Who We Are Quotes - Page 14

• Laundry, liturgy and women's work all serve to ground us in the world, and they need not grind us down. Our daily tasks, whether we perceive them as drudgery or essential, life-supporting work, do not define who we are as women or as human beings.

  Kathleen Norris

  Daily Tasks, Essentials, Needs

  Kathleen Norris (1998). “The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy, and "women's Work"”, p.98, Paulist Press

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• It was pivotal in making you but you don't remember it. Or do you? Do we understand the events that make us who we are? Do we understand the factors that make us do the things we do?

  Douglas Coupland

  Events, Remember, Pivotal

  Douglas Coupland (1993). “Shampoo Planet”, p.35, Simon and Schuster

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• Look in the mirror and one thing is sure: what we see is not who we are.

  Richard Bach

  Mirrors, Looks, One Thing

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• At last, the answer why. The lesson that had been so hard to find, so difficult to learn, came quick and clear and simple. The reason for problems is to overcome them. Why, that’s the very nature of man, I thought, to press past limits, to prove his freedom. It isn’t the challenge that faces us, that determines who we are and what we are becoming, but the way we meet the challenge, whether we toss a match at the wreck or work our way through it, step by step, to freedom.

  Richard Bach

  Past, Simple, Men

  Richard Bach (1969). “Nothing by chance: a gypsy pilot's adventures in modern America”, Macmillan Pub Co

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• All men contain several men inside them, and most of us bounce from one self to another without ever knowing who we are.

  Paul Auster

  Men, Self, Knowing

  Paul Auster (2008). “The Brooklyn Follies”, p.84, Faber & Faber

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• We all do things we desperately wish we could undo. Those regrets just become part of who we are, along with everything else. To spend time trying to change that, well, it's like chasing clouds.

  Libba Bray

  Regret, Clouds, Trying

  Libba Bray (2010). “A Great and Terrible Beauty”, p.121, Simon and Schuster

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• There are moments, it would seem, that were created in cosmic theater where we are given strange and fantastic tests. In these times, we do not show who we are to God, for surely He must already know, but rather to ourselves.

  Richard Paul Evans

  Tests, Strange, Moments

  FaceBook post by Richard Paul Evans from Jun 26, 2011

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• The society to which we belong seems to be dying or is already dead. I don't mean to sound dramatic, but clearly the dark side is rising. Things could not have been more odd and frightening in the Middle Ages. But the tradition of artists will continue no matter what form the society takes. And this is another reason to write: people need us, to mirror for them and for each other without distortion-not to look around and say, 'Look at yourselves, you idiots!,' but to say, 'This is who we are.

  Anne Lamott

  Mean, Writing, Dark

  Anne Lamott (2007). “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life”, p.234, Anchor

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• We are made to persist. that's how we find out who we are.

  Tobias Wolff

  Perseverance, Determination, Persistence

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• But our wounds are part of who we are...and there is nothing left to chance....And pain's the pen that writes the songs....That call us forth to dance

  Michael Card

  Song, Pain, Writing

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• For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die.

  Anne Lamott

  Motivational, Book, Reading

  Anne Lamott (2007). “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life”, p.15, Anchor

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• It is not possible to sin enough to be happy. It isn't possible to buy enough to be happy, or to entertain or indulge or pamper ourselves enough to be happy. It is not possible to hide enough or run far enough away from trials and troubles to be happy. Happiness and joy come only when we are living up to who we are... I have never met anyone who was happier because he was immoral, or because he was addicted to something, or because he was dishonest and compromised his integrity.

  Sheri L. Dew

  Running, Integrity, Joy

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• So, I guess we are who we are for alot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them.

  Stephen Chbosky

  Inspiring, Hard Times, Trying

  Stephen Chbosky (2013). “The Perks of Being a Wallflower YA edition”, p.200, Simon and Schuster

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• Rules and responsibilities: these are the ties that bind us. We do what we do, because of who we are. If we did otherwise, we would not be ourselves. I will do what I have to do. And I will do what I must.

  Neil Gaiman

  Responsibility, Ties, Ifs

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• No matter who we are, no matter what our circumstances, our feelings and emotions are universal. And music has always been a great way to make people aware of that connection. It can help you open up a part of yourself and express feelings you didn't know you were feeling. It's risky to let that happen. But it's a risk you have to take-because only then will you find you're not alone.

  Josh Groban

  People, Feelings, Risk

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• The task we all face as human beings ... is to find and become who we are. The task teachers face is to find their own way of teaching, one that manifests who they are.

  Derrick Jensen

  Teacher, Teaching, Tasks

  Derrick Jensen (2005). “Walking on Water: Reading, Writing, and Revolution”, p.144, Chelsea Green Publishing

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• No matter who we are, no matter what our circumstances, our feelings and emotions are universal.

  Josh Groban

  Feelings, Matter, Emotion

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• I am an expression of the divine, just like a peach is, just like a fish is. I have a right to be this way...I can't apologize for that, nor can I change it, nor do I want to... We will never have to be other than who we are in order to be successful...We realize that we are as ourselves unlimited and our experiences valid. It is for the rest of the world to recognize this, if they choose.

  Alice Walker

  Successful, Expression, Order

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• We need a coat with two pockets. In one pocket there is dust, and in the other pocket there is gold. We need a coat with two pockets to remind us who we are.

  Parker J. Palmer

  Dust, Two, Gold

  Parker J. Palmer (2012). “The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life”, p.113, John Wiley & Sons

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• The very first thing I tell my new students on the first day of a workshop is that good writing is about telling the truth. We are a species that needs and wants to understand who we are. Sheep lice do not seem to share this longing, which is one reason they write so very little. But we do. We have so much we want to say and figure out.

  Anne Lamott

  Writing, Sheep, Needs

  Anne Lamott (2007). “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life”, p.3, Anchor

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• Everything comes home, my mother used to say; every word spoken, every shadow cast, every footprint in the sand. It can't be helped; it's part of what makes us who we are.

  Joanne Harris

  Mother, Home, Shadow

  Joanne Harris (2007). “The lollipop shoes”, Doubleday UK

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• Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can't remember who we are or why we're here.

  Sue Monk Kidd

  Writing, Stories, Bees

  FaceBook post by Sue Monk Kidd from Jan 22, 2014

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• Hindsight, I think, is a useless tool. We, each of us, are at a place in our lives because of innumerable circumstances, and we, each of us, have a responsibility (if we do not like where we are) to move along life's road, to find a better path if this one does not suit, or to walk happily along this one if it is indeed our life's way. Changing even the bad things that have gone before would fundamentally change who we are, and whether or not that would be a good thing, I believe, it is impossible to predict. So I take my past experiences... and try to regret nothing. -Drizzt Do'urden

  R. A. Salvatore

  Regret, Believe, Moving

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• We are constantly invited to be who we are.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Authenticity, Invited

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• We all can be only who we are, no more, no less.

  Terry Goodkind

  Philosophical

  Terry Goodkind (2015). “The First Confessor: Sword of Truth: The Prequel”, p.181, Head of Zeus

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