# Quote — Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

> What and how much had I lost by trying to do only what was expected of me instead of what I myself had wished to do?

- Author: [Ralph Ellison](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison.md)
- Book: [Invisible Man](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison/invisible-man.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ralph_Ellison#Invisible_Man_(1952)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison/invisible-man/what-and-how

## More from this book

> Whence all this passion toward conformity anyway?—diversity is the word.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison/invisible-man/whence-all-this.md)

> I do not know if all cops are poets, but I know that all cops carry guns with triggers.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison/invisible-man/i-do-not.md)

> And yet I am what they think I am.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison/invisible-man/and-yet-i-am-what.md)