our own functioning, we only interfere with it, distort it, and disguise it.

There are certain bad habits we've groomed our whole life -- from personality flaws to fashion faux pas. And it has been the role of parents and friends, outside of some minor tweaking, to reinforce the belief that we're okay just as we are. But it's not enough to just be yourself. You have to be your best self. And that's a tall order if you haven't found your best self yet.

Culture is the process by which a person becomes all that they were created capable of being.

I think your self emerges more clearly over time.

What we earnestly aspire to be, that in some sense we are.

You are who you are at this moment because of everything that's ever happened to you, everything that you carried forward for yourself.

I am who I am and I tune my training to the fighter I am.

Each year I have grown and learned new things.

I am never going to stop evolving and growing.

I might not ever fully know who I am, but I also believe that I could be whoever I want, whenever I want.

I am trying to re-shape and improve my central position.

Before you can do something, you must first be something.

the process of building a self and its works is always too slow. One is always in arrears to oneself.

Whoever undertakes to create soon finds himself engaged in creating himself. Self-transformation and the transformation of others have constituted the radical interest of our century, whether in painting, psychiatry, or political action.

Of all the things that can have an effect on your future, I believe personal growth is the greatest.

No one can tell you who you are and what you are made of, only you yourself know what you are made of, and only you yourself can do the work to become who you want to be.

I'm only interested in people engaged in a project of self-transformation.

You are your own forerunner, and the towers you have builded are but the foundation of your giant-self. And that self too shall be a foundation.

Real education consists in drawing the best out of yourself.

When a man starts out to build a world, He starts first with himself