Be who you are and say what you feel
because those who mind don't matter
and those who matter don't mind.

Dr. Seuss
   
Each person had only one genuine vocation -- to find the way
to himself. . . . One's task was to discover one's own destiny -- not
an arbitrary one -- and to live it out wholly and resolutely within
oneself.  Everything else was only a would-be existence, an
attempt at evasion, a flight back to the ideals of the masses,
conformity, and fear of one's own inwardness.

Herman Hesse, in his novel Demian 

     
If you seek authenticity for authenticity's sake you are no longer authentic.

Jean Paul Sartre
   
I believe one of our souls' major purposes is to know, love, and express our authentic selves.  To live the life and be the person we were created to be.  However, our true selves only emerge when it's safe to do so.  Self-condemnation, shame, and guilt send your true nature into hiding.  It's only in the safety of gentle curiosity, encouragement, and self-love that your soul can bloom as it was created to do.

Sue Patton Thoele

   

The task is to recognize that you are uniquely special, have something to give, some talent no one else shares in quite the same way.  This gift needs to blossom so we
can appreciate and enjoy the benefits of it and acknowledge you for it.   You owe
this to yourself and to all of us to honor your gifts, for only when you share your
unique joy with the world does the entire world benefit.  Every advance humankind
has known has come because of someone's effort.  Don't let shyness rob you and
the world of the power and the passion that lies within you.  No one can be all that
you will be except you yourself.  Follow your passion.

Joel Garfinkle
  

Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most
deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says,
'This is the real me,' and when you have found that attitude, follow it.

William James

  
   

     

Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself.

Richard Bach
  

It is finally when you let go
of what people expect you
to be and people's perceptions
of you that you're able to be
the version of yourself that
you're supposed to be-- like
in God's eyes.  It doesn't matter
if you're half crazy, or eccentric,
or whatever it is-- that you have
to be true to who
you were born to be.

Gwyneth Paltrow
  

To think is easy.  To act is difficult.
To act as one thinks is the most difficult.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  
   
The eighteenth-century German philosopher Johann Herder taught
that each person has an original and unique manner of being human.
The task is to develop it.  According to Nietzsche, a person is known
by his or her "style," that is, by the unique pattern that gives unity
and distinctiveness to a person's activities.  Style articulates the
uniqueness of the self.  Rather than fitting one's life into the demands
of external conformity, rather than living one's life as an imitation of
the life of another, one should look to find the authentic self within.
One should labor to develop one's own unique style in crafting one's soul.
An individual who denies his or her own individuality articulates life with
a voice other than that which is uniquely his or her own.  A person who
suppresses his or her own self is in danger of missing the point of his or her
own existence, of surrendering what being human means.

Rabbi Byron L. Sherwin, in Crafting the Soul
   

Once you accept and rejoice in your authenticity, you begin
to see things as YOU are.  You begin to see the authentic self
is the Soul made visible.  Godspeed on your journey to wholeness.

Sarah Ban Breathnach
   

   
The more authentic you become, the more genuine in
your expression, particularly regarding personal experiences
and even self-doubts, the more people can relate to your
expression and the safer it makes them feel to express
themselves.  That expression in turn feeds back on the other
person's spirit, and genuine creative empathy takes place,
producing new insights and learnings.

Stephen Covey
   

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We need to find the courage to say NO to the things and people
that are not serving us if we want to rediscover ourselves
and live our lives with authenticity.

Barbara De Angelis
  

Some writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always to aim at,
with originality, which they should never bother about.

W.H. Auden
   
  

You cannot fail at being yourself.  A cat doesn't try to be
a tiger, and you shouldn't try to be something you aren't.
You are a process, not a product.  Your job is to discover
what you are and create that creature.  You still won't be
perfect, but success isn't about perfection--it is
about authenticity.  You are a success if you are
being your real, authentic self.

Bernie Siegel
   
   

When one is pretending the entire body revolts.

Anaïs Nin
   
We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
   

Two great Kindle books from our site!  First, the daily meditations from the first year are gathered together in a single volume at just $2.99 for the entire year, and second, almost 4,000 of our most motivating and inspiring quotations are gathered in one volume for just 99 cents-- you can have thousands of quotations that took over a decade to pull together, all on your own PC, Mac, or Kindle, to take with you wherever you go, to read whenever you feel the need for inspiring thoughts.

   

When you awaken to what I call the Authentic Self, which is the spiritual
or evolutionary impulse, what begins to emerge is the dawning recognition
of the fact that each one of us, at our highest level, is that Authentic Self,
which is actually the same energy and intelligence that originally inspired
the entire creative process.  You begin to intuit and feel directly connected
to the very impulse that initiated the whole event
fourteen billion years ago and is driving it right now.

Andrew Cohen
   
Finally and most important of all, authenticity means that you must do what
you do the way you do it and allow everyone else the same courtesy.  There
was a time I wanted to be like every famous writer that ever lived.  I tried
to copy styles, reframe information, use similar artwork.  I almost drove
myself crazy!  Now I just do what I do.  I have mentors.  There are people
whose work I admire, but I write the way I write.  I eat the way I eat.
I dress the way I dress.  I can't believe that God made us each
so unique only to have us do everything the same way.

Iyanla Vanzant
   

Do not carry the burden of the past; do not live in the future.
The only important thing is that one lives in the present authentically
and fully.  Whatever your current life is, be the most
you can be by living in the moment.

Chan Chih
   

  

We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be.

May Sarton
   
How would your life be different if you approached all relationships
with authenticity and honesty? Let today be the day that you dedicate
yourself to building relationships on the solid
foundation of truth and authenticity.

Steve Maraboli
Life, the Truth, and Being Free
    

Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic,
imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never
be greater than our level of self-acceptance.

Brené Brown
Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be
Vulnerable Transforms the Way We
Live, Love, Parent, and Lead
   

Often misconstrued, authenticity is not about being an open book,
revealing every detail of yourself without rhyme or reason. It is simply
the act of openly and courageously seeing what needs to be seen,
saying what needs to be said, doing what needs to be done,
and becoming that which you are intent on being.

Scott Edmund Miller