Gilbert Arenas Quotes

The way I'm portrayed on the Internet is partly my doing, but it's partly the people that are presenting it so, you know, people come to know this strange version of a human. It can be pretty weird because people think I'm digging through dumpsters and smell like crap all the time.

My public persona is badly warped and bears little resemblance to the person those closest to me know.

I'd like people to understand that I do have some personality.

When I am spotted somewhere, it means that my characterizations haven't covered up Eleanor Parker the person. I prefer it the other way around.

I just think that the whole diva thing is a misrepresentation of who I am.

It just feels unnatural to me to broadcast anything other than the character I've created.

I don't like the idea of having a public image. In the end, you have an image of someone, which becomes true whether it is or not.

I have no problem with people seeing me as the nice guy. I hope they don't see me as just the nice guy.

It's much easier to put yourself out there under the guise of a character. You get a different name, different habits, different words. When I have to just be Nathan, that's when I feel vulnerable.

I feel I disappoint people when I am not 'Samantha.' They seem surprised when I don't have the same voice and the same mannerisms. They were booking 'Samantha,' and I would show up.

I just feel as though it's become a situation where people have manifested this caricature of who I am, and they act as if there's no real person inside of it.

Very early on, you figure out that you put your self-esteem in the hands of strangers. There's a different commodity. There's the Helena Bonham Carter that everyone thinks they know, who really has nothing to do with me. But you just have to let that go.

However, people need to understand that it ain't that deep to try and convince people of what your persona is. You are who you are, and what you are will show in time. What you aren't can be hidden, but eventually it will come to light. Long story short: rappers should never take themselves too seriously.

I think if you watch a lot of what I do, you're going to ultimately walk away seeing me. I can't hide - that impression is a personal impression people have of me.

I am not afraid if people think Matt LeBlanc in 'Episodes' is who I am - my friends and family know who I am.

The whole image thing gets in the way. Then there are the guys that it excites them and it's what draws them to me. But I don't know whether they would care for me if I didn't have this image.

The more you are known, the more difficult it is to hide behind characters.

I have never felt that the one thing that I am 'known for' is what I am.

It's funny: people who meet me say, 'I thought you'd be different.' But I'm still the same guy.

There's a difference between the parts that I play and who I am and who people think I am. There's quite a big discrepancy sometimes between those things.

In the beginning, the media was calling me a bad boy all the time because of the way I act and feel onstage. None of them have ever taken the time to get to know me when I climb offstage.

Actually, the curious thing is that the more you become a subject of admiration or loathing, the more you're examined under a microscope, the distance seems to open up between who you really are and the portrayals that people impose on you.

My public caricature - that of a self-confident alpha male - is only partly accurate.

Every man has three characters - that which he exhibits, that which he has, and that which he thinks he has.

I just can't get used to the idea of being somebody unreal in people's minds. I can't live my life like that. And it's just anathema to being a writer. It's not healthy.