BEING OURSELVES

Is anyone ever really themselves to others? Or do we try hard to "fit in" even when the binds of that "fitting in" feel like a straight jacket? I have always been an independent thinker, but as I grew older, I found myself noticing the societal buckles had loosened quite a lot over my past 35 years. I wasn't aware when the last buckle snapped open. But that last snap has created an advanced somewhat curmudgeonly freedom that is filled with hazards, but also with my own truths and some surprising results. Margaret Buffie




To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson

This above all: to thine own self be true,

And it must follow, as the night the day,

Thou canst not then be false to any man. 

Polonious: via William Shakespeare

 Shakespeare in the likeness of Martin Droeshout's etching.

William Shakespeare Artist unknown

There may be a great fire in our hearts, yet no one ever comes to warm himself at it, and the passers-by see only a wisp of smoke. Vincent Van Gogh 

Vincent Van Gogh Self Portrait

Vincent Van Gogh 

We only become what we are by the radical and deep seated refusal of that which others have made of us.  Jean Paul Sartre

Jean Paul Sartre

Jean Paul Sartre, artist (as yet) unknown



If you don't get lost, there's a chance you may never be found.
Anonymous

I have never listened to anyone who criticized my taste in space travel, sideshows or gorillas. When this occurs, I pack up my dinosaurs and leave the room. Ray Bradbury 

Ray Bradbury by Sci-Fi Artist L.J. Dopp

Ray Bradbury

              ... no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
                                            Eleanor Roosevelt

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt

 Eleanor Roosevelt

And, indeed, if you think you're a genius of something, what you achieve is very much according to your expectations; if you think you're no good, you're not going to get anywhere. Diana Wynne Jones

Diana Wynne Jones

Diana Wynne Jones

Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves; vanity, to what we would have others think of us. Jane Austen

The only two "authenticated" drawings of Jane Austen

Jane Austen

Jane Austen By her sister Charlotte

Two roads diverged in a wood and I  
 took the one less traveled by, 
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

Robert Frost

Robert Frost by  Ercole Cartotto

Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.

Henry David Thoreau

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I was not designed to be forced. I will breathe after my own fashion. Let us see who is the strongest. 

Henry David Thoreau

I think the reward for conformity is that everyone likes you except yourself. Rita Mae Brown

Rita Mae Brown

I often warn people: "Somewhere along the way, someone is going to tell you, 'There is no "I" in team.' What you should tell them is, 'Maybe not. But there is an "I" in independence, individuality and integrity. George Carlin 

George Carlin

George Carlin by Asamamoru

And my personal favourite!!

The things that make me different are the things that make me.

A.A. Milne