Last week I heard the sad news of Chris Cornell’s death. Chris Cornell was the frontman singer, musician, and songwriter of Soundgarden and Audioslave rock bands and he had participated in many other brilliant projects. He was also one of my favorite singers. There was no way to hear his voice singing and not feel thrilled and be moved. It’s still a pity that talented people like him choose to leave this world with one or another way.

All these days one of his songs was stuck in my mind. The song has the title “Be Yourself“. It actually says “Be yourself is all that you can do“.  So, thinking about life choices and consequences, I gathered in this post my sixteen favorite quotes about being yourself. Deep inside me, I believe that anyone can become anything with hard work, persistence, and loyalty (maybe I have read from my childhood too much literature in order to embrace so optimistic beliefs). The difficult part of the story is to define who you really are and become the one you really made for, despite the real conditions, the obstacles, the misguidance, or the different opinions. In other words, be careful what you wish for… I hope you find these quotes inspiring, too!

 

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I. “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”

― Oscar Wilde

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II. “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson

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III. “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”

― Bernard M. Baruch

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IV. “Don’t compromise yourself – you’re all you have.”

― John Grisham, The Rainmaker

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V. “A girl should be two things: who and what she wants.”

― Coco Chanel, The Gospel According to Coco Chanel: Life Lessons from the World’s Most Elegant Woman

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VI. “Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life, but define yourself.”

― Harvey Fierstein

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VII. “The easiest thing to be in the world is you. The most difficult thing to be is what other people want you to be. Don’t let them put you in that position.”

― Leo Buscaglia

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VIII. “By being yourself, you put something wonderful in the world that was no there before.“

― Edwin Elliot

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IX. “The snow goose need not bathe to make itself white. Neither need you do anything but be yourself.”

― Lao Tzu

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X. “What other people think and say about you is none of your business. The most destructive thing you would ever do is to believe someone else’s opinion of you. You have to stop letting other people’s opinions control you.”

― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

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XI. “Let others determine your worth and you’re already lost because no one wants people worth more than themselves.”

― Peter V. Brett, The Warded Man

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XII. “If you don’t know who you truly are, you’ll never know what you really want.”

― Roy T. Bennett

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XIII. “Oh, never mind the fashion. When one has a style of one’s own, it is always twenty times better.”

― Mrs. Oliphant

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XIV. “Very few people do this anymore. It’s too risky. First of all, it’s a hell of a responsibility to be yourself. It’s much easier to be somebody else or nobody at all.”

― Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

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XV. “Before you can be anything, you have to be yourself. That’s the hardest thing to find.”

― E.L. Konigsburg

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XVI. “Originals cost more than imitations.”

― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

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Wish you all a beautiful day … xoxo!!!

JO_

 

Sources: Goodreads, Brainyquote