Paul Mooney Quotes

To me, the most interesting part of 'True Blood' is that the entire crux of the show is based on identity and finding your true identity.

I've got a wonky nose. Is it classical, is it not? That's what's hard work, getting down into the nitty-gritty of who are the human beings behind the front of what they present?

What is interesting about me isn't that I am a mother, it is who I am. I love my family, but if I just talk to you about being a mother, it's boring. I am sorry, but it's reducing who I really am, and it's really boring.

The whole point in developing your own style is to find your own voice.

Do whatever it takes to convey your essential self.

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

I think that people just have this core desire to express who they are. And I think that's always existed.

It's hard to run away from who you are, and when your taste is formed is a very important thing.

I want to be more myself. Sometimes it takes awhile to find your voice.

I don't feel I have to be Jackson Browne. Still, I like to say something.

Find your voice and don't be afraid to explore it.

My style is raw; my style is '95. My style is what I live. My style is my story.

I am who I am. I'm unique. I'm my own self.

What I've noticed about Hollywood is, if you go out there shouting about who you are, they will love you for it. But if you go out not knowing what it is that you're representing, and you are just a canvas, they will make you into the thing they need you to be.

I'm trying to know who I am and be honest about it.

Some people work hard to be something that they're not, and I don't work at all, I'm just me. And that can bother anybody I'm not working nearly as hard as the other guys, and they don't like it.

You cannot fail at being yourself. A cat doesn't try to be a tiger, and you shouldn't try to be something you aren't. You are a process, not a product. Your job is to discover what you are and create that creature. You still won't be perfect, but success isn't about perfection-it is about authenticity. You are a success if you are being your real, authentic self.

I find myself both as man and as myself something more determined and distinctive, at pitch, more distinctive and higher pitched than anything else I see.

I am just myself, and who I am is a lot.

What does it mean to be yourself?” he asked. “If it means to do what you think you ought to do, then you’re doing that already. If it means to act like you’re exempt from society’s influence, that’s the worst advice in the world; you would probably stop bathing and wearing clothes. The advice to ‘be yourself’ is obviously nonsense. But our brains accept this tripe as wisdom because it is more comfortable to believe we have a strategy for life than to believe we have no idea how to behave.

My work is trying to at least define myself on my own terms, and then if other people enjoy things that's a lovely addition.

Anybody who told you to be yourself simply couldn't have given you worse advice.

I'm not super conservative, and I have no problem with people being risque or owning your sexuality or even putting it out there. I have a problem when it's all you are because you're not being fair to yourself; you have more depth than this.

Know thyself' was written over the portal of the antique world. Over the portal of the new world, 'Be thyself' shall be written.

Before his death, Rabbi Zusya said "In the coming world, they will not ask me: 'Why were you not Moses?' They will ask me: 'Why were you not Zusya?