Faith Ringgold Quotes

One of the things my parents taught me, and I'll always be grateful as a gift, is to not ever let anybody else define me; that for me to define myself. and I think that helped me a lot in assuming a leadership position.

Don't wait for people to tell you who you are. Show them.

I decided, if I'm going to be poor and black and all, the least thing I'm going to do is to try and find out who I am. I created everything about me.

Why should I deem myself to be a chisel, when I could be the artist?

I am me. I have to define myself. I'm going to stand up at the back of the train and take control of my future.

I think what I have done is claimed the space and pushed it forward as much as I can in relationship to who I am and how I live my life.

To know oneself, one should assert oneself.

Art helped give me confidence.

Encouraging young people to believe in themselves and find their own voice whether it's through writing, drama or art is so important in giving young people a sense of self-worth.

Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.

When you don't inherit an identity you have to define it on your own.

I invented myself.

The most creative act you will ever undertake is the act of creating yourself.

I am increasingly an architect of self. I am free to will and choose. I can, through accepting my individuality... become more of my uniqueness, more of my potentiality.

I had to decide what I was going to do, and what I was going to be. I was standing there, waiting for someone to do something , till I realised the person I was waiting for was myself.

Every act is an act of self definition.

If we stop defining each other by what we are not and start defining ourselves by who we are we can all be freer. And this is what HeforShe is about. It’s about freedom.

What I wanted to hear didn't exist, so it was necessary for me to go out and create it.

I am not reggae, I am me. I am bigger than the limits that are put on me. It all has to do with the individual journey.

For me, 'Rent' was all about coming out of myself, finding out who I was, learning the power I could have as a performer.

I would say that I'm finding my voice in more ways than one.

I've learned that I'm most powerful when I'm doing my art.

Carving out an identity for yourself is important so I'm trying to do that as well.

We need a place in which we may flourish and be ourselves.

Trying to give an individual a voice has always kind of been my mission in my life. As an actor, I've always seen that was something that needed to be done. You need to find that voice inside of you so that you can stand up and be who you really are.