Alicia Keys Quotes

But before we were mothers, we have been, first of all, women, with actual bodies and actual minds.

A lot of women want to be married and have kids one day, but before we get there, it's so important to establish who you are, find yourself, and live in that for a minute before you become somebody's wife and mother.

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.

Every time you come to the limit of what is demanded of you, you are faced with the same problem-to be yourself!

You've got to show the world who you are before it tells you. Otherwise you become victim to someone you're not.

You have to assert something about yourself in order to be yourself.

I wanted to have a personal life that I fully inhabited, not because I am such a great mom, but for me.

I wanted to do things that I knew were going to be me.

You have to choose between what the world expects of you and what you want for yourself.

Individualization does not shut one out from the world, but gathers the world to oneself.

Once you know the world you know how your character fits into it.

Success is doing the right thing for who you are.

The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.

In order for you to be yourself, you have to be somebody first.

Your fate is to be yourself, both punishment and crime.

Figure out who you are separate from your family, and the man or woman you're in a relationship with. Find who you are in this world and what you need to feel good alone. I think that's the most important thing in life. Find a sense of self because with that, you can do anything else.

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?

What we live with is ourselves. And when you have your own identity you are much easier to live with.

The main thing you can change is how you perceive yourself. Stop looking in the mirror and realize that youre living for yourself, not other people.

I know what I want, I have a goal, an opinion, I have a religion and love. Let me be myself and then I am satisfied. I know that I’m a woman, a woman with inward strength and plenty of courage.

Even though I take care of the mom stuff, I've maintained my own individuality with my own projects, and I think our girls see that I'm not just the mom or the wife.

Blessed is that man who knows his own distaff and has found his own spindle.

It is easier to live through someone else than to complete yourself. The freedom to lead and plan your own life is frightening if you have never faced it before. It is frightening when a woman finally realizes that there is no answer to the question 'who am I' except the voice inside herself.

Well it's hard to be yourself, it's the hardest job there is.