{ "type": "topic", "site": { "name": "Leafy Quotes", "language": "en", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com" }, "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.", "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity", "heading": "Quotes about identity", "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity.json", "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity.md", "quotes_count": 322, "authors_count": 198, "parent": null, "children": [ { "name": "self-knowledge", "slug": "self-knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-knowledge", "heading": "Quotes about self-knowledge" }, { "name": "individualism", "slug": "individualism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/individualism", "heading": "Quotes about individualism" }, { "name": "ego", "slug": "ego", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ego", "heading": "Quotes about ego" }, { "name": "authenticity", "slug": "authenticity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/authenticity", "heading": "Quotes about authenticity" } ], "quotes": [ { "id": "dad8ba5f-ee1a-4fb5-8310-e157062e521a", "slug": "one-is-not-born", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir/the-second-sex/one-is-not-born", "text": "One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Simone de Beauvoir", "slug": "simone-de-beauvoir", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir" }, "book": { "title": "The Second Sex", "slug": "the-second-sex", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir/the-second-sex" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 267, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "women", "slug": "women", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Simone_de_Beauvoir#The_Second_Sex_(1949)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T08:10:02" }, { "id": "d62e6caa-7528-4600-aad0-34db102e90f2", "slug": "inside-us-there", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago/blindness/inside-us-there", "text": "Inside us there is something that has no name, that something is what we are.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "José Saramago", "slug": "jose-saramago", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago" }, "book": { "title": "Blindness", "slug": "blindness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago/blindness" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 276, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Saramago#Blindness_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:46" }, { "id": "8266a3ba-95df-4353-a225-6730e86e7ec1", "slug": "but-if-they", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-wyndham/consider-her-ways/but-if-they", "text": "\"But if they change me shape, and change me voice, and change me hair and change me face, as they say, what is it that is me, at all?\" asked Peggy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Wyndham", "slug": "john-wyndham", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-wyndham" }, "book": { "title": "Consider Her Ways", "slug": "consider-her-ways", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-wyndham/consider-her-ways" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 112, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Wyndham#Consider_Her_Ways_(and_others)_(1961)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:02:13" }, { "id": "f8323949-cf9e-49f9-b960-88fd2966fbc7", "slug": "when-you-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-rhys/after-leaving-mr-mackenzie/when-you-are", "text": "When you are a child you are yourself and you know and see everything prophetically. And then suddenly something happens and you stop being yourself; you become what others force you to be. You lose your wisdom and your soul. (chapter 12)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Rhys", "slug": "jean-rhys", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-rhys" }, "book": { "title": "After Leaving Mr Mackenzie", "slug": "after-leaving-mr-mackenzie", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-rhys/after-leaving-mr-mackenzie" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "childhood", "slug": "childhood", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/childhood" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean_Rhys#Part_II", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:53" }, { "id": "b3274d6c-a9e7-4110-959f-733ec130bb19", "slug": "as-far-as-my-identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edouard-glissant/poetics-of-relation/as-far-as-my-identity", "text": "As far as my identity is concerned, I will take care of it myself. That is, I shall not allow it to become cornered in any essence; I shall also pay attention to not mixing it into any amalgam. Rather, it does not disturb me to accept that there are places where my identity is obscure to me, and the fact that it amazes me does not mean I relinquish it. (p. 192)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Édouard Glissant", "slug": "edouard-glissant", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edouard-glissant" }, "book": { "title": "Poetics of Relation", "slug": "poetics-of-relation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edouard-glissant/poetics-of-relation" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/%C3%89douard_Glissant#%22For_Opacity%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:48" }, { "id": "43039667-5b7e-4352-8959-4e492441b93e", "slug": "creolization-is-a-new", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edouard-glissant/poetics-of-relation/creolization-is-a-new", "text": "Creolization ... is a new and original dimension allowing each person to be there and elsewhere, rooted and open, lost in the mountains and free beneath the sea, in harmony and in errantry. (\"Poetics,\" p. 34)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Édouard Glissant", "slug": "edouard-glissant", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edouard-glissant" }, "book": { "title": "Poetics of Relation", "slug": "poetics-of-relation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edouard-glissant/poetics-of-relation" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/%C3%89douard_Glissant#Poetics_of_Relation_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:48" }, { "id": "18368e19-1e87-4b95-bcbf-bab3ce906725", "slug": "when-miller-wondered", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/leviathan-wakes/when-miller-wondered", "text": "When, Miller wondered, does someone stop being human? There had to be a moment, some decision that you made and before it, you were one person, and after it, someone else...If he’d seen it in someone else—Muss, Havelock, Sematimba—he wouldn’t have taken more than a minute to realize they’d gone off the rails. Since it was him, he had taken longer to notice. But Holden was right. Somewhere along the line, he’d lost himself.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James S. A. Corey", "slug": "james-s-a-corey", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey" }, "book": { "title": "Leviathan Wakes", "slug": "leviathan-wakes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/leviathan-wakes" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 284, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_S._A._Corey#Leviathan_Wakes_(2011)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:34" }, { "id": "df7dd42c-139b-4b66-93f4-d0a4f15f5756", "slug": "egyptians-for-instance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/leila-ahmed/a-border-passage/egyptians-for-instance", "text": "Egyptians, for instance, might, with equal accuracy, define themselves as African, Nilotic, Mediterranean, Islamic, or Coptic. Or as all, or any combination of, the above. Or, of course, as Egyptian: pertaining to the land of Egypt.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Leila Ahmed", "slug": "leila-ahmed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/leila-ahmed" }, "book": { "title": "A Border Passage", "slug": "a-border-passage", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/leila-ahmed/a-border-passage" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leila_Ahmed#A_Border_Passage_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:28" }, { "id": "c786ceea-05e3-4b41-8be5-6a7a30ca7e38", "slug": "one-is-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/leila-ahmed/a-border-passage/one-is-not", "text": "“One is not born but rather becomes a woman,” goes Simone de Beauvoir’s famous dictum. I obviously was not born but became black when I went to England. Similarly, of course, I was not born but became a woman of color when I went to America.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Leila Ahmed", "slug": "leila-ahmed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/leila-ahmed" }, "book": { "title": "A Border Passage", "slug": "a-border-passage", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/leila-ahmed/a-border-passage" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "racism", "slug": "racism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/racism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leila_Ahmed#A_Border_Passage_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:28" }, { "id": "c6db89ca-ed1c-4e1e-b9f4-28438f03b05a", "slug": "that-summer-the-summer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chris-cleave/the-other-hand/that-summer-the-summer", "text": "That summer—the summer my husband died—we all had identities we were loath to let go of. My son had his Batman costume, I still used my husband’s surname, and Little Bee, though she was relatively safe with us, still clung to the name she had taken in a time of terror. We were exiles from reality that summer. We were refuges from ourselves.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Chris Cleave", "slug": "chris-cleave", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chris-cleave" }, "book": { "title": "The Other Hand", "slug": "the-other-hand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chris-cleave/the-other-hand" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "grief", "slug": "grief", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/grief" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Other_Hand#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:26" }, { "id": "8428de36-89b6-42b3-90fa-014a3d20ee1b", "slug": "many-people-begin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-clear/atomic-habits/many-people-begin", "text": "Many people begin the process of changing their habits by focusing on what they want to achieve. This leads us to outcome-based habits. The alternative is to build identity-based habits. With this approach, we start by focusing on who we wish to become", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James Clear", "slug": "james-clear", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-clear" }, "book": { "title": "Atomic Habits", "slug": "atomic-habits", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-clear/atomic-habits" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "habits", "slug": "habits", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/habits" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Clear#Atomic_Habits_(2018)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:18" }, { "id": "4bfd7209-ce8d-48ca-96ac-23b86d546f68", "slug": "every-action-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-clear/atomic-habits/every-action-you", "text": "Every action you take is a vote for the person you wish to become", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James Clear", "slug": "james-clear", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-clear" }, "book": { "title": "Atomic Habits", "slug": "atomic-habits", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-clear/atomic-habits" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "taking action", "slug": "taking-action", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/taking-action" }, { "name": "habits", "slug": "habits", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/habits" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Clear#Atomic_Habits_(2018)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:18" }, { "id": "126cf8f6-a334-4b0b-b059-2d1a78cf9451", "slug": "history-is-an-ongoing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-bronski/a-queer-history-of-the-united-states/history-is-an-ongoing", "text": "History is an ongoing process through which we understand and define ourselves and our lives.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Michael Bronski", "slug": "michael-bronski", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-bronski" }, "book": { "title": "A Queer History of the United States", "slug": "a-queer-history-of-the-united-states", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-bronski/a-queer-history-of-the-united-states" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Bronski#Introduction", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:11" }, { "id": "a854a652-0711-4971-85d9-556a8cc8b147", "slug": "when-you-feel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/shon-faye/the-transgender-issue/when-you-feel", "text": "When you feel your culture and identity endangered and ephemeral, the anchor of history and the celebration of antecedents can be empowering, and worth fighting fiercely for.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Shon Faye", "slug": "shon-faye", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/shon-faye" }, "book": { "title": "The Transgender Issue", "slug": "the-transgender-issue", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/shon-faye/the-transgender-issue" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Shon_Faye#Chapter_Six", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:10" }, { "id": "81987997-03ce-48d2-abe4-2492471178c3", "slug": "you-arent-what", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nedra-glover-tawwab/drama-free/you-arent-what", "text": "You aren't what happened to you.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nedra Glover Tawwab", "slug": "nedra-glover-tawwab", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nedra-glover-tawwab" }, "book": { "title": "Drama Free", "slug": "drama-free", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nedra-glover-tawwab/drama-free" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "the past", "slug": "the-past", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-past" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nedra_Glover_Tawwab#Drama_Free:_A_Guide_to_Managing_Unhealthy_Family_Relationships_(2023)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:00" }, { "id": "663e65e4-62c0-460a-9528-081c81754291", "slug": "in-my-experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/devon-price/unmasking-autism/in-my-experience", "text": "In my experience, being a masked Autistic is eerily similar to being in the closet about being gay or trans. It's a painful state of self-loathing and denial that warps your inner experience. Though it often feels like being \"crazy,\" it's not actually an internal neurosis. It's caused by society's repeated, often violent insistence you are not who you say you are, and that any evidence to the contrary is shameful.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Devon Price", "slug": "devon-price", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/devon-price" }, "book": { "title": "Unmasking Autism", "slug": "unmasking-autism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/devon-price/unmasking-autism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "shame", "slug": "shame", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/shame" }, { "name": "otherness", "slug": "otherness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/otherness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Devon_Price#Conclusion:_Integration", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:55" }, { "id": "4000b214-58f9-4abc-be37-3634f400550b", "slug": "when-a-masked", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/devon-price/unmasking-autism/when-a-masked", "text": "When a masked Autistic person lacks self-knowledge or any kind of broad social acceptance, they are often forced to conceive of themselves as compartmentalized, inconsistent parts.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Devon Price", "slug": "devon-price", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/devon-price" }, "book": { "title": "Unmasking Autism", "slug": "unmasking-autism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/devon-price/unmasking-autism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "otherness", "slug": "otherness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/otherness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Devon_Price#Conclusion:_Integration", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:55" }, { "id": "b5f40894-08fd-4eb2-bb6e-bb21c6508f15", "slug": "someone-elses-choice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/casey-mcquiston/red-white-royal-blue/someone-elses-choice", "text": "\"Someone else's choice doesn't change who you are.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Casey McQuiston", "slug": "casey-mcquiston", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/casey-mcquiston" }, "book": { "title": "Red, White & Royal Blue", "slug": "red-white-royal-blue", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/casey-mcquiston/red-white-royal-blue" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 198, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Casey_McQuiston#Red,_White_%26_Royal_Blue_(2019)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:50" }, { "id": "ecdf3050-6549-4772-a2d0-e50c2edfdacb", "slug": "we-all-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tiphanie-yanique/land-of-love-and-drowning/we-all-have", "text": "We all have our own island, the one we carry with us wherever we go.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Tiphanie Yanique", "slug": "tiphanie-yanique", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tiphanie-yanique" }, "book": { "title": "Land of Love and Drowning", "slug": "land-of-love-and-drowning", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tiphanie-yanique/land-of-love-and-drowning" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 167, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "home", "slug": "home", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/home" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tiphanie_Yanique#Land_of_Love_and_Drowning_(2014)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:39" }, { "id": "71e00961-dca8-4ed7-9cf3-3347661216b3", "slug": "the-oral-tradition-is", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paula-gunn-allen/the-sacred-hoop/the-oral-tradition-is", "text": "The oral tradition is more than a record of a people’s culture. It is the creative source of their collective and individual selves.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Paula Gunn Allen", "slug": "paula-gunn-allen", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paula-gunn-allen" }, "book": { "title": "The Sacred Hoop", "slug": "the-sacred-hoop", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paula-gunn-allen/the-sacred-hoop" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "tradition", "slug": "tradition", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tradition" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paula_Gunn_Allen#Chapter_Three", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:38" }, { "id": "295607db-7404-4ac7-a2e1-971adcd35f9b", "slug": "perhaps-the-most", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paula-gunn-allen/the-sacred-hoop/perhaps-the-most", "text": "Perhaps the most destructive aspect of alienation is that: the loss of power, of control over one’s destiny, over one’s memories, thoughts, relationships, past, and future. For in a world where no normative understandings apply, where one is perceived as futile and unwanted, where one’s perceptions are denied by acquaintance and stranger alike, where pain is the single most familiar sensation, the loss of self is experienced continually and, finally, desperately.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Paula Gunn Allen", "slug": "paula-gunn-allen", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paula-gunn-allen" }, "book": { "title": "The Sacred Hoop", "slug": "the-sacred-hoop", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paula-gunn-allen/the-sacred-hoop" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "loneliness", "slug": "loneliness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paula_Gunn_Allen#Chapter_Two", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:38" }, { "id": "8ca7ad32-5418-48d5-b385-d86720fb57a0", "slug": "you-can-take", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paula-gunn-allen/the-sacred-hoop/you-can-take", "text": "You can take the Indian out of Indian country but you can’t take the Indian out of the Indian.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Paula Gunn Allen", "slug": "paula-gunn-allen", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paula-gunn-allen" }, "book": { "title": "The Sacred Hoop", "slug": "the-sacred-hoop", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paula-gunn-allen/the-sacred-hoop" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paula_Gunn_Allen#Introduction", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:37" }, { "id": "27cea57a-606f-4577-97b0-ad191a8ea092", "slug": "the-most-important", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robin-wall-kimmerer/braiding-sweetgrass/the-most-important", "text": "The most important thing each of us can know is our unique gift and how to use it in the world. Individuality is cherished and nurtured, because, in order for the whole to flourish, each of us has to be strong in who we are and carry our gifts with conviction, so they can be shared with others.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robin Wall Kimmerer", "slug": "robin-wall-kimmerer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robin-wall-kimmerer" }, "book": { "title": "Braiding Sweetgrass", "slug": "braiding-sweetgrass", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robin-wall-kimmerer/braiding-sweetgrass" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 134, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robin_Wall_Kimmerer#Braiding_Sweetgrass_(2013)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:31" }, { "id": "b47ac62e-048a-427c-8cbf-c22917a7bcc2", "slug": "the-federal-governments", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robin-wall-kimmerer/braiding-sweetgrass/the-federal-governments", "text": "The federal government's Indian Removal policies wrenched many Native peoples from our homelands. It separated us from our traditional knowledge and lifeways, the bones of our ancestors, our sustaining plants—but even this did not extinguish identity. So the government tried a new tool, separating children from their families and cultures, sending them far away to school, long enough, they hoped, to make them forget who they were. [...] Children, language, lands: almost everything was stripped away, stolen when you weren't looking because you were trying to stay alive. In the face of such loss, one thing our people could not surrender was the meaning of land. In the settler mind, land was property, real estate, capital, or natural resources. But to our people, it was everything: identity, the connection to our ancestors, the home of our nonhuman kinfolk, our pharmacy, our library, the source of all that sustained us. Our lands were where our responsibility to the world was enacted, sacred ground. It belonged to itself; it was a gift, not a commodity, so it could never be bought or sold. These are the meanings people took with them when they were forced from their ancient homelands to new places. Whether it was their homeland or the new land forced upon them, land held in common gave people strength; it gave them something to fight for. And so—in the eyes of the federal government—that belief was a threat.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robin Wall Kimmerer", "slug": "robin-wall-kimmerer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robin-wall-kimmerer" }, "book": { "title": "Braiding Sweetgrass", "slug": "braiding-sweetgrass", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robin-wall-kimmerer/braiding-sweetgrass" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 16, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "colonialism", "slug": "colonialism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/colonialism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robin_Wall_Kimmerer#Braiding_Sweetgrass_(2013)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:30" }, { "id": "03629edf-7e7f-4111-b6a0-e58b0f2178ab", "slug": "like-creation-stories", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robin-wall-kimmerer/braiding-sweetgrass/like-creation-stories", "text": "Like Creation stories everywhere, cosmologies are a source of identity and orientation to the world. They tell us who we are. We are inevitably shaped by them no matter how distant they may be from our consciousness.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robin Wall Kimmerer", "slug": "robin-wall-kimmerer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robin-wall-kimmerer" }, "book": { "title": "Braiding Sweetgrass", "slug": "braiding-sweetgrass", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robin-wall-kimmerer/braiding-sweetgrass" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 7, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "stories", "slug": "stories", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/stories" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robin_Wall_Kimmerer#Braiding_Sweetgrass_(2013)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:30" }, { "id": "585d1d82-0a01-440f-9e53-7f3def2ad124", "slug": "i-wish-i-could", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cressida-cowell/how-to-train-your-dragon/i-wish-i-could", "text": "'I wish I could offer you a King who is greater than I am. I can't turn into someone else, I can only be me. But I have discovered that I too, am stronger than I thought I was. I think I can do this. I think I can be this King that the Dragonmarkers want me to be.'", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Cressida Cowell", "slug": "cressida-cowell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cressida-cowell" }, "book": { "title": "How to Train Your Dragon", "slug": "how-to-train-your-dragon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cressida-cowell/how-to-train-your-dragon" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "strength", "slug": "strength", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/strength" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/How_to_Train_Your_Dragon_(novel_series)#How_to_Betray_a_Dragon's_Hero_(2013)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:28" }, { "id": "119e7218-6907-4bd8-a082-7069f908c9bc", "slug": "i-know-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-s-stone/damascus-gate/i-know-that", "text": "\"I know that in the United States people are what they choose to be,\" he said.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert S. Stone", "slug": "robert-s-stone", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-s-stone" }, "book": { "title": "Damascus Gate", "slug": "damascus-gate", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-s-stone/damascus-gate" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 115, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Stone_(novelist)#Damascus_Gate_(1998)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:19" }, { "id": "9a7c5ab4-3571-4d83-97dc-ac75d0841f76", "slug": "at-this-stage", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/zitkala-sa/american-indian-stories/at-this-stage", "text": "At this stage of my own evolution, I was ready to curse men of small capacity for being the dwarfs their God had made them. In the process of my education I had lost all consciousness of the nature world about me. Thus, when a hidden rage took me to the small white-walled prison which I then called my room, I unknowingly turned away from my one salvation. Alone in my room, I sat like the petrified Indian woman of whom my mother used to tell me. I wished my heart's burdens would turn me to unfeeling stone. But alive, in my tomb, I was destitute! For the white man's papers I had given up my faith in the Great Spirit. For these same papers I had forgotten the healing in trees and brooks. On account of my mother's simple view of life, and my lack of any, I gave her up, also. I made no friends among the race of people I loathed. Like a slender tree, I had been uprooted from my mother, nature, and God. I was shorn of my branches, which had waved in sympathy and love for home and friends. The natural coat of bark which had protected my oversenstive nature was scraped off to the very quick.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Zitkala-Sa", "slug": "zitkala-sa", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/zitkala-sa" }, "book": { "title": "American Indian Stories", "slug": "american-indian-stories", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/zitkala-sa/american-indian-stories" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" }, { "name": "loneliness", "slug": "loneliness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Zitkala-%C5%A0a#IV:_Retrospection", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:18" }, { "id": "47fd623b-28d0-4743-98a4-d32698fd592e", "slug": "with-me-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sarah-waters/affinity/with-me-and", "text": "With me and my queer nature, that set me so at odds with the world and all its ordinary rules, I could not find a place in it to live and be content.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sarah Waters", "slug": "sarah-waters", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sarah-waters" }, "book": { "title": "Affinity", "slug": "affinity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sarah-waters/affinity" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "otherness", "slug": "otherness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/otherness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sarah_Waters#Affinity_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:17" }, { "id": "159e10c1-ffc6-44b9-8f18-70ddd5830386", "slug": "i-am-a-puzzle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/liana-finck/excuse-me/i-am-a-puzzle", "text": "I AM A PUZZLE\n\nI AM SOLVING", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Liana Finck", "slug": "liana-finck", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/liana-finck" }, "book": { "title": "Excuse Me", "slug": "excuse-me", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/liana-finck/excuse-me" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Liana_Finck#Excuse_Me_(2019)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:15" }, { "id": "c79103c7-6d9b-4d5d-87cf-946293362b16", "slug": "we-do-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernst-junger/the-glass-bees/we-do-not", "text": "We do not escape our boundaries or our innermost being. We do not change. It is true we may be transformed, but we always walk within our boundaries, within the marked-off circle.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ernst Jünger", "slug": "ernst-junger", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernst-junger" }, "book": { "title": "The Glass Bees", "slug": "the-glass-bees", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernst-junger/the-glass-bees" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "change", "slug": "change", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ernst_J%C3%BCnger#The_Glass_Bees_(1957)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:08" }, { "id": "7b32acf7-7321-4278-b291-d3a301a21158", "slug": "what-if-by-sheer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-okri/the-age-of-magic/what-if-by-sheer", "text": "What if by sheer repetition we become the person we most often pretend to be? Does that mean there is no authentic self? Are we made of habits, compressed by time, like layered rocks?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ben Okri", "slug": "ben-okri", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-okri" }, "book": { "title": "The Age of Magic", "slug": "the-age-of-magic", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-okri/the-age-of-magic" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "habits", "slug": "habits", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/habits" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ben_Okri#The_Age_of_Magic_(2014)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:03" }, { "id": "e48b9a97-396c-40ef-acef-17ae3a2ac9d1", "slug": "i-kept-looking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-okri/astonishing-the-gods/i-kept-looking", "text": "I kept looking forward the answer to things. I kept looking, and I never saw, and I became lost. I lost myself, lost my own reality.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ben Okri", "slug": "ben-okri", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-okri" }, "book": { "title": "Astonishing the Gods", "slug": "astonishing-the-gods", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-okri/astonishing-the-gods" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ben_Okri#Astonishing_the_Gods_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:02" }, { "id": "eabf4dad-3680-4a0d-a8d7-a7c4d4084ae4", "slug": "dont-think-of-your", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/austin-kleon/show-your-work/dont-think-of-your", "text": "Don't think of your website as a self-promotion machine, think of it as a self-invention machine. Online, you can become the person you really want to be. Fill your website with your work and your ideas and the stuff you care about. [...] Stick with it, maintain it, and let it change with you over time.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Austin Kleon", "slug": "austin-kleon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/austin-kleon" }, "book": { "title": "Show Your Work!", "slug": "show-your-work", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/austin-kleon/show-your-work" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "the internet", "slug": "the-internet", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-internet" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Austin_Kleon#Show_Your_Work!_(2014)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:59" }, { "id": "d736f875-a27f-40d2-8280-70dd50485def", "slug": "travel-far-enough", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-mitchell/cloud-atlas/travel-far-enough", "text": "Travel far enough, you meet yourself.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Mitchell", "slug": "david-mitchell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-mitchell" }, "book": { "title": "Cloud Atlas", "slug": "cloud-atlas", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-mitchell/cloud-atlas" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 320, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "travel", "slug": "travel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/travel" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cloud_Atlas_(novel)#An_Orison_of_Sonmi~451_(Part_2)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:56" }, { "id": "020e8b1c-04a6-4f9d-9697-8d3f275330d8", "slug": "are-there-other", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/genevieve-cogman/the-untold-story/are-there-other", "text": "“Are there other Librarian ghosts here?” she asked.\n\n“Ghosts? Yes, I suppose that’s the best word for it. Collections of memories, maybe. We are all the sum of our memories, after all.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Genevieve Cogman", "slug": "genevieve-cogman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/genevieve-cogman" }, "book": { "title": "The Untold Story", "slug": "the-untold-story", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/genevieve-cogman/the-untold-story" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 337, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "memory", "slug": "memory", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/memory" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Genevieve_Cogman#The_Untold_Story_(2021)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:54" }, { "id": "3ea8822d-0fd6-4c27-9d09-b1e6d100e457", "slug": "seemingly-impossible-conversations", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-boghossian/how-to-have-impossible-conversations/seemingly-impossible-conversations", "text": "Seemingly impossible conversations typically have one thing in common: they're about moral beliefs rooted in one's sense of identity, but they play out on the level of facts (or assertions, name-calling, grandstanding, threats, etc.). [...] The most difficult conversations, then, masquerade as discussions about something other than morality, but they are actually about what qualities, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors individuals believe make them good people or bad people and why it is important to hold the right views among those.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Peter Boghossian", "slug": "peter-boghossian", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-boghossian" }, "book": { "title": "How to Have Impossible Conversations", "slug": "how-to-have-impossible-conversations", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-boghossian/how-to-have-impossible-conversations" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "conversation", "slug": "conversation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conversation" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_Boghossian#How_to_Have_Impossible_Conversations_(2019)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:52" }, { "id": "8a656c6c-aff2-4c71-abc4-359e8355bd00", "slug": "i-even-put", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-le-carre/tinker-tailor-soldier-spy/i-even-put", "text": "\"I even put it to Control: we should take the opposition's cover stories more seriously, I said. The more identities a man has, the more they express the person they conceal.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John le Carré", "slug": "john-le-carre", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-le-carre" }, "book": { "title": "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy", "slug": "tinker-tailor-soldier-spy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-le-carre/tinker-tailor-soldier-spy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "appearances", "slug": "appearances", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/appearances" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tinker_Tailor_Soldier_Spy_(novel)#Part_Two", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:51" }, { "id": "0dd1312e-c021-4a9e-b7cd-ff89158a9818", "slug": "you-spend-your", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-winton/that-eye-the-sky/you-spend-your", "text": "You spend your whole life trying to work out where you fit.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Tim Winton", "slug": "tim-winton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-winton" }, "book": { "title": "That Eye, the Sky", "slug": "that-eye-the-sky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-winton/that-eye-the-sky" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 25, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "meaning of life", "slug": "meaning-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/meaning-of-life" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tim_Winton#That_Eye,_the_Sky_(1986)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:47" }, { "id": "529edf62-264e-4347-a5b2-642e745f8c3f", "slug": "home-became-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayelet-tsabari/the-art-of-leaving/home-became-the", "text": "Home became the liminal space in between-between identities, between cultures, between languages- and I was content claiming that space as my own, pleased to be different.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ayelet Tsabari", "slug": "ayelet-tsabari", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayelet-tsabari" }, "book": { "title": "The Art of Leaving", "slug": "the-art-of-leaving", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayelet-tsabari/the-art-of-leaving" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "home", "slug": "home", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/home" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ayelet_Tsabari#The_Art_of_Leaving_(2019_memoir)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:01" }, { "id": "5bff5aff-372b-43b2-adca-56f4a0952187", "slug": "a-name-is-precious", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/laila-lalami/the-moors-account/a-name-is-precious", "text": "A name is precious; it carries inside it a language, a history, a set of traditions, a particular way of looking at the world. Losing it meant losing my ties to all those things too. (p5)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Laila Lalami", "slug": "laila-lalami", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/laila-lalami" }, "book": { "title": "The Moor's Account", "slug": "the-moors-account", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/laila-lalami/the-moors-account" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Laila_Lalami#The_Moor's_Account_(2014)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:56" }, { "id": "46de4a02-2e86-46e3-8bbb-aa14a3839807", "slug": "who-remembers-what", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/maaza-mengiste/the-shadow-king/who-remembers-what", "text": "Who remembers what to do? she asks. Who remembers what it means to be more than what this world believes of us?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Maaza Mengiste", "slug": "maaza-mengiste", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/maaza-mengiste" }, "book": { "title": "The Shadow King", "slug": "the-shadow-king", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/maaza-mengiste/the-shadow-king" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Maaza_Mengiste#Shadow_King_(2019)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:54" }, { "id": "62d9ce66-f7af-4411-b102-e1f4dcfd133f", "slug": "her-children-were", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/buchi-emecheta/second-class-citizen/her-children-were", "text": "Her children were going to be different. They were all going to be black, they were going to enjoy being black, be proud of being black, a black of a different breed.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Buchi Emecheta", "slug": "buchi-emecheta", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/buchi-emecheta" }, "book": { "title": "Second-Class Citizen", "slug": "second-class-citizen", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/buchi-emecheta/second-class-citizen" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "pride", "slug": "pride-2", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pride-2" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Buchi_Emecheta#Second_Class_Citizen_(1974)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:52" }, { "id": "dc8466f2-23f9-4386-aaa3-7d570ee1997e", "slug": "you-were-white", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tommy-orange/there-there/you-were-white", "text": "You were white, you were brown, you were red, you were dust. You were both and neither. When you took baths, you’d stare at your brown arms against your white legs in the water and wonder what they were doing together in the same body.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Tommy Orange", "slug": "tommy-orange", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tommy-orange" }, "book": { "title": "There There", "slug": "there-there", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tommy-orange/there-there" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tommy_Orange#There_There_(2018)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:49" }, { "id": "d5ee518c-55c3-4bb5-8214-b1445ccaea70", "slug": "who-you-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jamaica-kincaid/the-autobiography-of-my-mother/who-you-are", "text": "Who you are is a mystery no one can answer, not even you.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jamaica Kincaid", "slug": "jamaica-kincaid", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jamaica-kincaid" }, "book": { "title": "The Autobiography of My Mother", "slug": "the-autobiography-of-my-mother", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jamaica-kincaid/the-autobiography-of-my-mother" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "secrets", "slug": "secrets", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/secrets" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jamaica_Kincaid#The_Autobiography_of_My_Mother_(1996)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:49" }, { "id": "3c3b15d6-055a-4eb6-aa8a-7bde6c82ed76", "slug": "we-know-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tommy-orange/there-there/we-know-the", "text": "We know the sound of the freeway better than we do rivers, the howl of distant trains better than wolf howls. We know the smell of gas and freshly wet concrete and burned rubber better than we do the smell of cedar or sage or even frybread. We ride buses, trains, and cars across, over, and under concrete plains. Being Indian has never been about returning to the land. The land is everywhere or nowhere.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Tommy Orange", "slug": "tommy-orange", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tommy-orange" }, "book": { "title": "There There", "slug": "there-there", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tommy-orange/there-there" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tommy_Orange#There_There_(2018)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:49" }, { "id": "1f47112e-be8c-48b8-b19b-cec505c4f76a", "slug": "for-me-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/esmeralda-santiago/when-i-was-puerto-rican/for-me-the", "text": "For me, the person I was becoming when we left was erased, and another one was created.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Esmeralda Santiago", "slug": "esmeralda-santiago", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/esmeralda-santiago" }, "book": { "title": "When I Was Puerto Rican", "slug": "when-i-was-puerto-rican", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/esmeralda-santiago/when-i-was-puerto-rican" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "emigration", "slug": "emigration", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/emigration" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Esmeralda_Santiago#When_I_Was_Puerto_Rican_(1993)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:49" }, { "id": "be1861d2-4c55-49ab-b4a5-ed6ca24690a4", "slug": "they-think-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/maxine-hong-kingston/tripmaster-monkey/they-think-that", "text": "They think that Americans are either white or Black. I can't wear that civil-rights button with the Black hand and the white hand shaking each other. I have a nightmare-after duking it out, someday Blacks and whites will shake hands over my head. I'm the little yellow man beneath the bridge of their hands and overlooked. (p307)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Maxine Hong Kingston", "slug": "maxine-hong-kingston", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/maxine-hong-kingston" }, "book": { "title": "Tripmaster Monkey", "slug": "tripmaster-monkey", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/maxine-hong-kingston/tripmaster-monkey" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "racism", "slug": "racism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/racism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Maxine_Hong_Kingston#Tripmaster_Monkey:_His_Fake_Book_(1989)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:46" }, { "id": "79829e21-aa19-4f87-9b0d-43bead6b82fd", "slug": "the-decisions-i-made", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tara-westover/educated/the-decisions-i-made", "text": "The decisions I made after that moment were not the ones she would have made. They were the choices of a changed person, a new self.\n\nYou could call this selfhood many things. Transformation. Metamorphosis. Falsity. Betrayal.\n\nI call it an education.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Tara Westover", "slug": "tara-westover", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tara-westover" }, "book": { "title": "Educated", "slug": "educated", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tara-westover/educated" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 329, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "change", "slug": "change", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "education", "slug": "education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/education" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tara_Westover#Educated_(2018)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:37" }, { "id": "4338e870-85cb-4de2-be82-f8ce57497ce4", "slug": "my-life-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tara-westover/educated/my-life-was", "text": "My life was narrated for me by others. Their voices were forceful, emphatic, absolute. It had never occurred to me that my voice might be as strong as theirs.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Tara Westover", "slug": "tara-westover", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tara-westover" }, "book": { "title": "Educated", "slug": "educated", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tara-westover/educated" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 197, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "independence", "slug": "independence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/independence" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tara_Westover#Educated_(2018)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:37" }, { "id": "0c4704d0-1099-45e3-b2f7-89099828b4a5", "slug": "it-was-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-sheffield/aftermath/it-was-the", "text": "It was the age-old conundrum: How do I know that the ‘me’ who wakes after a night’s sleep is the same ‘me’ who went to bed? I don’t. I merely employ it as a working assumption, for lack of anything better.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charles Sheffield", "slug": "charles-sheffield", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-sheffield" }, "book": { "title": "Aftermath", "slug": "aftermath", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-sheffield/aftermath" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 319, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Sheffield#Aftermath_(1998)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:35" }, { "id": "54ca6772-bd5e-4d76-be1d-f1b5f57d31c6", "slug": "i-dont-believe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/maureen-corrigan/leave-me-alone-im-reading/i-dont-believe", "text": "I don’t believe in identity politics in literature—or in life much, either. Indeed the current scholarly enchantment with identity politics strikes me as a more intellectual version of the warning oft heard around Sunnyside when I was growing up: “Stick with your own kind.” Family and cultural origins are crucial to self-definition, but they’re not the end of the story. I certainly don’t think that we readers only or even chiefly enjoy or understand books whose main characters mirror us. In fact, the opportunity to become who we are decidedly not—whether it’s Amis’s Dixon or Philip Roth’s Portnoy or Ellison’s Invisible Man or Kafka’s beetle—is one of the greatest gifts reading offers. Women readers get to serve on that floating boy’s club, the Pequod; male readers get to step into Elizabeth Bennet’s shoes and teach Mr. Darcy the dance of humility; readers of either gender who are not African American get to crawl toward freedom alongside Toni Morrison’s Sethe. One of the most magical and liberating things about literature is that it can transport us readers into worlds totally unlike our own.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Maureen Corrigan", "slug": "maureen-corrigan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/maureen-corrigan" }, "book": { "title": "Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading", "slug": "leave-me-alone-im-reading", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/maureen-corrigan/leave-me-alone-im-reading" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 70, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "reading", "slug": "reading", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reading" }, { "name": "literature", "slug": "literature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/literature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Maureen_Corrigan#Leave_Me_Alone,_I'm_Reading_(2005)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:27" }, { "id": "7c46f432-943b-4bf5-ad67-4f31cad45ac2", "slug": "i-think-i-just", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami/a-wild-sheep-chase/i-think-i-just", "text": "“I think I just don’t like names. Basically, I can’t see what’s wrong with calling me ‘me’ or you ‘you’ or us ‘us’ or them ‘them.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Haruki Murakami", "slug": "haruki-murakami", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami" }, "book": { "title": "A Wild Sheep Chase", "slug": "a-wild-sheep-chase", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami/a-wild-sheep-chase" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_Wild_Sheep_Chase#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:19" }, { "id": "bfbb9614-16a5-4699-bbfc-2ce1a4599835", "slug": "if-you-could", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nnedi-okorafor/noor/if-you-could", "text": "If you could, wouldn’t you replace your damaged legs with cybernetic ones? Why hold on to malfunctioning or poorly formed flesh and bone because “we were born with it”? That’s something said only by people who have no choice or have no actual experience with being…unable. What makes you you, really? I’m a mechanic. When something isn’t working, you replace it with something better, something that is working.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nnedi Okorafor", "slug": "nnedi-okorafor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nnedi-okorafor" }, "book": { "title": "Noor", "slug": "noor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nnedi-okorafor/noor" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 15, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "technology", "slug": "technology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/technology" }, { "name": "the body", "slug": "the-body", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-body" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nnedi_Okorafor#Noor_(2021)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:16" }, { "id": "2c5857e4-ccf3-4142-86fd-2baca5d710d3", "slug": "i-could-now", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilfred-thesiger/arabian-sands/i-could-now", "text": "I could now move without effort from one world to the other as easily as I could change my clothes, but I appreciated that I was in danger of belonging to neither. When I was among my own people, a shadowy figure was always at my side watching them with critical, intolerant eyes.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Wilfred Thesiger", "slug": "wilfred-thesiger", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilfred-thesiger" }, "book": { "title": "Arabian Sands", "slug": "arabian-sands", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilfred-thesiger/arabian-sands" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 257, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "loneliness", "slug": "loneliness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "belonging", "slug": "belonging", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/belonging" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wilfred_Thesiger#Arabian_Sands_(1959)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:03" }, { "id": "07b2215c-feaa-4f45-9e63-a445ba51d0d9", "slug": "many-cissexual-people", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/julia-serano/whipping-girl/many-cissexual-people", "text": "Many cissexual people seem to have a hard time accepting the idea that they too have a subconscious sex — a deep-rooted understanding of what sex their bodies should be. I suppose that when a person feels right in the sex they were born into, they are never forced to locate or question their subconscious sex, to differentiate it from their physical sex. In other words, their subconscious sex exists, but it is hidden from their view. They have a blind spot. (5 - Blind Spots: On Subconscious Sex and Gender Entitlement)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Julia Serano", "slug": "julia-serano", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/julia-serano" }, "book": { "title": "Whipping Girl", "slug": "whipping-girl", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/julia-serano/whipping-girl" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Julia_Serano#Whipping_Girl:_A_Transsexual_Woman_on_Sexism_and_the_Scapegoating_of_Femininity", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:00" }, { "id": "cb76e27e-60ac-4eb2-a9b9-00c55ac2bd68", "slug": "almost-everything-interesting", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dan-simmons/the-rise-of-endymion/almost-everything-interesting", "text": "“Almost everything interesting in the human experience is the result of an individual experiencing, experimenting, explaining, and sharing,” said my young friend. “A hive mind would be the ancient television broadcasts, or life at the height of the datasphere...consensual idiocy.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Dan Simmons", "slug": "dan-simmons", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dan-simmons" }, "book": { "title": "The Rise of Endymion", "slug": "the-rise-of-endymion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dan-simmons/the-rise-of-endymion" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 464, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dan_Simmons#The_Rise_of_Endymion_(1997)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:01:53" }, { "id": "c04ceb6b-b8b3-4eaf-9c62-6ffb9efcc456", "slug": "every-year-under", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/trevor-noah/born-a-crime/every-year-under", "text": "Every year under apartheid, some colored people would get promoted to white. People could submit applications to the government. Your hair might become straight enough, your skin might become light enough, your accent might become polished enough — -and you’d be reclassified as white. All you had to do was denounce your people, denounce your history, and leave your darker-skinned fiends and family behind.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Trevor Noah", "slug": "trevor-noah", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/trevor-noah" }, "book": { "title": "Born a Crime", "slug": "born-a-crime", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/trevor-noah/born-a-crime" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "racism", "slug": "racism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/racism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Trevor_Noah#Born_a_Crime:_Stories_from_a_South_African_Childhood_(2016)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:01:46" }, { "id": "eb20f4e2-92e7-49c0-9a52-8dc7c890491d", "slug": "now-even-when", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/osamu-dazai/schoolgirl/now-even-when", "text": "Now, even when I make an outfit for myself, I wonder what other people will think. The truth is that I secretly love what seems to be my own individuality, and I hope I always will, but fully embodying it is another matter. I always want everyone to think I am a good girl. Whenever I am around a lot of people, it is amazing how obsequious I can be. I fib and chatter away, saying things I don't want to or mean in any way. I feel like it is to my advantage to do so. I hate it. I hope for a revolution in ethics and morals. Then, my obsequiousness and this need to plod through life according to others' expectations would simply dissolve.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Osamu Dazai", "slug": "osamu-dazai", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/osamu-dazai" }, "book": { "title": "Schoolgirl", "slug": "schoolgirl", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/osamu-dazai/schoolgirl" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "public opinion", "slug": "public-opinion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/public-opinion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Osamu_Dazai#Schoolgirl", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:01:25" }, { "id": "0e9013fe-dce3-4135-9b54-b014250241a9", "slug": "really-i-dont", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/osamu-dazai/schoolgirl/really-i-dont", "text": "Really, I don't know which is the true me. What ever will I do when there aren't any more books to read, or when I can't find another role model to imitate? Probably just wither away, helpless and sniveling profusely. Anyhow, these aimless thoughts I have on the train every day don't do me much good. The unpleasant warmth I still felt in my body was unbearable. I felt I had to do something, somehow, but would I be able to fully grasp what that was? My self-criticisms seem basically pointless to me. I would start to judge, and when I'd get to my negative or weak traits, I'd immediately begin to indulge or wallow in self-pity, and then decide it's no good, why not just leave well enough alone, so I've given up on criticism. It would be best if I just didn't think of anything at all.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Osamu Dazai", "slug": "osamu-dazai", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/osamu-dazai" }, "book": { "title": "Schoolgirl", "slug": "schoolgirl", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/osamu-dazai/schoolgirl" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "reading", "slug": "reading", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reading" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Osamu_Dazai#Schoolgirl", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:01:25" }, { "id": "48aae33d-5a8b-4d46-a4eb-e3db1238ecc3", "slug": "a-man-is-a-phoenix", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/algis-budrys/rogue-moon/a-man-is-a-phoenix", "text": "A man is a phoenix, who must be reborn from his own ashes, for there is no other like him in the universe. If the wind stirs the ashes into a clumsy parody, then the phoenix is dead forever. Nothing we know of can bring you back.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Algis Budrys", "slug": "algis-budrys", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/algis-budrys" }, "book": { "title": "Rogue Moon", "slug": "rogue-moon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/algis-budrys/rogue-moon" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 71, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "death", "slug": "death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Algis_Budrys#Rogue_Moon_(1960)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:01:22" }, { "id": "cb5937ec-a72e-4177-aabc-aeb6b1411359", "slug": "let-me-tell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/karen-lord/redemption-in-indigo/let-me-tell", "text": "Let me tell you, I have seen men who are trying to find themselves, and I have seen men who are trying to lose themselves, but rare indeed is the man who knows exactly who he is and where he is at.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Karen Lord", "slug": "karen-lord", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/karen-lord" }, "book": { "title": "Redemption in Indigo", "slug": "redemption-in-indigo", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/karen-lord/redemption-in-indigo" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 139, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Karen_Lord#Redemption_in_Indigo_(2010)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:01:09" }, { "id": "c2e8b74a-a185-453a-b910-ab24cc0c2d4f", "slug": "most-people-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/the-power-of-now/most-people-are", "text": "Most people are in love with their particular life drama. Their story is their identity. The ego runs their life.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "The Power of Now", "slug": "the-power-of-now", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/the-power-of-now" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "ego", "slug": "ego", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ego" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Power_of_Now#Chapter_9._Beyond_Happiness_and_Unhappiness_There_Is_Peace", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:01:03" }, { "id": "d58e33db-b213-41b0-b1d3-3baefd23ec83", "slug": "the-philosopher-descartes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/the-power-of-now/the-philosopher-descartes", "text": "The philosopher Descartes believed that he had found the most fundamental truth when he made his famous statement: “I think, therefore I am.” He had, in fact, given expression to the most basic error: to equate thinking with Being and identity with thinking.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "The Power of Now", "slug": "the-power-of-now", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/the-power-of-now" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "thinking", "slug": "thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Power_of_Now#Chapter_1._You_Are_Not_Your_Mind", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:01:00" }, { "id": "9f08b2d9-8994-46f4-b5f0-1037bd02f13c", "slug": "what-seems-different", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/andre-gide/the-immoralist/what-seems-different", "text": "What seems different in yourself: that’s the one rare thing you possess, the one thing which gives each of us his worth; and that’s just what we try to suppress.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "André Gide", "slug": "andre-gide", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/andre-gide" }, "book": { "title": "The Immoralist", "slug": "the-immoralist", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/andre-gide/the-immoralist" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 104, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "otherness", "slug": "otherness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/otherness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Immoralist#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:58" }, { "id": "04ffb985-b8f1-4bb9-99be-844f8766d8ba", "slug": "i-cannot-apply", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/andre-gide/the-immoralist/i-cannot-apply", "text": "I cannot apply to myself the distinctions and the reservations they insist on making—I exist only as a whole man. I lay claim to nothing but my own nature, and the pleasure I take in an action is my clue to its propriety", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "André Gide", "slug": "andre-gide", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/andre-gide" }, "book": { "title": "The Immoralist", "slug": "the-immoralist", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/andre-gide/the-immoralist" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 104, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Immoralist#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:58" }, { "id": "ca7213fc-0ecc-4887-ad66-dcd916e8e8c1", "slug": "to-come-out", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roberto-mangabeira-unger/plasticity-into-power/to-come-out", "text": "To come out from under the protective wall of role, habit, and frozen perception, a person must throw himself into a situation of heightened exposure. He must put himself at greater risk to the harm that other people may do to him and to the destructive influence that enlarged experience may have on what he had previously regarded as his enduring core of identity.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Roberto Mangabeira Unger", "slug": "roberto-mangabeira-unger", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roberto-mangabeira-unger" }, "book": { "title": "Plasticity into Power", "slug": "plasticity-into-power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roberto-mangabeira-unger/plasticity-into-power" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 12, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "risk", "slug": "risk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/risk" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Roberto_Mangabeira_Unger#Plasticity_Into_Power:_Comparative-Historical_Studies_on_the_Institutional_Conditions_of_Economic_and_Military_Success_(1987)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:48" }, { "id": "47146c08-4524-4218-8022-b3ef84b6c4ff", "slug": "goma-shook-her", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds/poseidons-wake/goma-shook-her", "text": "Goma shook her head. “No. We don’t speak of souls. Not now, not ever. Souls aren’t real.”\n\n“Patterns, then. Abstract structures of experience and reaction, making up a consistent, continuous human identity.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alastair Reynolds", "slug": "alastair-reynolds", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds" }, "book": { "title": "Poseidon's Wake", "slug": "poseidons-wake", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds/poseidons-wake" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 425, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "soul", "slug": "soul", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/soul" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alastair_Reynolds#Poseidon's_Wake_(2015)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:43" }, { "id": "ec7c3776-af14-4bf1-a19d-3a8eb149e895", "slug": "much-of-my-professional", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stuart-hall/familiar-stranger/much-of-my-professional", "text": "Much of my professional life has been concerned with the politics of who we think we are. I've been riveted by the question of how we can understand the chaos of identifications which we seek to reach somehow, 'ourselves'. Of course this arrival never occurs; we'll never be ourselves, whatever that could mean.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Stuart Hall", "slug": "stuart-hall", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stuart-hall" }, "book": { "title": "Familiar Stranger", "slug": "familiar-stranger", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stuart-hall/familiar-stranger" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 63, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stuart_Hall_(cultural_theorist)#Familiar_Stranger_(2018)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:35" }, { "id": "cc6c1b8f-371c-4cc8-bc76-50be1a785f46", "slug": "you-are-like", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse/siddhartha/you-are-like", "text": "“You are like me; you are different from other people. You are Kamala and no one else, and within you there is a stillness and sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself, just as I can. Few people have that capacity and yet everyone could have it.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Hermann Hesse", "slug": "hermann-hesse", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse" }, "book": { "title": "Siddhartha", "slug": "siddhartha", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse/siddhartha" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 71, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "peace of mind", "slug": "peace-of-mind", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/peace-of-mind" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Siddhartha_(novel)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:33" }, { "id": "ad58136e-f01f-40cf-abf9-f209c1309ee1", "slug": "he-had-never", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse/siddhartha/he-had-never", "text": "He had never really found his self, because he had wanted to trap it in the net of thoughts. The body was certainly not the self, nor the play of senses, nor thought, nor understanding, nor acquired wisdom or art with which to draw conclusions and from already existing thoughts to spin new thoughts. No, this world of thought was still on the side, and it led to no goal when one destroyed the senses of the incidental self but fed it with thoughts and erudition. Both thought and the senses were fine things; behind both of them lay hidden the last meaning; it was worth while listening to them both, to play with both, neither to despise nor overrate either of them, but to listen intently to both voices.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Hermann Hesse", "slug": "hermann-hesse", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse" }, "book": { "title": "Siddhartha", "slug": "siddhartha", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse/siddhartha" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 47, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "self-knowledge", "slug": "self-knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-knowledge" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Siddhartha_(novel)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:33" }, { "id": "ba6309b1-3c50-4291-863d-83416e7f1803", "slug": "youve-been-assigned", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/libba-bray/going-bovine/youve-been-assigned", "text": "You’ve been assigned an identity since birth. Then you spend the rest of your life walking around in it to see if it really fits. You try on all these different selves and abandon just as many. But really it’s about dismantling all that false armor, getting down to what’s real.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Libba Bray", "slug": "libba-bray", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/libba-bray" }, "book": { "title": "Going Bovine", "slug": "going-bovine", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/libba-bray/going-bovine" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 253, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Libba_Bray#Going_Bovine_(2009)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:17" }, { "id": "3b57c40f-854f-4746-93ea-eb12889e9a8b", "slug": "it-came-as-a-pleasant", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/justin-cronin/the-ferryman/it-came-as-a-pleasant", "text": "It came as a pleasant shock to me, how the man I'd known as a rather dry intellectual transformed himself so completely into a craftsman - a man who actually made things that the world could put to practical use. Which only goes to show that people are more complicated than they let on, and that even tragedy (sometimes only tragedy) can open the door to who we really are.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Justin Cronin", "slug": "justin-cronin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/justin-cronin" }, "book": { "title": "The Ferryman", "slug": "the-ferryman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/justin-cronin/the-ferryman" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "suffering", "slug": "suffering", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Justin_Cronin#The_Ferryman_(2023)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:05" }, { "id": "bce87826-aeed-4df1-86ad-afb84d7d80d7", "slug": "so-i-am-a-completely", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-kurzweil/the-singularity-is-near/so-i-am-a-completely", "text": "So I am a completely different set of stuff than I was a month ago, and all that persists is the pattern of organization of that stuff. The pattern changes also, but slowly and in a continuum. I am rather like the pattern that water makes in a stream as it rushes past the rocks in its path. The actual molecules of water change every millisecond, but the pattern persists for hours or even years.\n\nPerhaps, therefore, we should say I am a pattern of matter and energy that persists over time. But there is a problem with this definition, as well, since we will ultimately be able to upload this pattern to replicate my body and brain to a sufficiently high degree of accuracy that the copy is indistinguishable from the original.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ray Kurzweil", "slug": "ray-kurzweil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-kurzweil" }, "book": { "title": "The Singularity Is Near", "slug": "the-singularity-is-near", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-kurzweil/the-singularity-is-near" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 383, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ray_Kurzweil#The_Singularity_Is_Near:_When_Humans_Transcend_Biology_(2005)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:55" }, { "id": "11c715ba-2e23-4e87-ac79-47efa0e02694", "slug": "the-primary-political", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-kurzweil/the-age-of-spiritual-machines/the-primary-political", "text": "The primary political and philosophical issue of the next century will be the definition of who we are.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ray Kurzweil", "slug": "ray-kurzweil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-kurzweil" }, "book": { "title": "The Age of Spiritual Machines", "slug": "the-age-of-spiritual-machines", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-kurzweil/the-age-of-spiritual-machines" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ray_Kurzweil#The_Age_of_Spiritual_Machines:_When_Computers_Exceed_Human_Intelligence_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:55" }, { "id": "ab103a64-516f-421e-a32a-c8a88435d6e7", "slug": "a-human-being", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/maxwell-maltz/psycho-cybernetics/a-human-being", "text": "A human being always acts and feels and performs in accordance with what he imagines to be true about himself and his environment.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Maxwell Maltz", "slug": "maxwell-maltz", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/maxwell-maltz" }, "book": { "title": "Psycho-Cybernetics", "slug": "psycho-cybernetics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/maxwell-maltz/psycho-cybernetics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 31, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "imagination", "slug": "imagination", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/imagination" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Maxwell_Maltz#Psycho-Cybernetics_(1960)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:54" }, { "id": "31081b9b-a8ae-4bbe-b11e-cb09c09a30f8", "slug": "you-know-dont", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jennifer-finney-boylan/shes-not-there/you-know-dont", "text": "You know, don’t you, that no amount of wishing that this were not the case can make it not the case. No amount of praying that you are not transgendered will make you something other than what you are. No amount of love from anyone will make you fit inside a body that does not match your spirit.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jennifer Finney Boylan", "slug": "jennifer-finney-boylan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jennifer-finney-boylan" }, "book": { "title": "She's Not There", "slug": "shes-not-there", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jennifer-finney-boylan/shes-not-there" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "acceptance", "slug": "acceptance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/acceptance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jennifer_Finney_Boylan#She's_Not_There_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:42" }, { "id": "d20d32b9-f8ca-4668-be8a-a9a3a90071d1", "slug": "ghosh-sighed-i-hope", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/abraham-verghese/cutting-for-stone/ghosh-sighed-i-hope", "text": "Ghosh sighed. \"I hope one day you see this as clearly as I did in Kerchele. The key to your happiness is to own your own slippers, own who you are, own how you look, own your family, own the talents you have, and the ones you don't. If you keep saying your slippers aren't yours, then you'll die searching, you'll die bitter, always feeling you were promised more. Not only your actions, but also our omissions, become our destiny.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Abraham Verghese", "slug": "abraham-verghese", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/abraham-verghese" }, "book": { "title": "Cutting for Stone", "slug": "cutting-for-stone", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/abraham-verghese/cutting-for-stone" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "happiness", "slug": "happiness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/happiness" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "acceptance", "slug": "acceptance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/acceptance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abraham_Verghese#Cutting_for_Stone_(2009)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:39" }, { "id": "d31c285e-fb54-4fab-8a06-cc8979a9365b", "slug": "maybe-i-dont", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-sparks/safe-haven/maybe-i-dont", "text": "\"Maybe I don't want to be defined by what I do. Maybe I'd like to be defined by what I am.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nicholas Sparks", "slug": "nicholas-sparks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-sparks" }, "book": { "title": "Safe Haven", "slug": "safe-haven", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-sparks/safe-haven" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 236, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "work", "slug": "work", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nicholas_Sparks#Safe_Haven_(2010)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:25" }, { "id": "b694222b-3f7a-4373-aff2-19439c8f7f6e", "slug": "she-had-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-sparks/dear-john/she-had-the", "text": "...She had the rare ability to be exactly what people needed when she was with them and yet still remain true to herself.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nicholas Sparks", "slug": "nicholas-sparks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-sparks" }, "book": { "title": "Dear John", "slug": "dear-john", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-sparks/dear-john" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 93, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nicholas_Sparks#Dear_John_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:23" }, { "id": "2ecc94f4-c5c6-489d-8eb2-94fe83f0804b", "slug": "nowadays-she-thought", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-sparks/the-guardian/nowadays-she-thought", "text": "Nowadays, she thought, it was the little things in life that mattered. If the highlights in her past set the tone, it was the day-by-day events that now defined who she was.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nicholas Sparks", "slug": "nicholas-sparks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-sparks" }, "book": { "title": "The Guardian", "slug": "the-guardian", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-sparks/the-guardian" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 11, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nicholas_Sparks#The_Guardian_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:21" }, { "id": "08ac7f12-e1b1-4a38-a561-35e9a7fbfc97", "slug": "everyone-has-to-do-something", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neamat-imam/the-black-coat/everyone-has-to-do-something", "text": "Everyone has to do something for survival, but that something does not have to define the real character of a person. I am what my head tells me I am. I am what my feelings say I am. I do not depend on anyone’s approval.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Neamat Imam", "slug": "neamat-imam", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neamat-imam" }, "book": { "title": "The Black Coat", "slug": "the-black-coat", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neamat-imam/the-black-coat" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "independence", "slug": "independence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/independence" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Neamat_Imam#The_Black_Coat_(2013)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:16" }, { "id": "6473641c-3584-4a07-b297-5dbd317915cb", "slug": "i-am-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-keyes/flowers-for-algernon/i-am-not", "text": "I am not only a thing, but also a way of being — one of many ways — and knowing the paths I have followed and the ones left to take will help me understand what I am becoming.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Daniel Keyes", "slug": "daniel-keyes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-keyes" }, "book": { "title": "Flowers For Algernon", "slug": "flowers-for-algernon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-keyes/flowers-for-algernon" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "self-knowledge", "slug": "self-knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-knowledge" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Keyes#Flowers_for_Algernon_(1966)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:15" }, { "id": "719767c1-971b-46a9-ab34-043a604af156", "slug": "everybody-wants-to-be-somebody", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pat-cadigan/mindplayers/everybody-wants-to-be-somebody", "text": "Everybody wants to be somebody but nobody wants to be just anybody.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Pat Cadigan", "slug": "pat-cadigan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pat-cadigan" }, "book": { "title": "Mindplayers", "slug": "mindplayers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pat-cadigan/mindplayers" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 13, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "ambition", "slug": "ambition", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ambition" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pat_Cadigan#Mindplayers_(1987)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:08" }, { "id": "bf65b1f3-d6c8-4897-aa25-7c305ed12959", "slug": "a-wise-psychiatrist", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrew-solomon/far-from-the-tree/a-wise-psychiatrist", "text": "A wise psychiatrist once said to me, \"People want to get better, but they don't want to change.\" But I would propose that it is only by allowing people born with horizontal identities not to change that one allows them to get better. Any of us can be a better version of himself, but none of us can be someone else.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Andrew Solomon", "slug": "andrew-solomon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrew-solomon" }, "book": { "title": "Far From The Tree", "slug": "far-from-the-tree", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrew-solomon/far-from-the-tree" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 687, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "change", "slug": "change", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "acceptance", "slug": "acceptance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/acceptance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Andrew_Solomon#Far_from_the_Tree_(2012)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:05" }, { "id": "aa756c43-fb07-4322-98b8-f299d3baf477", "slug": "you-are-born", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-greene/the-laws-of-human-nature/you-are-born", "text": "You are born into a generation that defines who you are more than you can imagine. Your generation wants to separate itself from the previous one and set a new tone for the world. In the process, it forms certain tastes, values, and ways of thinking that you as an individual internalize. As you get older, these generational values and ideas tend to close you off from other points of view, constraining your mind. Your task is to understand as deeply as possible this powerful influence on who you are and how you see the world. Knowing in depth the spirit of your generation and the times you live in, you will be better able to exploit the zeitgeist. You will be the one to anticipate and set the trends that your generation hungers for. You will free your mind from the mental constraints placed on you by your generation, and you will become more of the individual you imagine yourself to be, with all the power that freedom will bring you.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert Greene", "slug": "robert-greene", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-greene" }, "book": { "title": "The Laws of Human Nature", "slug": "the-laws-of-human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-greene/the-laws-of-human-nature" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Greene_(American_author)#The_Laws_of_Human_Nature_(2018)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:59" }, { "id": "170e74b1-b2ba-4493-a1f2-985da8da3a68", "slug": "all-of-us-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-greene/the-laws-of-human-nature/all-of-us-have", "text": "All of us have masculine and feminine qualities—some of this is genetic, and some of it comes from the profound influence of the parent of the opposite sex. But in the need to present a consistent identity in society, we tend to repress these qualities, overidentifying with the masculine or feminine role expected of us. And we pay a price for this. We lose valuable dimensions to our character. Our thinking and ways of acting become rigid. Our relationships with members of the opposite sex suffer as we project onto them our own fantasies and hostilities. You must become aware of these lost masculine or feminine traits and slowly reconnect to them, unleashing creative powers in the process. You will become more fluid in your thinking. In bringing out the masculine or feminine undertone to your character, you will fascinate people by being authentically yourself. Do not play the expected gender role, but rather create the one that suits you.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert Greene", "slug": "robert-greene", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-greene" }, "book": { "title": "The Laws of Human Nature", "slug": "the-laws-of-human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-greene/the-laws-of-human-nature" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Greene_(American_author)#The_Laws_of_Human_Nature_(2018)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:59" }, { "id": "21cadc3a-c7f3-4bec-b36e-0a0246399680", "slug": "how-can-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-rr-martin/a-storm-of-swords/how-can-you", "text": "How can you be the prince of someplace you might never see again?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George RR Martin", "slug": "george-rr-martin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-rr-martin" }, "book": { "title": "A Storm of Swords", "slug": "a-storm-of-swords", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-rr-martin/a-storm-of-swords" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_Song_of_Ice_and_Fire#A_Storm_of_Swords_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:50" }, { "id": "864103c1-8899-4927-9111-bbc0a3537a19", "slug": "there-are-no-men", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-rr-martin/a-clash-of-kings/there-are-no-men", "text": "There are no men like me. There’s only me.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George RR Martin", "slug": "george-rr-martin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-rr-martin" }, "book": { "title": "A Clash of Kings", "slug": "a-clash-of-kings", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-rr-martin/a-clash-of-kings" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_Song_of_Ice_and_Fire#A_Clash_of_Kings_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:48" }, { "id": "693fb460-7e90-4ffb-bd05-5b432c623e69", "slug": "never-forget-what", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-rr-martin/a-game-of-thrones/never-forget-what", "text": "Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George RR Martin", "slug": "george-rr-martin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-rr-martin" }, "book": { "title": "A Game of Thrones", "slug": "a-game-of-thrones", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-rr-martin/a-game-of-thrones" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "self-acceptance", "slug": "self-acceptance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-acceptance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_Song_of_Ice_and_Fire#A_Game_of_Thrones_(1996)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:46" }, { "id": "53e86cbd-7f3f-48ff-87a0-2308121f514a", "slug": "if-my-principal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-memmi/the-pillar-of-salt/if-my-principal", "text": "If my principal had only known how I envied him! This average Frenchman from Burgundy, with his old culture and good background, a university man and a Republican of good family, suffered because he was in a foreign land! I am ill at ease in my own land and I know of no other. My culture is borrowed and I speak my mother tongue haltingly; I have neither religious beliefs nor tradition, and am ashamed of whatever particle of them has survived deep within me. To try to explain what I am, I would need an intelligent audience and much time; I am a Tunisian but of French culture... I am Tunisian, but Jewish, which means that I am politically and socially an outcast. I speak the language of the country with a particular accent and emotionally I have nothing in common with Moslems. I am a Jew who has broken with the Jewish religion and the ghetto, is ignorant of Jewish culture and detests the middle class because it is phony. I am poor but desperately anxious not to be poor, and at the same time, I refuse to take the necessary steps to avoid poverty.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Albert Memmi", "slug": "albert-memmi", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-memmi" }, "book": { "title": "The Pillar of Salt", "slug": "the-pillar-of-salt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-memmi/the-pillar-of-salt" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Memmi#The_Pillar_of_Salt_(1953)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:38" }, { "id": "1cd3a8d9-b2bb-45e2-829e-68b4369b5a06", "slug": "travel-if-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-memmi/the-pillar-of-salt/travel-if-you", "text": "Travel if you wish, taste strange dishes, gather experience in dangerous adventures, but see that your soul remains your own. Do not become a stranger to yourself, for you are lost from that day on; you will have no peace if there is not, somewhere within you, a corner of certainty, calm waters where you can take refuge.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Albert Memmi", "slug": "albert-memmi", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-memmi" }, "book": { "title": "The Pillar of Salt", "slug": "the-pillar-of-salt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-memmi/the-pillar-of-salt" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "travel", "slug": "travel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/travel" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Memmi#The_Pillar_of_Salt_(1953)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:38" }, { "id": "f834e85d-bdb5-4563-824a-8ff4d6577e3a", "slug": "he-was-simply", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nelson-algren/the-man-with-the-golden-arm/he-was-simply", "text": "He was simply a man who didn't know what to do with himself, for he didn't yet know who he was. It's sometimes easier to find a job than to find oneself and John hadn't yet gotten around to doing the first. How could he know who he was? Some find themselves through joy, some through suffering and some through toil. Johnny had till now tried nothing but whisky. A process which left him feeling like somebody new every day. / [...] He was many men and no man at all. He was a hysterical little bundle of possibilities that could never come true.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nelson Algren", "slug": "nelson-algren", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nelson-algren" }, "book": { "title": "The Man with the Golden Arm", "slug": "the-man-with-the-golden-arm", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nelson-algren/the-man-with-the-golden-arm" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "work", "slug": "work", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "self-knowledge", "slug": "self-knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-knowledge" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Man_with_the_Golden_Arm#Part_1._Rumors_of_Evening", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:22" }, { "id": "87c6d59e-dde2-45f7-be44-0ef402a3956e", "slug": "it-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/justina-robson/natural-history/it-is-the", "text": "It is the rare person who can stand aside and observe that our minds and identities are largely constructs of our social order, that we are abstract and arbitrary collections of ideas that resemble dusty archives in the galleries of a museum, visited by nobody, and maintained by a series of those insensible robots that are our habits.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Justina Robson", "slug": "justina-robson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/justina-robson" }, "book": { "title": "Natural History", "slug": "natural-history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/justina-robson/natural-history" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 254, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "society", "slug": "society", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Justina_Robson#Natural_History_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:21" }, { "id": "ab94a7bb-8a4e-440f-9bf1-ea3950e3daa7", "slug": "we-know-ourselves", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/benjamin-r-barber/aristocracy-of-everyone/we-know-ourselves", "text": "We know ourselves by understanding our temporality, our embeddedness in time, our connection to roots—even roots from which we have knowingly severed ourselves.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Benjamin R. Barber", "slug": "benjamin-r-barber", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/benjamin-r-barber" }, "book": { "title": "Aristocracy of Everyone", "slug": "aristocracy-of-everyone", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/benjamin-r-barber/aristocracy-of-everyone" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 22, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "time", "slug": "time", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Barber#An_Aristocracy_of_Everyone_(1992)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:17" }, { "id": "e7532c2c-4068-420d-9c5b-c53b1fe47e92", "slug": "we-dont-exist", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alain-de-botton/the-consolations-of-philosophy/we-dont-exist", "text": "We don't exist unless there is someone who can see us existing, what we say has no meaning until someone can understand, while to be surrounded by friends is constantly to have our identity confirmed; their knowledge and care for us have the power to pull us from our numbness. In small comments, many of them teasing, they reveal they know our foibles and except them and so, in turn, accept that we have a place in the world.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alain de Botton", "slug": "alain-de-botton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alain-de-botton" }, "book": { "title": "The Consolations of Philosophy", "slug": "the-consolations-of-philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alain-de-botton/the-consolations-of-philosophy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 57, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "friendship", "slug": "friendship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/friendship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alain_de_Botton#The_Consolations_of_Philosophy_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:07" }, { "id": "df6963e3-6e54-4c7a-9533-2c4bcb32eef3", "slug": "without-my-wounds", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/janet-fitch/white-oleander/without-my-wounds", "text": "Without my wounds, who was I? My scars were my face, my past was my life. It wasn't like I didn't know where all this remembering got you, all that hunger for beauty and astonishing cruelty and ever-present-loss.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Janet Fitch", "slug": "janet-fitch", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/janet-fitch" }, "book": { "title": "White Oleander", "slug": "white-oleander", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/janet-fitch/white-oleander" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "suffering", "slug": "suffering", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Janet_Fitch#White_Oleander_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:56" }, { "id": "608e8273-8b55-49c2-92b3-7e72a4a2a5ef", "slug": "what-i-did", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-gemmell/the-swords-of-night-and-day/what-i-did", "text": "\"What I did understand from the rebirth process was that the rebirth reproduced a physical duplicate of the original. But this is my point. It is physical. What truly makes a man who he is? Is it the strength of his arms, or the courage of his soul? You have your own soul, Harad. You are not Druss. Live your own life.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Gemmell", "slug": "david-gemmell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-gemmell" }, "book": { "title": "The Swords of Night and Day", "slug": "the-swords-of-night-and-day", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-gemmell/the-swords-of-night-and-day" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "soul", "slug": "soul", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/soul" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Gemmell#The_Swords_of_Night_and_Day", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:55" }, { "id": "5a2381c3-f0fb-44a4-a7cf-1be21084e728", "slug": "your-face-may", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-gemmell/the-king-beyond-the-gate/your-face-may", "text": "Your face may be gone, but you know who you are.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Gemmell", "slug": "david-gemmell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-gemmell" }, "book": { "title": "The King Beyond the Gate", "slug": "the-king-beyond-the-gate", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-gemmell/the-king-beyond-the-gate" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Gemmell#The_King_Beyond_the_Gate", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:54" }, { "id": "0dd5e3a3-1ca8-499b-8b89-7a5cefe1c622", "slug": "it-is-surprising", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/n-k-jemisin/the-obelisk-gate/it-is-surprising", "text": "It is surprising how refreshing this feels. Being judged by what you do, and not what you are.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "N. K. Jemisin", "slug": "n-k-jemisin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/n-k-jemisin" }, "book": { "title": "The Obelisk Gate", "slug": "the-obelisk-gate", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/n-k-jemisin/the-obelisk-gate" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 127, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "taking action", "slug": "taking-action", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/taking-action" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/N._K._Jemisin#The_Obelisk_Gate_(2016)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:50" }, { "id": "81a2aa73-c95a-4111-be4f-d68b2efbb8c8", "slug": "im-tired-of-being", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/n-k-jemisin/the-hundred-thousand-kingdoms/im-tired-of-being", "text": "“I'm tired of being what everyone else has made me,” I said. “I want to be myself.”\n\n“Don’t be a child.”\n\nI looked up, startled and angry, though of course there was nothing to see. “What?”\n\n“You are what your creators and experiences have made you, like every other being in this universe. Accept that and be done; I’m tired of your whining.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "N. K. Jemisin", "slug": "n-k-jemisin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/n-k-jemisin" }, "book": { "title": "The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms", "slug": "the-hundred-thousand-kingdoms", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/n-k-jemisin/the-hundred-thousand-kingdoms" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 299, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/N._K._Jemisin#The_Hundred_Thousand_Kingdoms_(2010)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:48" }, { "id": "cb1a68a5-d77f-4b1f-a746-349be8df5522", "slug": "what-kind-of-people", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lewis-lapham/waiting-for-the-barbarians/what-kind-of-people", "text": "What kind of people do we wish to become, and how do we know an American when we see one? Is it possible to pursue a common purpose without a common history or a standard text?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Lewis Lapham", "slug": "lewis-lapham", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lewis-lapham" }, "book": { "title": "Waiting for the Barbarians", "slug": "waiting-for-the-barbarians", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lewis-lapham/waiting-for-the-barbarians" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 31, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lewis_H._Lapham#Waiting_For_The_Barbarians_(1997)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:46" }, { "id": "c9dcc4c9-90dd-44da-9c6f-84cd44444a5d", "slug": "she-was-hiding", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nalo-hopkinson/midnight-robber/she-was-hiding", "text": "She was hiding in the best possible way, masquerading as herself!", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nalo Hopkinson", "slug": "nalo-hopkinson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nalo-hopkinson" }, "book": { "title": "Midnight Robber", "slug": "midnight-robber", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nalo-hopkinson/midnight-robber" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 314, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nalo_Hopkinson#Midnight_Robber_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:40" }, { "id": "0edbc7fe-f110-43bb-b948-0a671a3580b9", "slug": "the-self-is-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/erving-goffman/the-presentation-of-self-in-everyday-life/the-self-is-not", "text": "The self... is not an organic thing that has a specific location, whose fundamental fate is to be born, to mature, to die; it is a dramatic effect arising diffusely from a scene that is presented.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Erving Goffman", "slug": "erving-goffman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/erving-goffman" }, "book": { "title": "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life", "slug": "the-presentation-of-self-in-everyday-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/erving-goffman/the-presentation-of-self-in-everyday-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 252, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Erving_Goffman#The_Presentation_of_Self_in_Everyday_Life,_1959", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:28" }, { "id": "f049b141-1ac6-4201-bc4d-ead9c530eed7", "slug": "you-see-theres", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/patrick-rothfuss/the-name-of-the-wind/you-see-theres", "text": "You see, there’s a fundamental connection between seeming and being. Every Fae child knows this, but you mortals never seem to see. We understand how dangerous a mask can be. We all become what we pretend to be.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Patrick Rothfuss", "slug": "patrick-rothfuss", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/patrick-rothfuss" }, "book": { "title": "The Name of the Wind", "slug": "the-name-of-the-wind", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/patrick-rothfuss/the-name-of-the-wind" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 716, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "appearances", "slug": "appearances", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/appearances" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Patrick_Rothfuss#The_Name_of_the_Wind_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:09" }, { "id": "5417a574-805f-4897-8b3c-6a542ba3f70c", "slug": "bill-we-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/donald-barthelme/the-teachings-of-don-b/bill-we-are", "text": "BILL: … We are what we have been told about ourselves. We are the sum of the messages we have received. The true messages. The false messages.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Donald Barthelme", "slug": "donald-barthelme", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/donald-barthelme" }, "book": { "title": "The Teachings of Don B.", "slug": "the-teachings-of-don-b", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/donald-barthelme/the-teachings-of-don-b" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 324, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Donald_Barthelme#The_Teachings_of_Don._B:_Satires,_Parodies,_Fables,_Illustrated_Stories,_and_Plays_of_Donald_Barthelme_(1992)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:08" }, { "id": "eabfd6e6-7a8f-4fc7-920b-4db799868106", "slug": "his-appearance-gives", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-musil/the-man-without-qualities/his-appearance-gives", "text": "His appearance gives no clue to what his profession might be, and yet he doesn't look like a man without a profession either. Consider what he's like: He always knows what to do. He knows how to gaze into a woman's eyes. He can put his mind to any question at any time. He can box. He is gifted, strong-willed, open-minded, fearless, tenacious, dashing, circumspect — why quibble, suppose we grant him all those qualities — yet he has none of them! They have made him what he is, they have set his course for him, and yet they don't belong to him. When he is angry, something in him laughs. When he is sad, he is up to something. When something moves him, he turns against it. He'll always see a good side to every bad action. What he thinks of anything will always depend on some possible context — nothing is, to him, what it is: everything is subject to change, in flux, part of a whole, of an infinite number of wholes presumably adding up to a super-whole that, however, he knows nothing about. So every answer he gives is only a partial answer, every feeling an opinion, and he never cares what something is, only 'how' it is — some extraneous seasoning that somehow goes along with it, that's what interests him.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert Musil", "slug": "robert-musil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-musil" }, "book": { "title": "The Man Without Qualities", "slug": "the-man-without-qualities", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-musil/the-man-without-qualities" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Musil#The_Man_Without_Qualities_(1930%E2%80%931942)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:00" }, { "id": "84d8889c-7d54-41a9-a063-284802703f54", "slug": "you-cant-respect", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/china-mieville/perdido-street-station/you-cant-respect", "text": "You can’t respect other people’s individuality if you focus on your own individuality in a kind of abstract, isolated way. The point is that you are an individual inasmuch as you exist in a social matrix of others who respect your individuality and your right to make choices. That’s concrete individuality: an individuality that recognizes that it owes its existence to a kind of communal respect on the part of all the other individualities, and that it had better therefore respect them similarly.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "China Miéville", "slug": "china-mieville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/china-mieville" }, "book": { "title": "Perdido Street Station", "slug": "perdido-street-station", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/china-mieville/perdido-street-station" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 71, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "community", "slug": "community", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/community" }, { "name": "respect", "slug": "respect", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/respect" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/China_Mi%C3%A9ville#Chapter_6", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:50" }, { "id": "b4c1553d-8630-4a03-909c-8144df90b7ab", "slug": "you-are-a-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/oathbringer/you-are-a-man", "text": "You are a man with complicated beliefs, who does not accept everything you are told. You decide how you are defined. Don’t surrender that to them. They will gleefully take the chance to define you, if you allow it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Brandon Sanderson", "slug": "brandon-sanderson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson" }, "book": { "title": "Oathbringer", "slug": "oathbringer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/oathbringer" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 401, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brandon_Sanderson#Oathbringer_(2017)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:38" }, { "id": "aaf76189-a952-4aae-9c82-bf37022e4ced", "slug": "it-struck-lacy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jodi-picoult/nineteen-minutes/it-struck-lacy", "text": "It struck Lacy that she didn’t really know what color a chameleon was before it started changing.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jodi Picoult", "slug": "jodi-picoult", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jodi-picoult" }, "book": { "title": "Nineteen Minutes", "slug": "nineteen-minutes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jodi-picoult/nineteen-minutes" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jodi_Picoult#Nineteen_Minutes_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:24" }, { "id": "26b80d55-9890-4586-915f-dd00584beb22", "slug": "either-josie-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jodi-picoult/nineteen-minutes/either-josie-was", "text": "Either Josie was someone she didn’t want to be, or she was someone who nobody wanted.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jodi Picoult", "slug": "jodi-picoult", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jodi-picoult" }, "book": { "title": "Nineteen Minutes", "slug": "nineteen-minutes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jodi-picoult/nineteen-minutes" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 8, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "loneliness", "slug": "loneliness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jodi_Picoult#Nineteen_Minutes_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:24" }, { "id": "f7a46219-1b6d-497c-aab4-0bcbd1aeb952", "slug": "most-people-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frederick-rolfe/hadrian-the-seventh/most-people-have", "text": "Most people have only half developed their single personalities. That a man should split his into four and more; and should develop each separately and perfectly, was so abnormal that many normals failed to understand it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frederick Rolfe", "slug": "frederick-rolfe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frederick-rolfe" }, "book": { "title": "Hadrian the Seventh", "slug": "hadrian-the-seventh", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frederick-rolfe/hadrian-the-seventh" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 343, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frederick_Rolfe#Hadrian_the_Seventh_(1904)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:23" }, { "id": "86861500-f944-4a20-be00-e1f3132d1798", "slug": "one-might-as-well", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-brunner/the-shockwave-rider/one-might-as-well", "text": "One might as well claim that the tide which rubs pebbles smooth on a beach is doing the pebbles a service because being round is prettier than being jagged. It's of no concern to a pebble what shape it is. But it's very important to a person.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Brunner", "slug": "john-brunner", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-brunner" }, "book": { "title": "The Shockwave Rider", "slug": "the-shockwave-rider", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-brunner/the-shockwave-rider" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Brunner#The_Shockwave_Rider_(1975)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:12" }, { "id": "cc806b0c-4f7e-4bf1-803d-911519504543", "slug": "i-saw-myself", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lloyd-alexander/taran-wanderer/i-saw-myself", "text": "“I saw myself,” Taran answered. “In the time I watched, I saw strength – and frailty. Pride and vanity, courage and fear. Of wisdom, a little. Of folly, much. Of intentions, many good ones; but many more left undone. In this, alas, I saw myself a man like any other.\n\n“But this, too, I saw,” he went on. “Alike as men may seem, each is different as flakes of snow, no two the same. You told me you had no need to seek the Mirror, knowing you were Annlaw Clay-Shaper. Now I know who I am: myself and none other. I am Taran.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Lloyd Alexander", "slug": "lloyd-alexander", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lloyd-alexander" }, "book": { "title": "Taran Wanderer", "slug": "taran-wanderer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lloyd-alexander/taran-wanderer" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "self-knowledge", "slug": "self-knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-knowledge" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lloyd_Alexander#Book_IV:_Taran_Wanderer_(1967)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:07" }, { "id": "8a6dd60a-f1a1-4b1f-a95c-2b8f1e7cdab2", "slug": "i-dont-even", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lloyd-alexander/the-book-of-three/i-dont-even", "text": "\"I don't even know who I am.\"\n\n\"In a way,\" answered Gwydion, \"that is something we must all discover for ourselves.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Lloyd Alexander", "slug": "lloyd-alexander", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lloyd-alexander" }, "book": { "title": "The Book of Three", "slug": "the-book-of-three", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lloyd-alexander/the-book-of-three" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "self-knowledge", "slug": "self-knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-knowledge" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lloyd_Alexander#Book_I:_The_Book_of_Three_(1964)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:06" }, { "id": "3ce40190-2438-40d7-a8f8-9ab9f34a803c", "slug": "i-feel-a-kinship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cassandra-clare/city-of-heavenly-fire/i-feel-a-kinship", "text": "\"I feel a kinship with you, too, you who have lost both brother and father. I know you have been judged and spoken of as the daughter of Valentine Morgenstern, and now the sister of Jonathan. There will always be those who want to tell you who you are based on your name or the blood in your veins. Do not let people decide who you are. Decide for yourself. That freedom is not a gift; it is a birthright. I hope that you and Jace will use it.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Cassandra Clare", "slug": "cassandra-clare", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cassandra-clare" }, "book": { "title": "City of Heavenly Fire", "slug": "city-of-heavenly-fire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cassandra-clare/city-of-heavenly-fire" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cassandra_Clare#City_of_Heavenly_Fire_(2014)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:04" }, { "id": "922c8ddb-bbcd-4a9a-88d9-80ece93cde44", "slug": "its-so-easy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sarah-dessen/dreamland/its-so-easy", "text": "It's so easy to get caught up in what people expect of you. Sometimes, you can just lose yourself.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sarah Dessen", "slug": "sarah-dessen", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sarah-dessen" }, "book": { "title": "Dreamland", "slug": "dreamland", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sarah-dessen/dreamland" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "conformity", "slug": "conformity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conformity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sarah_Dessen#Dreamland_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:51" }, { "id": "b3f33133-a296-4243-bf74-84f562c68e06", "slug": "when-i-pictured", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sarah-dessen/someone-like-you/when-i-pictured", "text": "When I pictured myself, it was always like just an outline in a coloring book, with the inside not yet completed. All the standard features were there. but the colors, the zigzags and plaids, the bits and pieces that made up me, Halley, weren't yet in place. Scarlett's vibrant reds and golds helped some, but I was still waiting.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sarah Dessen", "slug": "sarah-dessen", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sarah-dessen" }, "book": { "title": "Someone Like You", "slug": "someone-like-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sarah-dessen/someone-like-you" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sarah_Dessen#Someone_Like_You_(1998)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:50" }, { "id": "31a4ee22-af06-4813-a9ae-dfd01d9e338d", "slug": "she-was-becoming", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kate-chopin/the-awakening/she-was-becoming", "text": "She was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which to appear before the world.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kate Chopin", "slug": "kate-chopin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kate-chopin" }, "book": { "title": "The Awakening", "slug": "the-awakening", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kate-chopin/the-awakening" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "authenticity", "slug": "authenticity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/authenticity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kate_Chopin#The_Awakening_(1899)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:47" }, { "id": "fb96b08c-9621-4a6e-972b-ea98df5a3e06", "slug": "you-are-what", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/byron-katie/loving-what-is/you-are-what", "text": "You are what exists before all stories. You are what remains when the story is understood.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Byron Katie", "slug": "byron-katie", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/byron-katie" }, "book": { "title": "Loving What Is", "slug": "loving-what-is", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/byron-katie/loving-what-is" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Byron_Katie#Loving_What_Is:_Four_Questions_That_Can_Change_Your_Life_(2002)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:44" }, { "id": "f046092a-da01-4b3c-9a59-c65d9985e582", "slug": "i-can-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emily-bronte/wuthering-heights/i-can-not", "text": "I can not express it; but surely you and everybody have a notion that there is, or should be an existence of yours beyond you. What were the use of creation if I were entirely contained here? My great miseries in this world have been Heathcliff's miseries, and I watched and felt each from the beginning; my great thought in living is himself. If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger. I should not seem a part of it. My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff - he's always, always in my mind - not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself - but as my own being; so, don't talk of our separation again - it is impracticable.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Emily Brontë", "slug": "emily-bronte", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emily-bronte" }, "book": { "title": "Wuthering Heights", "slug": "wuthering-heights", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emily-bronte/wuthering-heights" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "love", "slug": "love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wuthering_Heights#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:43" }, { "id": "7de7622b-0268-4ac2-b94e-f637fd4d6631", "slug": "nothing-could-be-sure", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford/in-alien-flesh/nothing-could-be-sure", "text": "Nothing could be sure it was itself the original. So the only intelligent course lay in enjoying whatever life a being felt—living like a mortal, in the moment.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gregory Benford", "slug": "gregory-benford", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford" }, "book": { "title": "In Alien Flesh", "slug": "in-alien-flesh", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford/in-alien-flesh" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 261, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "the present", "slug": "the-present", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-present" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gregory_Benford#In_Alien_Flesh_(1986)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:21" }, { "id": "544ecfd3-a315-40c4-9fd5-256eb97316d2", "slug": "my-daddy-always", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy/no-country-for-old-men/my-daddy-always", "text": "My daddy always told me to just do the best you knew how and tell the truth. He said there was nothin to set a man's mind at ease like wakin up in the morning and not havin to decide who you were.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Cormac McCarthy", "slug": "cormac-mccarthy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy" }, "book": { "title": "No Country for Old Men", "slug": "no-country-for-old-men", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy/no-country-for-old-men" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "peace of mind", "slug": "peace-of-mind", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/peace-of-mind" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/No_Country_for_Old_Men#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:19" }, { "id": "30cd8772-2125-4dee-8f72-64fac7f39af6", "slug": "you-think-when", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy/no-country-for-old-men/you-think-when", "text": "You think when you wake up in the mornin yesterday dont count. But yesterday is all that does count. What else is there? Your life is made out of the days it's made out of. Nothin else. You might think you could run away and change your name and I dont know what all. Start over. And then one mornin you wake up and look at the ceilin and guess who's layin there?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Cormac McCarthy", "slug": "cormac-mccarthy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy" }, "book": { "title": "No Country for Old Men", "slug": "no-country-for-old-men", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy/no-country-for-old-men" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "the past", "slug": "the-past", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-past" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/No_Country_for_Old_Men#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:19" }, { "id": "e9e0c2ce-a1ec-480e-b783-147ff31e46bf", "slug": "it-was-like", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephenie-meyer/breaking-dawn/it-was-like", "text": "It was like I had been born to be a vampire. The idea made me want to laugh, but it also made me want to sing. I had found my true place in the world, the place I fit, the place I shined.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Stephenie Meyer", "slug": "stephenie-meyer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephenie-meyer" }, "book": { "title": "Breaking Dawn", "slug": "breaking-dawn", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephenie-meyer/breaking-dawn" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 524, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Breaking_Dawn#26._Shiny", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:18" }, { "id": "6c904794-8217-4079-bdc6-19c7d4a3296f", "slug": "by-far-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dale-carnegie/how-to-stop-worrying-and-start-living/by-far-the", "text": "By far the most vital lesson I have ever learned is the importance of what we think. If I knew what you think, I would know what you are. Our thoughts make us what we are.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Dale Carnegie", "slug": "dale-carnegie", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dale-carnegie" }, "book": { "title": "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living", "slug": "how-to-stop-worrying-and-start-living", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dale-carnegie/how-to-stop-worrying-and-start-living" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 5, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "thinking", "slug": "thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dale_Carnegie#How_to_Stop_Worrying_and_Start_Living_(1948)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:09" }, { "id": "c5ce16bf-1347-456f-a614-9f5a6858d7ea", "slug": "equating-the-physical", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/oneness-with-all-life/equating-the-physical", "text": "Equating the physical body with \"I,\" the body that is destined to grow old, wither, and die, always leads to suffering. To refrain from identifying with the body doesn't mean that you no longer care for it. If it is strong, beautiful, or vigorous, you can appreciate those attributes—while they last. You can also improve the body's condition through nutrition and exercise. If you don't equate the body with who you are, when beauty fades, vigor diminishes, or the body becomes incapacitated, this will not affect your sense of worth or identity in any way. In fact, as the body begins to weaken, the light of consciousness can shine more easily.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "Oneness with All Life", "slug": "oneness-with-all-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/oneness-with-all-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "old age", "slug": "old-age", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/old-age" }, { "name": "the body", "slug": "the-body", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-body" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eckhart_Tolle#Oneness_With_All_Life:_Inspirational_Selections_from_A_New_Earth_(2008)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:04" }, { "id": "b283ee78-c715-415f-bd87-3ce940611e16", "slug": "unconscious-people-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth/unconscious-people-and", "text": "Unconscious people – and many remain unconscious, trapped in their egos throughout their lives – will quickly tell you who they are: their name, their occupation, their personal history, the shape or state of their body, and whatever else they identify with.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "A New Earth", "slug": "a-new-earth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "ego", "slug": "ego", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ego" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_New_Earth#Chapter_7,_Finding_out_Who_You_Really_Are", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:04" }, { "id": "4941141c-32c3-493c-9130-8b59c522dd45", "slug": "what-those-words", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth/what-those-words", "text": "What those words imply is this: Before you ask any other question, first ask the most fundamental question of your life: Who am I?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "A New Earth", "slug": "a-new-earth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "self-knowledge", "slug": "self-knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-knowledge" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_New_Earth#Chapter_7,_Finding_out_Who_You_Really_Are", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:04" }, { "id": "3bab71ff-3298-442f-97f3-17a988ffd92d", "slug": "the-emotion-is-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth/the-emotion-is-not", "text": "The emotion is not who you are.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "A New Earth", "slug": "a-new-earth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "emotions", "slug": "emotions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/emotions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_New_Earth#Chapter_6,_Breaking_Free", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:04" }, { "id": "e1bbf8c9-4dd7-4a16-bcfc-a10894582ebd", "slug": "it-consists-of-thought", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth/it-consists-of-thought", "text": "It consists of thought and emotion, of a bundle of memories you identify with as “me and my story,” of habitual roles you play without knowing it, of collective identifications such as nationality, religion, race, social class, or political allegiance. It also contains personal identifications, not only with possessions, but also with opinions, external appearance, longstanding resentments, or concepts of yourself as better than or not as good as others, as a success or failure.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "A New Earth", "slug": "a-new-earth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "ego", "slug": "ego", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ego" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_New_Earth#Chapter_3,_The_Core_of_Ego", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:03" }, { "id": "bb7514ac-e8c2-4370-8dfd-0dc037cbf02a", "slug": "ego-arises-when", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth/ego-arises-when", "text": "Ego arises when your sense of Beingness, of “I Am,” which is formless consciousness, gets mixed up with form. This is the meaning of identification. This is forgetfulness of Being, the primary error, the illusion of absolute separateness that turns reality into a nightmare.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "A New Earth", "slug": "a-new-earth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "ego", "slug": "ego", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ego" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_New_Earth#Chapter_2,_Ego:_the_Current_State_of_Humanity", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:03" }, { "id": "b719f9f4-ec7c-4aa2-aa7d-e38d3eebb06a", "slug": "if-i-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth/if-i-and", "text": "If I and life are two, if I am separate from life, then I am separate form all things, all beings, all people. But how could I be separate from life? What “I” could be there apart from life, apart from Being? It is utterly impossible. So there is no such thing as “my life,” and I don't have a life. I am life. I and life are one. It cannot be otherwise. So how could I lose my life? How can I lose something that I don't have in the first place? How can I lose something that I Am? It is impossible. p. 79", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "A New Earth", "slug": "a-new-earth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "life", "slug": "life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/life" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_New_Earth#Chapter_4,_Role_Playing:_The_Many_Faces_of_the_Ego", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:03" }, { "id": "8c654210-01fd-4eea-a17e-fdcd8a1429f6", "slug": "is-it-possible", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth/is-it-possible", "text": "Is it possible to let go of the belief that you should or need to know who you are? In other words, can you cease looking to conceptual definitions to give you a sense of self? Can you cease looking to thought for an identity? When you let go of the belief that you should or need to know who you are...you actually enter a state of peace and clarity that is closer to who you truly are than thought could ever be. Defining yourself through thought is limiting yourself. p. 56", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "A New Earth", "slug": "a-new-earth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "peace of mind", "slug": "peace-of-mind", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/peace-of-mind" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_New_Earth#Chapter_4,_Role_Playing:_The_Many_Faces_of_the_Ego", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:03" }, { "id": "8773b1b1-a11c-4dde-a4b9-65fbbdcd455a", "slug": "apart-from-objects", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth/apart-from-objects", "text": "Apart from objects, another basic form of identification is with “my” body. Firstly, the body is male or female, and so the sense of being a man or woman takes up a significant part of most people's sense of self. Gender becomes identity. Identification with gender is encouraged at an early age, and it forces you into a role, into conditioned patterns of behavior that affect all aspects of your life, not just sexuality.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "A New Earth", "slug": "a-new-earth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "the body", "slug": "the-body", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-body" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_New_Earth#Chapter_2,_Ego:_the_Current_State_of_Humanity", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:03" }, { "id": "7b243969-c844-4419-847a-cdff0c3e0fe8", "slug": "in-the-modern", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth/in-the-modern", "text": "In the modern world, more and more people are confused as to where they fit in, what their purpose is, and even who they are.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "A New Earth", "slug": "a-new-earth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "meaning of life", "slug": "meaning-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/meaning-of-life" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_New_Earth#Chapter_4,_Role_Playing:_The_Many_Faces_of_the_Ego", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:03" }, { "id": "71733b51-80b3-4d85-888a-b2e40f38601f", "slug": "if-you-dont", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth/if-you-dont", "text": "If you don't' equate the body with who you are, when beauty fades, vigor diminishes, or the body becomes incapacitated, this will not affect your sense of worth or identity in any way.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "A New Earth", "slug": "a-new-earth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "old age", "slug": "old-age", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/old-age" }, { "name": "the body", "slug": "the-body", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-body" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_New_Earth#Chapter_2,_Ego:_the_Current_State_of_Humanity", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:03" }, { "id": "64b4b864-c6eb-4e9b-b762-10791b41b03f", "slug": "you-may-then", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth/you-may-then", "text": "You may then think and speak of yourself as a “sufferer” of this or that chronic illness or disability. You receive a great deal of attention from doctors and others who constantly confirm to you your conceptual identity as a sufferer or a patient. You then unconsciously cling to the illness because it has become the most important part of who you perceive yourself to be.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "A New Earth", "slug": "a-new-earth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "illness", "slug": "illness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_New_Earth#Chapter_2,_Ego:_the_Current_State_of_Humanity", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:03" }, { "id": "11bbe2cf-0b79-48ed-8362-b64e3acb20ab", "slug": "most-people-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth/most-people-are", "text": "Most people are so completely identified with the voice in the head – the incessant stream of involuntary and compulsive thinking and the emotions that accompany it – that we may describe them as being possessed by their mind. As long as you are completely unaware of this you take the thinker to be who you are.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "A New Earth", "slug": "a-new-earth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "thinking", "slug": "thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_New_Earth#Chapter_3,_The_Core_of_Ego", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:03" }, { "id": "f5886ce5-d123-4d02-abbb-20711d5687ca", "slug": "most-of-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth/most-of-the", "text": "Most of the time it is not you who speaks when you say or think “I” but some aspect of that mental construct, the egoic self. Once you awaken, you still use the word “I,” but it will come from a much deeper place within yourself.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "A New Earth", "slug": "a-new-earth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "ego", "slug": "ego", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ego" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_New_Earth#Chapter_2,_Ego:_the_Current_State_of_Humanity", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:02" }, { "id": "d7253477-11c3-4cc7-a54f-5c1eca69d757", "slug": "what-you-usually", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth/what-you-usually", "text": "What you usually refer to when you say “I” is not who you are.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "A New Earth", "slug": "a-new-earth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_New_Earth#Chapter_2,_Ego:_the_Current_State_of_Humanity", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:02" }, { "id": "be7a4031-8067-4521-a68e-d3c22f789341", "slug": "the-word-i-embodies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth/the-word-i-embodies", "text": "The word “I” embodies the greatest error and the deepest truth, depending on how it is used. In conventional usage, it is not only one of the most frequently used words in the language (together with the related words: “me,” “my,” “mine,” and “myself”) but also one of the most misleading... “I” embodies the primordial error, a misperception of who you are, an illusory sense of identity. This is the ego.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "A New Earth", "slug": "a-new-earth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "ego", "slug": "ego", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ego" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_New_Earth#Chapter_2,_Ego:_the_Current_State_of_Humanity", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:02" }, { "id": "d45a9352-db33-479e-ae0c-81b2d632d521", "slug": "what-a-liberation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth/what-a-liberation", "text": "What a liberation to realize that the \"voice in my head\" is not who I am. Who am I then? The one who sees that.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "A New Earth", "slug": "a-new-earth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "thinking", "slug": "thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eckhart_Tolle#A_New_Earth_(2005)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:01" }, { "id": "9ef0209f-2350-4bb7-a45a-ee4b88b5c14e", "slug": "you-cannot-find", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth/you-cannot-find", "text": "You cannot find yourself in the past or future. The only place where you can find yourself is in the Now.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "A New Earth", "slug": "a-new-earth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "the present", "slug": "the-present", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-present" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eckhart_Tolle#A_New_Earth_(2005)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:01" }, { "id": "dee4109c-1463-4559-9237-5381f4a78cf4", "slug": "many-things-in-your", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/stillness-speaks/many-things-in-your", "text": "Many things in your life matter but only one thing matters absolutely. It matters whether you succeed or fail in the eyes of the world. It matters whether you are healthy or not healthy, whether you are educated or not educated. It matters whether you are rich or poor. It certainly makes a difference in your life. Yes, all these things matter, relatively speaking. But they don't matter absolutely. There is something that matters more than any of those things and that is finding the essence of who your are beyond that short-lived entity, that short-lived personalized sense of self. You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life but by realizing who you are at the deepest level. (Ch 5)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "Stillness Speaks", "slug": "stillness-speaks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/stillness-speaks" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "success and failure", "slug": "success-and-failure", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/success-and-failure" }, { "name": "peace of mind", "slug": "peace-of-mind", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/peace-of-mind" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eckhart_Tolle#Stillness_Speaks_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:00" }, { "id": "d9da5f21-df67-4047-9ffc-d066150182e6", "slug": "the-now-is-inseparable", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/stillness-speaks/the-now-is-inseparable", "text": "The now is inseparable from who you are at the deepest level.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "Stillness Speaks", "slug": "stillness-speaks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/stillness-speaks" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "the present", "slug": "the-present", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-present" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eckhart_Tolle#Stillness_Speaks_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:00" }, { "id": "94926d79-f46e-4576-b323-0347418900bb", "slug": "when-you-think", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/stillness-speaks/when-you-think", "text": "When you think or speak about yourself, when you say, “I,” what you usually refer to is “me and my story.” This is the “I” of your likes and dislikes, fears and desires, the “I” that is never satisfied for long. It is a mind-made sense of who you are, conditioned by the past and seeking to find its fulfillment in the future.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "Stillness Speaks", "slug": "stillness-speaks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/stillness-speaks" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "ego", "slug": "ego", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ego" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eckhart_Tolle#Stillness_Speaks_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:00" }, { "id": "8f19fa87-5667-49f5-b5b6-85f408a4aa04", "slug": "confusion-anger-depression", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/stillness-speaks/confusion-anger-depression", "text": "Confusion, anger, depression, violence, and conflict arise when humans forget who they are. Yet how easy it is to remember the truth and thus return home: I am not my thoughts, emotions, sense perceptions, and experiences. I am not the content of my life. I am Life. I am the space in which all things happen. I am consciousness. I am the Now. I Am. (Ch 4)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "Stillness Speaks", "slug": "stillness-speaks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/stillness-speaks" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "consciousness", "slug": "consciousness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/consciousness" }, { "name": "the present", "slug": "the-present", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-present" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eckhart_Tolle#Stillness_Speaks_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:00" }, { "id": "0416fe08-5824-4b96-abcf-5982d797a823", "slug": "can-you-see", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/stillness-speaks/can-you-see", "text": "Can you see that this “I” is fleeting, a temporary formation, like a wave pattern on the surface of the water? Who is it that sees this? Who is it that is aware of the fleetingness of your physical and psychological form? I am. This is the deeper “I” that has nothing to do with past and future.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "Stillness Speaks", "slug": "stillness-speaks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/stillness-speaks" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "ego", "slug": "ego", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ego" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eckhart_Tolle#Stillness_Speaks_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:00" }, { "id": "ae76d996-8531-4806-8dae-a6305daf0ffa", "slug": "you-are-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/stillness-speaks/you-are-that", "text": "You are that awareness, disguised as a person. (Ch 1)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "Stillness Speaks", "slug": "stillness-speaks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/stillness-speaks" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "consciousness", "slug": "consciousness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/consciousness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eckhart_Tolle#Stillness_Speaks_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:59" }, { "id": "1616b008-071a-492f-9498-699900e64d2a", "slug": "when-you-lose", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/stillness-speaks/when-you-lose", "text": "When you lose touch with inner stillness, you lose touch with yourself. When you lose touch with yourself, you lose yourself in the world. Your innermost sense of self, of who you are, is inseparable from stillness. This is the “I Am” that is deeper than name and form.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "Stillness Speaks", "slug": "stillness-speaks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/stillness-speaks" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "consciousness", "slug": "consciousness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/consciousness" }, { "name": "silence", "slug": "silence-2", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/silence-2" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eckhart_Tolle#Stillness_Speaks_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:59" }, { "id": "8d141730-aa4e-46a1-9933-899ca1749174", "slug": "where-there-is-true", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orhan-pamuk/my-name-is-red/where-there-is-true", "text": "Where there is true art and genuine virtuosity the artist can paint an incomparable masterpiece without leaving even a trace of his identity.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Orhan Pamuk", "slug": "orhan-pamuk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orhan-pamuk" }, "book": { "title": "My Name Is Red", "slug": "my-name-is-red", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orhan-pamuk/my-name-is-red" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 18, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "art", "slug": "art", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Orhan_Pamuk#My_Name_Is_Red_(1998)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:49" }, { "id": "03269117-ed93-4f68-b206-430682f356f9", "slug": "id-rather-be-like", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anne-bronte/the-tenant-of-wildfell-hall/id-rather-be-like", "text": "I'd rather be like myself, bad as I am.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Anne Brontë", "slug": "anne-bronte", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anne-bronte" }, "book": { "title": "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall", "slug": "the-tenant-of-wildfell-hall", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anne-bronte/the-tenant-of-wildfell-hall" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "self-acceptance", "slug": "self-acceptance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-acceptance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anne_Bront%C3%AB#The_Tenant_of_Wildfell_Hall_(1848)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:29" }, { "id": "0df603aa-97ba-403b-bc61-cc947c6dff64", "slug": "we-humans-replace", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-tegmark/our-mathematical-universe/we-humans-replace", "text": "We humans replace the bulk of both our \"hardware\" (e.g., our cells) and our \"software\" (e.g., our memories) many times in our life span. Nonetheless, we perceive ourselves as stable and permanent. Likewise, we perceive objects other than ourselves as permanent. Or rather, what we perceive as objects are those aspects of the world that display a certain permanence. For instance, when observing the ocean, we perceive the moving waves as objects because they display a certain permanence, even though the water itself is only bobbing up and down. Similarly (…) we perceive only those aspects of the world that are fairly stable against quantum decoherence.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Max Tegmark", "slug": "max-tegmark", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-tegmark" }, "book": { "title": "Our Mathematical Universe", "slug": "our-mathematical-universe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-tegmark/our-mathematical-universe" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "change", "slug": "change", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Max_Tegmark#Our_Mathematical_Universe:_My_Quest_for_the_Ultimate_Nature_of_Reality_(2014)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:24" }, { "id": "f479c3bd-2ba8-43af-99aa-be1fabf68ce6", "slug": "you-improve-them", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-gardner/grendel/you-improve-them", "text": "“You improve them, my boy! Can’t you see that yourself? You stimulate them! You make them think and scheme. You drive them to poetry, science, religion, all that makes them what they are for as long as they last. You are, so to speak, the brute existent by which they learn to define themselves. The exile, captivity, death they shirk from—the blunt facts of their mortality, their abandonment—that’s what you make them recognize, embrace! You are mankind, or man’s condition: inseparable as the mountain-climber and the mountain.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Gardner", "slug": "john-gardner", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-gardner" }, "book": { "title": "Grendel", "slug": "grendel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-gardner/grendel" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Grendel#Chapter_Five", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:23" }, { "id": "10f86740-2113-4bce-8e6f-1d5acfcaeeb3", "slug": "thinking-more-of-others", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/elizabeth-gaskell/wives-and-daughters/thinking-more-of-others", "text": "Thinking more of others’ happiness than of her own was very fine; but did it not mean giving up her very individuality, quenching all the warm love, the true desires, that made her herself? Yet in this deadness lay her only comfort; so it seemed.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Elizabeth Gaskell", "slug": "elizabeth-gaskell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/elizabeth-gaskell" }, "book": { "title": "Wives and Daughters", "slug": "wives-and-daughters", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/elizabeth-gaskell/wives-and-daughters" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "sacrifice", "slug": "sacrifice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sacrifice" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Gaskell#Wives_and_Daughters", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:22" }, { "id": "b43f28ff-8e7f-488f-b765-f0b849f84135", "slug": "id-lost-my-closest", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-david-roberts/shantaram/id-lost-my-closest", "text": "I'd lost my closest friends in the same week, and with them I'd lost the mark on the psychic map that says You are here. Personality and personal identity are in some ways like co-ordinates on the street map drawn by our intersecting relationships. We know who we are and we define what we are by references to the people we love and reasons for loving them.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gregory David Roberts", "slug": "gregory-david-roberts", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-david-roberts" }, "book": { "title": "Shantaram", "slug": "shantaram", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-david-roberts/shantaram" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "friendship", "slug": "friendship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/friendship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Shantaram#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:21" }, { "id": "eb9ee8b7-a7a9-478f-bb01-b9d75e7f94ba", "slug": "youre-a-different", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/rant/youre-a-different", "text": "You're a different human being to everyone you meet. Page 18", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Chuck Palahniuk", "slug": "chuck-palahniuk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk" }, "book": { "title": "Rant", "slug": "rant", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/rant" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rant_(novel)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:19" }, { "id": "84ecdc20-1a0a-48c1-b42d-300b22394865", "slug": "you-only-ever", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/rant/you-only-ever", "text": "You only ever is in the eyes of other folks.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Chuck Palahniuk", "slug": "chuck-palahniuk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk" }, "book": { "title": "Rant", "slug": "rant", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/rant" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rant_(novel)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:19" }, { "id": "e6a7ec9a-494d-465e-83fb-1b307b64f3ad", "slug": "god-is-love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison/three-days-before-the-shooting/god-is-love", "text": "God is love, I said, but art's the possibility of forms, and shadows are the source of identity.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ralph Ellison", "slug": "ralph-ellison", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison" }, "book": { "title": "Three Days Before the Shooting . . .", "slug": "three-days-before-the-shooting", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison/three-days-before-the-shooting" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 987, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "art", "slug": "art", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ralph_Ellison#Three_Days_Before_the_Shooting..._(2010)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:15" }, { "id": "e1b43337-ed5d-4849-990a-f9143a623a6c", "slug": "and-yet-i-am-what", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison/invisible-man/and-yet-i-am-what", "text": "And yet I am what they think I am.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ralph Ellison", "slug": "ralph-ellison", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison" }, "book": { "title": "Invisible Man", "slug": "invisible-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison/invisible-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ralph_Ellison#Invisible_Man_(1952)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:15" }, { "id": "a676decf-f6fc-4eef-9880-507597d04c79", "slug": "when-i-discover", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison/invisible-man/when-i-discover", "text": "When I discover who I am, I'll be free.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ralph Ellison", "slug": "ralph-ellison", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison" }, "book": { "title": "Invisible Man", "slug": "invisible-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison/invisible-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ralph_Ellison#Invisible_Man_(1952)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:15" }, { "id": "3c0d5f16-d49c-4194-8579-4a1cdcba2ef4", "slug": "so-she-doesnt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison/invisible-man/so-she-doesnt", "text": "So she doesn't think Iʼm black enough. What does she want, a black-face comedian? [...] Maybe she wants to see me sweat coal tar, ink, shoe polish, graphite. What was I, a man or a natural resource?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ralph Ellison", "slug": "ralph-ellison", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison" }, "book": { "title": "Invisible Man", "slug": "invisible-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison/invisible-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "racism", "slug": "racism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/racism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ralph_Ellison#Invisible_Man_(1952)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:15" }, { "id": "dc20baad-408b-4ee3-bad4-82ee1bb73ba8", "slug": "all-my-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison/invisible-man/all-my-life", "text": "All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was. I accepted their answers too, though they were often in contradiction and even self-contradictory. I was naïve. I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer. It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: That I am nobody but myself.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ralph Ellison", "slug": "ralph-ellison", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison" }, "book": { "title": "Invisible Man", "slug": "invisible-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison/invisible-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "self-knowledge", "slug": "self-knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-knowledge" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ralph_Ellison#Invisible_Man_(1952)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:14" }, { "id": "d0eb4d1a-ad5b-4a4a-9c2f-389f43bd1125", "slug": "its-when-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison/invisible-man/its-when-you", "text": "It's when you feel like this that, out of resentment, you begin to bump people back. And, let me confess, you feel that way most of the time. You ache with the need to convince yourself that you do exist in the real world, that you're a part of all the sound and anguish, and you strike out with your fists, you curse and you swear to make them recognize you. And, alas, it's seldom successful.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ralph Ellison", "slug": "ralph-ellison", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison" }, "book": { "title": "Invisible Man", "slug": "invisible-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison/invisible-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "anger", "slug": "anger", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/anger" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ralph_Ellison#Invisible_Man_(1952)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:14" }, { "id": "9f6c83c5-6314-4a4d-b9cf-c69ca5f3cba5", "slug": "i-am-an-invisible", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison/invisible-man/i-am-an-invisible", "text": "I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids—and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination—indeed, everything and anything except me.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ralph Ellison", "slug": "ralph-ellison", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison" }, "book": { "title": "Invisible Man", "slug": "invisible-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison/invisible-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "loneliness", "slug": "loneliness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "prejudice", "slug": "prejudice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/prejudice" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ralph_Ellison#Invisible_Man_(1952)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:14" }, { "id": "24a0796f-1faa-435b-b152-8ef8732a306a", "slug": "i-am-one", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison/invisible-man/i-am-one", "text": "I am one of the most irresponsible beings that ever lived. Irresponsibility is part of my invisibility; any way you face it, it is a denial. But to whom can I be responsible, and why should I be, when you refuse to see me? And wait until I reveal how truly irresponsible I am. Responsibility rests upon recognition, and recognition is a form of agreement.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ralph Ellison", "slug": "ralph-ellison", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison" }, "book": { "title": "Invisible Man", "slug": "invisible-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison/invisible-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "responsibility", "slug": "responsibility", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ralph_Ellison#Invisible_Man_(1952)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:14" }, { "id": "45fb6fab-1a38-41cc-bbc3-b5bec56ffab1", "slug": "time-is-a-corrosive", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/glasshouse/time-is-a-corrosive", "text": "Time is a corrosive fluid, dissolving motivation, destroying novelty, and leaching the joy from life. But forgetting is a fraught process, one that is prone to transcription errors and personality flaws. Delete the wrong pattern, and you can end up becoming someone else. Memories exhibit dependencies, and their management is one of the highest medical art forms.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charles Stross", "slug": "charles-stross", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross" }, "book": { "title": "Glasshouse", "slug": "glasshouse", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/glasshouse" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 22, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "time", "slug": "time", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "memory", "slug": "memory", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/memory" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Stross#Glasshouse_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:06" }, { "id": "70f80314-79d5-4e81-bbc5-28ad5d81d6ee", "slug": "if-i-could", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/fight-club/if-i-could", "text": "If I could wake up in a different place, at a different time, could I wake up as a different person?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Chuck Palahniuk", "slug": "chuck-palahniuk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk" }, "book": { "title": "Fight Club", "slug": "fight-club", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/fight-club" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fight_Club_(novel)#Chapter_3", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:56" }, { "id": "e9cc91f3-64bf-4df2-9f65-8576a99396f9", "slug": "my-whole-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/russell-brand/revolution/my-whole-life", "text": "My whole life, I have sought comfort in individualism. I escaped the banality of my background with the flamboyance of my haircut, the low expectations of my class with the grandiosity of my parlance, and the fear of being ordinary by becoming a professional weirdo. In a way, my success in show business represents little more than the harvesting of my psychosis. I made my idiosyncrasies and flaws beneficial by exaggerating them.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Russell Brand", "slug": "russell-brand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/russell-brand" }, "book": { "title": "Revolution", "slug": "revolution", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/russell-brand/revolution" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "individualism", "slug": "individualism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/individualism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Russell_Brand#Revolution_(2014)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:27" }, { "id": "e458270c-d997-48d1-8dfc-4610c6d30dca", "slug": "my-act-has", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/yukio-mishima/confessions-of-a-mask/my-act-has", "text": "My \"act\" has ended by becoming an integral part of my nature, I told myself. It's no longer an act. My knowledge that I am masquerading as a normal person has even corroded whatever of normality I originally possessed, ending by making me tell myself over and over again that it too was nothing but a pretense of normality. To say it another way, I'm becoming the sort of person who can't believe in anything except the counterfeit.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Yukio Mishima", "slug": "yukio-mishima", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/yukio-mishima" }, "book": { "title": "Confessions of a Mask", "slug": "confessions-of-a-mask", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/yukio-mishima/confessions-of-a-mask" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 153, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "appearances", "slug": "appearances", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/appearances" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yukio_Mishima#Confessions_of_a_Mask_(1949)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:24" }, { "id": "a9f349c9-0e39-410b-ab1b-1284505e8d16", "slug": "we-all-think", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/the-hydrogen-sonata/we-all-think", "text": "We all think we’re special, and in a way we are, but, at the same time, that feeling of being special is one of the things that’s common to us all, that unites us and makes us the same as each other. And when that feeling of…specialness is questioned, we feel threatened, naturally.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Iain M. Banks", "slug": "iain-m-banks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks" }, "book": { "title": "The Hydrogen Sonata", "slug": "the-hydrogen-sonata", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/the-hydrogen-sonata" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 388, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Iain_Banks#The_Hydrogen_Sonata_(2013)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:21" }, { "id": "84550f53-3356-43e8-91ca-73dacc376bcf", "slug": "we-are-largely", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/the-hydrogen-sonata/we-are-largely", "text": "We are largely the sum of all we’ve done, and to dispose of that knowledge would be to stop being one’s self.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Iain M. Banks", "slug": "iain-m-banks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks" }, "book": { "title": "The Hydrogen Sonata", "slug": "the-hydrogen-sonata", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/the-hydrogen-sonata" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 174, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "memory", "slug": "memory", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/memory" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Iain_Banks#The_Hydrogen_Sonata_(2013)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:20" }, { "id": "11c1af59-7740-4f40-8b99-0378a817ade8", "slug": "he-wanted-to-be-who", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/excession/he-wanted-to-be-who", "text": "He wanted to be who he was, not the person he would become if he lost the one trait that distinguished him from everybody else, no matter how perverse that decision seemed to others.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Iain M. Banks", "slug": "iain-m-banks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks" }, "book": { "title": "Excession", "slug": "excession", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/excession" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 129, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "individualism", "slug": "individualism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/individualism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Iain_Banks#Excession_(1996)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:17" }, { "id": "002d70b0-ae65-480f-bda9-a5d2e7e40bc9", "slug": "now-i-understood", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-golden/memoirs-of-a-geisha/now-i-understood", "text": "Now I understood the thing I´d overlooked;the point wasn´t to become a geisha but to be one. To become a geisha . . . well, that was hardly a purpose in life. But to be a geisha . . . I could see it now as a stepping-stone to something else.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Arthur Golden", "slug": "arthur-golden", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-golden" }, "book": { "title": "Memoirs of a Geisha", "slug": "memoirs-of-a-geisha", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-golden/memoirs-of-a-geisha" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "meaning of life", "slug": "meaning-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/meaning-of-life" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Memoirs_of_a_Geisha_(novel)#Narrator_(Sayuri_as_an_elderly_woman)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:55" }, { "id": "e5686c33-db40-41a1-af00-683f378e58e7", "slug": "insects-were-scurrying", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir/all-men-are-mortal/insects-were-scurrying", "text": "Insects were scurrying about in the shade cast by the grass, and the lawn was a huge monotonous forest of thousands of little green blades, all equal, all alike, hiding the world from each other. Anguished, she thought, \"I don't want to be just another blade of grass.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Simone de Beauvoir", "slug": "simone-de-beauvoir", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir" }, "book": { "title": "All Men Are Mortal", "slug": "all-men-are-mortal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir/all-men-are-mortal" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "individualism", "slug": "individualism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/individualism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Simone_de_Beauvoir#All_Men_are_Mortal_(1946)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:50" }, { "id": "8504ab75-cc32-4f6a-af0b-877c1d7ef7a5", "slug": "he-kept-telling", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-renault/the-charioteer/he-kept-telling", "text": "He kept telling me I was queer, and I didn't like it. The word, I mean. Shutting you away, somehow; roping you off with a lot of people you don't feel much in common with, half of whom hate the other half anyway, and just keep together so that they can lean up against each other for support.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Mary Renault", "slug": "mary-renault", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-renault" }, "book": { "title": "The Charioteer", "slug": "the-charioteer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-renault/the-charioteer" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 164, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "homosexuality", "slug": "homosexuality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/homosexuality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mary_Renault#The_Charioteer_(1953)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:48" }, { "id": "fedc3288-43bc-4fca-828a-ff302117096a", "slug": "the-other-night", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez/brown/the-other-night", "text": "The other night at a neighborhood restaurant the waiter, after mentioning he had read my books, said about himself, “I’m white, I’m nothing.” But that was what I wanted, you see, growing up in America—the freedom of being nothing, the confidence of it, the arrogance. And I achieved it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Richard Rodriguez", "slug": "richard-rodriguez", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez" }, "book": { "title": "Brown", "slug": "brown", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez/brown" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Rodriguez#Brown_:_The_Last_Discovery_of_America_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:47" }, { "id": "feab5ff5-850b-4b15-8205-b4f948bfb63d", "slug": "it-is-one", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez/brown/it-is-one", "text": "It is one thing to know your author-man or woman or gay or black or paraplegic or president. It is another thing to choose only man or woman or et cetera, as the only quality of voice empowered to address you, as the only class of sensibility or experience able to understand you, or that you are able to understand.\n\nHow a society orders its bookshelves is as telling as the books a society writes and reads. American bookshelves of the twenty-first century describe fractiousness, reduction, hurt. Books are isolated from one another, like gardenias or peaches, lest they bruise or become bruised, or, worse, consort, confuse. If a man in a wheelchair writes his life, his book will be parked in a blue-crossed zone: \"Self-Help\" or \"Health.\" There is no shelf for bitterness. No shelf for redemption. The professor of Romance languages at Dresden, a convert to Protestantism, was tortured by the Nazis as a Jew — only that — a Jew. His book, published sixty years after the events it recounts, is shelved in my neighborhood bookstore as \"Judaica.\" There is no shelf for irony.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Richard Rodriguez", "slug": "richard-rodriguez", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez" }, "book": { "title": "Brown", "slug": "brown", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez/brown" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "literature", "slug": "literature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/literature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Rodriguez#Brown_:_The_Last_Discovery_of_America_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:47" }, { "id": "07c8611f-98ab-421b-a527-855595c3668a", "slug": "when-i-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez/brown/when-i-was", "text": "When I was a boy and refused to speak Spanish (because I spoke English), then could not speak Spanish from awkwardness, then guilt, Mexican relatives criticized my parents for letting me “lose it”—my culture, they said.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Richard Rodriguez", "slug": "richard-rodriguez", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez" }, "book": { "title": "Brown", "slug": "brown", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez/brown" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "language", "slug": "language", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/language" }, { "name": "emigration", "slug": "emigration", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/emigration" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Rodriguez#Brown_:_The_Last_Discovery_of_America_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:47" }, { "id": "75d1c20c-e3a7-41f4-8d7d-9cf0a768a47a", "slug": "i-became-a-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez/hunger-of-memory/i-became-a-man", "text": "I became a man by becoming a public man.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Richard Rodriguez", "slug": "richard-rodriguez", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez" }, "book": { "title": "Hunger of Memory", "slug": "hunger-of-memory", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez/hunger-of-memory" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "growing up", "slug": "growing-up", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Rodriguez#Hunger_of_Memory:_The_Education_of_Richard_Rodriguez_(1982)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:46" }, { "id": "4ac68995-b63f-40d7-966a-fa88657982f8", "slug": "i-grew-up-victim", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez/hunger-of-memory/i-grew-up-victim", "text": "I grew up victim to a disabling confusion. As I grew fluent in English, I no longer could speak Spanish with confidence.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Richard Rodriguez", "slug": "richard-rodriguez", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez" }, "book": { "title": "Hunger of Memory", "slug": "hunger-of-memory", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez/hunger-of-memory" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "language", "slug": "language", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/language" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Rodriguez#Hunger_of_Memory:_The_Education_of_Richard_Rodriguez_(1982)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:46" }, { "id": "1a5cec90-dea5-4d59-bd4c-ba85113fa034", "slug": "i-think-brown", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez/brown/i-think-brown", "text": "I think brown marks a reunion of peoples, an end to ancient wanderings. Rival cultures and creeds conspire with Spring to create children of a beauty, perhaps of a harmony, previously unknown. Or long forgotten.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Richard Rodriguez", "slug": "richard-rodriguez", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez" }, "book": { "title": "Brown", "slug": "brown", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez/brown" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "otherness", "slug": "otherness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/otherness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Rodriguez#Brown_:_The_Last_Discovery_of_America_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:46" }, { "id": "af5bc073-af30-4b89-a4f0-637d0f9a1b18", "slug": "men-need-history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/v-s-naipaul/the-enigma-of-arrival/men-need-history", "text": "Men need history; it helps them to have an idea of who they are. But history, like sanctity, can reside in the heart; it is enough that there is something there.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "V. S. Naipaul", "slug": "v-s-naipaul", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/v-s-naipaul" }, "book": { "title": "The Enigma of Arrival", "slug": "the-enigma-of-arrival", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/v-s-naipaul/the-enigma-of-arrival" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/V._S._Naipaul#The_Enigma_of_Arrival_(1987)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:36" }, { "id": "b40ad0f8-9c75-4011-81ed-cdecb3e7e3a4", "slug": "india-is-for", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/v-s-naipaul/india-a-wounded-civilization/india-is-for", "text": "India is for me a difficult country. It isn’t my home and cannot be my home; and yet I cannot reject it or be indifferent to it; I cannot travel only for the sights. I am at once too close and too far.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "V. S. Naipaul", "slug": "v-s-naipaul", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/v-s-naipaul" }, "book": { "title": "India: A Wounded Civilization", "slug": "india-a-wounded-civilization", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/v-s-naipaul/india-a-wounded-civilization" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "homeland", "slug": "homeland", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/homeland" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/V._S._Naipaul#India:_A_Wounded_Civilization_(1977)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:35" }, { "id": "3c745860-7fcf-4326-8190-1aca0fa07332", "slug": "self-person-living", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thich-nhat-hanh/the-sun-my-heart/self-person-living", "text": "Self, person, living being, and life span are four notions that prevent us from seeing reality.\n\nLife is one. We do not need to slice it into pieces and call this or that piece a \"self.\" What we call a self is made only of non-self elements. When we look at a flower, for example, we may think that it is different from \"non-flower\" things. But when we look more deeply, we see that everything in the cosmos is in that flower. Without all of the non-flower elements — sunshine, clouds, earth, minerals, heat, rivers, and consciousness — a flower cannot be. That is why the Buddha teaches that the self does not exist. We have to discard all distinctions between self and non-self.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thich Nhat Hanh", "slug": "thich-nhat-hanh", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thich-nhat-hanh" }, "book": { "title": "The Sun My Heart", "slug": "the-sun-my-heart", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thich-nhat-hanh/the-sun-my-heart" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "Buddhism", "slug": "buddhism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Th%C3%ADch_Nh%E1%BA%A5t_H%E1%BA%A1nh#The_Sun_My_Heart_(1996)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:26" }, { "id": "d6622c4d-9f5e-4bd2-824a-637f72649b6c", "slug": "one-day-i-suddenly", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thich-nhat-hanh/being-peace/one-day-i-suddenly", "text": "One day I suddenly saw that the sun is my heart, my heart outside of this body. If my body's heart ceases to function I cannot survive; but if the sun, my other heart, ceases to function, I will also die immediately. We should be able to be our true self. That means we should be able to be the river, we should be able to be the forest, we should be able to be a citizen of any country in the world. We must do this to understand, and to have hope for the future. That is the nondualistic way of seeing.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thich Nhat Hanh", "slug": "thich-nhat-hanh", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thich-nhat-hanh" }, "book": { "title": "Being Peace", "slug": "being-peace", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thich-nhat-hanh/being-peace" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Th%C3%ADch_Nh%E1%BA%A5t_H%E1%BA%A1nh#Being_Peace_(1987)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:25" }, { "id": "7b0e1e16-778e-449a-a552-75315e0c0109", "slug": "we-are-but", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/norbert-wiener/the-human-use-of-human-beings/we-are-but", "text": "We are but whirlpools in a river of ever-flowing water. We are not the stuff that abides, but patterns that perpetuate themselves.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Norbert Wiener", "slug": "norbert-wiener", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/norbert-wiener" }, "book": { "title": "The Human Use Of Human Beings", "slug": "the-human-use-of-human-beings", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/norbert-wiener/the-human-use-of-human-beings" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 96, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "change", "slug": "change", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Norbert_Wiener#The_Human_Use_of_Human_Beings_(1950)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:18" }, { "id": "84a5fc50-3245-499a-8e82-a9d9ae251ed1", "slug": "organisms-are-self-causing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kevin-kelly/out-of-control/organisms-are-self-causing", "text": "Organisms are self-causing agencies. Every self is a tautology: self-evident, self-referential, self-centered, and self-created.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kevin Kelly", "slug": "kevin-kelly", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kevin-kelly" }, "book": { "title": "Out Of Control", "slug": "out-of-control", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kevin-kelly/out-of-control" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kevin_Kelly_(editor)#Out_of_Control:_The_New_Biology_of_Machines,_Social_Systems_and_the_Economic_World_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:16" }, { "id": "4d7d81fd-d276-4218-9af2-82161496b2f2", "slug": "the-i-of-a-vivisystem", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kevin-kelly/out-of-control/the-i-of-a-vivisystem", "text": "The \"I\" of a vivisystem is a ghost. Like the transient form of a whirlpool held upright by a million spinning atoms of water, it can be scattered with a fingertip.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kevin Kelly", "slug": "kevin-kelly", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kevin-kelly" }, "book": { "title": "Out Of Control", "slug": "out-of-control", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kevin-kelly/out-of-control" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kevin_Kelly_(editor)#Out_of_Control:_The_New_Biology_of_Machines,_Social_Systems_and_the_Economic_World_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:15" }, { "id": "ca84ab09-5ddd-4ed7-8d3f-e06ecfa6fbff", "slug": "you-know-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago/all-the-names/you-know-the", "text": "You know the name you were given,\n\nYou do not know the name you have", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "José Saramago", "slug": "jose-saramago", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago" }, "book": { "title": "All The Names", "slug": "all-the-names", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago/all-the-names" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Saramago#All_the_Names_(1997)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:13" }, { "id": "a86b9652-eee8-42c4-b940-b13b42b9e05e", "slug": "blind-people-do-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago/blindness/blind-people-do-not", "text": "Blind people do not need a name, I am my voice, nothing else matters.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "José Saramago", "slug": "jose-saramago", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago" }, "book": { "title": "Blindness", "slug": "blindness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago/blindness" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 290, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Saramago#Blindness_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:13" }, { "id": "369a9b38-fc35-4ba0-be51-d33be3ab47c8", "slug": "the-skin-is-only", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago/all-the-names/the-skin-is-only", "text": "[...] the skin is only what we want others to see of us, underneath it not even we know who we are, [...]", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "José Saramago", "slug": "jose-saramago", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago" }, "book": { "title": "All The Names", "slug": "all-the-names", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago/all-the-names" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 132, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "self-knowledge", "slug": "self-knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-knowledge" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Saramago#All_the_Names_(1997)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:13" }, { "id": "531a0fe7-e6fd-4614-868b-31f2af3f3b27", "slug": "after-the-egyptian", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/web-dubois/the-souls-of-black-folk/after-the-egyptian", "text": "After the Egyptian and Indian, the Greek and Roman, the Teuton and Mongolian, the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world, — a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his twoness, — an American, a Negro; two warring souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife, — this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "W.E.B. Dubois", "slug": "web-dubois", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/web-dubois" }, "book": { "title": "The Souls of Black Folk", "slug": "the-souls-of-black-folk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/web-dubois/the-souls-of-black-folk" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "racism", "slug": "racism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/racism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W._E._B._Du_Bois#The_Souls_of_Black_Folk_(1903)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:02" }, { "id": "035585a8-3c5a-48ad-8b70-a8ee3742e462", "slug": "but-if-in-vain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/omar-khayyam/rubaiyat-of-omar-khayyam/but-if-in-vain", "text": "But if in vain, down on the stubborn floor\n\nOf Earth, and up to Heav'n's unopening Door\n\nYou gaze To-day, while You are You — how then\n\nTo-morrow, You when shall be You no more?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Omar Khayyam", "slug": "omar-khayyam", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/omar-khayyam" }, "book": { "title": "Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam", "slug": "rubaiyat-of-omar-khayyam", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/omar-khayyam/rubaiyat-of-omar-khayyam" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "death", "slug": "death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Omar_Khayy%C3%A1m#FitzGerald,_Rub%C3%A1iy%C3%A1t_of_Omar_Khayy%C3%A1m_(1859,_'68,_'72,_'79,_'89)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:00" }, { "id": "d3b4cc2c-c47e-4a17-8b25-af8ceb427b52", "slug": "i-never-knew", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove/the-great-war-breakthroughs/i-never-knew", "text": "“I never knew any Sonorans before you. You’re a good fellow. You ever get tired of trying to scratch out a living down where you’re at, you bring your family on up to Alabama. Plenty of good farm country there. You’d live high on the hog.”\n\n“Thanks, amigo, but no thanks.” Rodriguez’s smile was sweet and sad. “I want to go home. I want to talk español, to see my friends and family. And in Sonora, I am a man. In Alabama, I am a damn greaser.” He tapped a brown hand with a brown finger to remind Pinkard of what he meant.\n\nIn the trenches, Jeff had long since stopped worrying about their being of different colors. Hip was right, though; it would matter in Alabama.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Harry Turtledove", "slug": "harry-turtledove", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove" }, "book": { "title": "The Great War: Breakthroughs", "slug": "the-great-war-breakthroughs", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove/the-great-war-breakthroughs" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 445, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "racism", "slug": "racism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/racism" }, { "name": "homeland", "slug": "homeland", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/homeland" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Harry_Turtledove#The_Great_War:_Breakthroughs_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:50" }, { "id": "c3b8a727-4801-42a3-81b2-a8d53dc7f996", "slug": "eyes-only-see", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/shunryu-suzuki/zen-mind-beginners-mind/eyes-only-see", "text": "Eyes only see things outside, objective things. If you reflect on yourself, that self is not your true self any more. You cannot project yourself as some objective thing to think about. The mind which is always on your side is not just your mind, it is universal mind, always the same, not different from another's mind. It is Zen mind. It is big, big mind.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Shunryu Suzuki", "slug": "shunryu-suzuki", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/shunryu-suzuki" }, "book": { "title": "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind", "slug": "zen-mind-beginners-mind", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/shunryu-suzuki/zen-mind-beginners-mind" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Shunryu_Suzuki#Zen_Mind", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:45" }, { "id": "6fbe2651-9881-4b0b-8e80-2daccd64d983", "slug": "the-basic-teaching", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/shunryu-suzuki/zen-mind-beginners-mind/the-basic-teaching", "text": "The basic teaching of Buddhism is the teaching of transiency or change. That everything changes is the basic truth for each existence. No one can deny this truth and all teaching of Buddhism is condensed within it. This is the teaching for all of us. Wherever we go this teaching is true. This teaching is also understood as the teaching of selflessness. Because each existence is in constant change, there is no abiding self.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Shunryu Suzuki", "slug": "shunryu-suzuki", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/shunryu-suzuki" }, "book": { "title": "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind", "slug": "zen-mind-beginners-mind", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/shunryu-suzuki/zen-mind-beginners-mind" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "change", "slug": "change", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "Buddhism", "slug": "buddhism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Shunryu_Suzuki#Right_Understanding", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:45" }, { "id": "e2313dde-d85f-45fb-a06f-1ac52ddd3c57", "slug": "i-would-rather", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-m-coetzee/foe/i-would-rather", "text": "I would rather be the author of my story than have lies told about me.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "J. M. Coetzee", "slug": "j-m-coetzee", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-m-coetzee" }, "book": { "title": "Foe", "slug": "foe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-m-coetzee/foe" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "writing", "slug": "writing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "lies", "slug": "lies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/lies" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._M._Coetzee#Foe_(1986)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:30" }, { "id": "9c7a7d6e-8079-44fe-9399-cf0d483aa3d6", "slug": "this-is-my-story", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/shashi-tharoor/the-great-indian-novel/this-is-my-story", "text": "This is my story of the India I know, with its biases, selections, omissions, distortions, all mine.... Every Indian must for ever carry with him, in his head and heart, his own history of India.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Shashi Tharoor", "slug": "shashi-tharoor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/shashi-tharoor" }, "book": { "title": "The Great Indian Novel", "slug": "the-great-indian-novel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/shashi-tharoor/the-great-indian-novel" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Shashi_Tharoor#The_Great_Indian_Novel_(1989)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:28" }, { "id": "0eb7b9c9-981b-441d-a9e0-45f20e8908a8", "slug": "i-am-myself", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-visitor/i-am-myself", "text": "I am myself, though from moment to moment something else seems to be looking on. Whatever will be required of me, however, can best be done if I remember who I am.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "The Visitor", "slug": "the-visitor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-visitor" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 42, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#The_Visitor_(2002)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:27" }, { "id": "73146ad8-37c0-4af7-861f-47f9fbf5c488", "slug": "one-of-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-fresco/one-of-the", "text": "One of the strangest things I have encountered on your world, dear Benita, is that many of your people have no idea who they really are but many ridiculous ideas about what they are expected to be, plus many religious convictions about what they should be, although nobody is! One should not want to be anything but what one is because it creates unhappiness.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "The Fresco", "slug": "the-fresco", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-fresco" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 57, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "happiness", "slug": "happiness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/happiness" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "authenticity", "slug": "authenticity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/authenticity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#The_Fresco_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:26" }, { "id": "e2e42960-a5f8-4b26-9f0b-0b3a27b3ccf8", "slug": "any-mankind-person", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/six-moon-dance/any-mankind-person", "text": "Any mankind person worth his salt can simultaneously incubate whole clutches of ideas that are either contradictory or mutually exclusive. For instance, mankind has persuaded itself that its race is perfectible, though it hasn’t changed physically, mentally, or psychologically since the Cro-Magnon. Mankind has also persuaded itself that each individual is unique, though each person shares ninety-nine and ninety-nine one hundredths of his DNA and roughly the same percentage of his ideas with thousands or even millions of other persons.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Six Moon Dance", "slug": "six-moon-dance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/six-moon-dance" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 216, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "paradox", "slug": "paradox", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/paradox" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Six_Moon_Dance_(1998)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:25" }, { "id": "5588edf0-a991-4b38-81d6-f006519d38e8", "slug": "pff-said-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/six-moon-dance/pff-said-the", "text": "“Pff,” said the Timmy. “You mankinds with your fathers and mothers. This is one of the first things we thought strange, you all the time talking my father this, my mother that. What does fathers and mothers have to do with who you are? Your planet is your mother; time is your father. Your insides know this! All life outside you is your kinfolk. Even we dosha are your kin, born of another planet but with the same father as you. Starflame makes your materials, and live-planet assembles them, and time designs what you are, not your fathers and mothers. Pff. You could be genetic assemblage; Bofusdiaga could make you without fathers or mothers; and you would still be persons! But you could not have material without stars, or life without planet, or intelligence without time and be any way at all. It is your stars and your world and long time gives you legs to dance and brains to plan and voices to sing.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Six Moon Dance", "slug": "six-moon-dance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/six-moon-dance" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 402, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "the universe", "slug": "the-universe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-universe" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Six_Moon_Dance_(1998)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:25" }, { "id": "83a1c74e-c7a4-4741-b935-fcbc1d421fcb", "slug": "just-as-novels", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/amitav-ghosh/the-great-derangement-from-bestselling-author-and-winner-of-the-2018-jnanpith-award/just-as-novels", "text": "Just as novels have come to be seen as narratives of identity, so too has politics become, for many, a search for personal authenticity, a journey of self-discovery.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Amitav Ghosh", "slug": "amitav-ghosh", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/amitav-ghosh" }, "book": { "title": "The Great Derangement: From bestselling author and winner of the 2018 Jnanpith Award", "slug": "the-great-derangement-from-bestselling-author-and-winner-of-the-2018-jnanpith-award", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/amitav-ghosh/the-great-derangement-from-bestselling-author-and-winner-of-the-2018-jnanpith-award" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "authenticity", "slug": "authenticity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/authenticity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Amitav_Ghosh#The_Great_Derangement:_Climate_Change_and_the_Unthinkable_(2016)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:17" }, { "id": "c2e78337-3a11-4f7b-8f06-a3397b4d5ed0", "slug": "the-full-expression", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-weil/simone-weil-an-anthology/the-full-expression", "text": "The full expression of personality depends upon its being inflated by social prestige; it is a social privilege.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Simone Weil", "slug": "simone-weil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-weil" }, "book": { "title": "Simone Weil: An Anthology", "slug": "simone-weil-an-anthology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-weil/simone-weil-an-anthology" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 64, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "society", "slug": "society", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society" }, { "name": "fame", "slug": "fame", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fame" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Simone_Weil#Human_Personality_(1943)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:13" }, { "id": "97776cb3-f69d-4089-89d0-cdc761a98d0a", "slug": "it-is-because", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-weil/simone-weil-an-anthology/it-is-because", "text": "It is because of my wretchedness that I am \"I.\" It is on account of the wretchedness of the universe that, in a sense, God is \"I\" (that is to say a person).", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Simone Weil", "slug": "simone-weil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-weil" }, "book": { "title": "Simone Weil: An Anthology", "slug": "simone-weil-an-anthology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-weil/simone-weil-an-anthology" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 83, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "suffering", "slug": "suffering", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Simone_Weil#The_Self_(1947)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:13" }, { "id": "75ffc68e-ec9d-4354-9b6f-c520d0f9adec", "slug": "i-had-new", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/amy-tan/the-joy-luck-club/i-had-new", "text": "I had new thoughts, willful thoughts, or rather thoughts filled with lots of won'ts. I won't let her change me, I promised myself. I won't be what I'm not.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Amy Tan", "slug": "amy-tan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/amy-tan" }, "book": { "title": "The Joy Luck Club", "slug": "the-joy-luck-club", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/amy-tan/the-joy-luck-club" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "rebellion", "slug": "rebellion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/rebellion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Amy_Tan#The_Joy_Luck_Club_(1989)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:03" }, { "id": "637af477-5765-43b2-a973-2651b7dbd11d", "slug": "i-wanted-my-children", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/amy-tan/the-joy-luck-club/i-wanted-my-children", "text": "I wanted my children to have the best combination: American circumstances and Chinese character. How could I know these things do not mix?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Amy Tan", "slug": "amy-tan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/amy-tan" }, "book": { "title": "The Joy Luck Club", "slug": "the-joy-luck-club", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/amy-tan/the-joy-luck-club" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "culture", "slug": "culture", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/culture" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Amy_Tan#The_Joy_Luck_Club_(1989)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:03" }, { "id": "bcebf5f8-a928-4c19-814a-3e92fb4cba67", "slug": "bit-by-bit", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/toni-morrison/beloved/bit-by-bit", "text": "Bit by bit, at 124 and in the Clearing, along with others, she had claimed herself. Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Toni Morrison", "slug": "toni-morrison", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/toni-morrison" }, "book": { "title": "Beloved", "slug": "beloved", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/toni-morrison/beloved" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Toni_Morrison#Beloved_(1987)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:01" }, { "id": "ad9345d1-35ca-43f6-94aa-f6473c18b4ec", "slug": "i-have-always", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/audre-lorde/zami-a-new-spelling-of-my-name/i-have-always", "text": "I have always wanted to be both man and woman, to incorporate the strongest and richest parts of my mother and father within/into me — to share valleys and mountains upon my body the way the earth does in hills and peaks.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Audre Lorde", "slug": "audre-lorde", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/audre-lorde" }, "book": { "title": "Zami: A New Spelling of My Name", "slug": "zami-a-new-spelling-of-my-name", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/audre-lorde/zami-a-new-spelling-of-my-name" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Audre_Lorde#Zami:_A_New_Spelling_of_My_Name_(1982)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:50" }, { "id": "587e6f2e-ee10-4ca7-8e05-f228fbb8ad4a", "slug": "being-women-together", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/audre-lorde/zami-a-new-spelling-of-my-name/being-women-together", "text": "Being women together was not enough. We were different.\n\nBeing gay-girls together was not enough. We were different.\n\nBeing Black together was not enough. We were different.\n\nBeing Black women together was not enough. We were different.\n\nBeing Black dykes together was not enough. We were different.Each of us had our own needs and pursuits, and many different alliances. Self-preservation warned some of us that we could not afford to settle for one easy definition, one narrow individuation of self. At the Bag, at Hunter College, uptown in Harlem, at the library, there was a piece of the real me bound in each place, and growing.It was a while before we came to realize that our place was the very house of difference rather the security of any one particular difference.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Audre Lorde", "slug": "audre-lorde", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/audre-lorde" }, "book": { "title": "Zami: A New Spelling of My Name", "slug": "zami-a-new-spelling-of-my-name", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/audre-lorde/zami-a-new-spelling-of-my-name" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "diversity", "slug": "diversity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/diversity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Audre_Lorde#Zami:_A_New_Spelling_of_My_Name_(1982)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:50" }, { "id": "2c27d7c4-bd91-4626-93ba-21900f2ed776", "slug": "nothing-of-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/invisible-monsters/nothing-of-you", "text": "Nothing of you is all-the-way yours. All of you is inherited.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Chuck Palahniuk", "slug": "chuck-palahniuk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk" }, "book": { "title": "Invisible Monsters", "slug": "invisible-monsters", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/invisible-monsters" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Invisible_Monsters#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:48" }, { "id": "139668a0-d433-4b01-b299-b5c0804a32e3", "slug": "nothing-of-me-is-original", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/invisible-monsters/nothing-of-me-is-original", "text": "Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everybody I've ever known.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Chuck Palahniuk", "slug": "chuck-palahniuk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk" }, "book": { "title": "Invisible Monsters", "slug": "invisible-monsters", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/invisible-monsters" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Invisible_Monsters#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:47" }, { "id": "7d65ef3b-e215-4887-82b7-eac270c8dc69", "slug": "globalization-never-ended", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-brin/kiln-people/globalization-never-ended", "text": "Globalization never ended human cultural diversity, but it did transform ethnicity into another hobby. Another way for people to find value in themselves, when only the genuinely talented can get authentic jobs.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Brin", "slug": "david-brin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-brin" }, "book": { "title": "Kil’n People", "slug": "kiln-people", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-brin/kiln-people" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 199, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "globalization", "slug": "globalization", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/globalization" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Brin#Kiln_People_(2002)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:46" }, { "id": "688f9609-91f8-411e-862c-6f558895436c", "slug": "that-everyone-is-identical", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-foster-wallace/infinite-jest/that-everyone-is-identical", "text": "That everyone is identical in their secret unspoken belief that way deep down they are different from everyone else. That this isn't necessarily perverse.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Foster Wallace", "slug": "david-foster-wallace", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-foster-wallace" }, "book": { "title": "Infinite Jest", "slug": "infinite-jest", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-foster-wallace/infinite-jest" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Foster_Wallace#Infinite_Jest_(1996)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:35" }, { "id": "ca9073ca-1df0-4149-8cab-04cd8e0cb856", "slug": "you-see-unfortunately", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/langston-hughes/the-big-sea/you-see-unfortunately", "text": "You see, unfortunately, I am not black. There are lots of different kinds of blood in our family. But here in the United States, the word “Negro” is used to mean anyone who has any Negro blood at all in his veins. In Africa, the word is more pure. It means all Negro, therefore black. I am brown. My father was a darker brown. My mother an olive-yellow.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Langston Hughes", "slug": "langston-hughes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/langston-hughes" }, "book": { "title": "The Big Sea", "slug": "the-big-sea", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/langston-hughes/the-big-sea" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 36, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "racism", "slug": "racism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/racism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Langston_Hughes#The_Big_Sea_(1940)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:34" }, { "id": "3de124a4-44d0-466b-852f-1b01990f3902", "slug": "thou-art-none", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-kempis/the-imitation-of-christ/thou-art-none", "text": "Thou art none the holier if thou art praised, nor the viler if thou art reproached. Thou art what thou art; and thou canst not be better than God pronounceth thee to be.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Kempis", "slug": "thomas-kempis", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-kempis" }, "book": { "title": "The Imitation of Christ", "slug": "the-imitation-of-christ", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-kempis/the-imitation-of-christ" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_%C3%A0_Kempis#The_Imitation_of_Christ_(c._1418)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:27" }, { "id": "2a1da082-463d-4337-8e18-8e89f4fd3524", "slug": "the-original-question", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/slavoj-zizek/the-plague-of-fantasies/the-original-question", "text": "The original question of desire is not directly 'What do I want?', but 'What do others want from me? What do they see in me? What am I to others?'", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Slavoj Žižek", "slug": "slavoj-zizek", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/slavoj-zizek" }, "book": { "title": "The Plague of Fantasies", "slug": "the-plague-of-fantasies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/slavoj-zizek/the-plague-of-fantasies" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 9, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "desire", "slug": "desire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/desire" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Slavoj_%C5%BDi%C5%BEek#The_Plague_of_Fantasies_(1997)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:18" }, { "id": "14875cdc-9761-440f-9540-b7fb5d47f02b", "slug": "the-blackman-is-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nadine-gordimer/burgers-daughter/the-blackman-is-not", "text": "The blackman is not fighting for equality with whites. Blackness is the blackman refusing to believe the whiteman's way of life is best for blacks.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nadine Gordimer", "slug": "nadine-gordimer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nadine-gordimer" }, "book": { "title": "Burger's Daughter", "slug": "burgers-daughter", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nadine-gordimer/burgers-daughter" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 163, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "racism", "slug": "racism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/racism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nadine_Gordimer#Burger's_Daughter_(1979)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:10" }, { "id": "7534c0a6-991f-4dcc-baf6-66dcd079ac15", "slug": "its-vital-to-remember", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/sourcery/its-vital-to-remember", "text": "It's vital to remember who you really are. It's very important. It isn't a good idea to rely on other people or things to do it for you, you see. They always get it wrong.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Terry Pratchett", "slug": "terry-pratchett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett" }, "book": { "title": "Sourcery", "slug": "sourcery", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/sourcery" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 248, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sourcery#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:53" }, { "id": "e15f8099-75d8-4d51-b21b-237f72e7c91f", "slug": "but-i-suppose", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eugene-oneill/long-days-journey-into-night/but-i-suppose", "text": "But I suppose life has made him like that, and he can't help it. None of us can help the things life has done to us. They're done before you realize it, and once they're done they make you do other things until at last everything comes between you and what you'd like to be, and you've lost your true self forever.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eugene O'Neill", "slug": "eugene-oneill", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eugene-oneill" }, "book": { "title": "Long Day's Journey Into Night", "slug": "long-days-journey-into-night", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eugene-oneill/long-days-journey-into-night" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "fate", "slug": "fate", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fate" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eugene_O'Neill#Long_Day's_Journey_into_Night_(1955)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:46" }, { "id": "b0e5070e-1316-48aa-9747-e84c63ad5afa", "slug": "we-are-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paulo-coelho/aleph/we-are-not", "text": "We are not the person other people wish we were. We are who we decide to be.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Paulo Coelho", "slug": "paulo-coelho", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paulo-coelho" }, "book": { "title": "Aleph", "slug": "aleph", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paulo-coelho/aleph" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "choices", "slug": "choices", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/choices" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paulo_Coelho#Aleph_(2011)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:33" }, { "id": "841b75b1-8808-4741-b79f-c0477aa82459", "slug": "later-hiding-in-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ken-kesey/one-flew-over-the-cuckoos-nest/later-hiding-in-the", "text": "Later, hiding in the latrine from the black boys, I'd take a look at my own self in the mirror and wonder how it was possible that anybody could manage such an enormous thing as being what he was.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ken Kesey", "slug": "ken-kesey", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ken-kesey" }, "book": { "title": "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", "slug": "one-flew-over-the-cuckoos-nest", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ken-kesey/one-flew-over-the-cuckoos-nest" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ken_Kesey#One_Flew_Over_the_Cuckoo's_Nest_(1962)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:29" }, { "id": "e2659151-0fe2-4601-be8d-e91549415687", "slug": "your-handwriting-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/diary/your-handwriting-the", "text": "\"Your handwriting. The way you walk. Which china pattern you choose. It's all giving you away. Everything you do shows your hand. Everything is a self-portrait. Everything is a diary.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Chuck Palahniuk", "slug": "chuck-palahniuk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk" }, "book": { "title": "Diary", "slug": "diary", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/diary" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Diary_(novel)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:20" }, { "id": "3b67058e-8e0d-4459-ac14-7f1a8da62f8d", "slug": "gay-and-straight", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sex-art-and-american-culture/gay-and-straight", "text": "Gay and straight men have much more in common than do gay men with lesbians or straight men with straight women. Every man must define his identity against his mother. If he does not, he he just falls back into her and is swallowed up. This is the agonizing myth-pattern in the comic, matricidal Psycho (1960), one of the hauntingly emblematic films of our time.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Camille Paglia", "slug": "camille-paglia", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia" }, "book": { "title": "Sex, Art, and American Culture", "slug": "sex-art-and-american-culture", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sex-art-and-american-culture" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 23, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "men", "slug": "men", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/men" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Camille_Paglia#Sex,_Art_and_American_Culture_:_New_Essays_(1992)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:18" }, { "id": "a9cca95a-2ad0-4364-85e9-16f775a825cc", "slug": "personality-maintains-its", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sexual-personae/personality-maintains-its", "text": "Personality maintains its discreetness by an act of will. Otherwise one person will flow helplessly into another.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Camille Paglia", "slug": "camille-paglia", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia" }, "book": { "title": "Sexual Personae", "slug": "sexual-personae", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sexual-personae" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 293, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Camille_Paglia#Sexual_Personae:_Art_and_Decadence_from_Nefertiti_to_Emily_Dickinson_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:17" }, { "id": "cae1eb09-e8c6-43e2-af00-191a5c7df3f8", "slug": "i-have-many", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-zelazny/lord-of-light/i-have-many", "text": "I have many names, and none of them matter.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Roger Zelazny", "slug": "roger-zelazny", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-zelazny" }, "book": { "title": "Lord of Light", "slug": "lord-of-light", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-zelazny/lord-of-light" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 33, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lord_of_Light#ONE", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:09" }, { "id": "5ca434df-cb2a-43b0-85ef-42bf8d7f5ff2", "slug": "no-man-for", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-scarlet-letter/no-man-for", "text": "No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nathaniel Hawthorne", "slug": "nathaniel-hawthorne", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nathaniel-hawthorne" }, "book": { "title": "The Scarlet Letter", "slug": "the-scarlet-letter", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-scarlet-letter" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Hawthorne#The_Scarlet_Letter_(1850)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:07" }, { "id": "da2f9d8e-fb7b-4f4a-9b6e-a8a4645d39ca", "slug": "the-buddhist-doctrine", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fritjof-capra/the-web-of-life/the-buddhist-doctrine", "text": "The Buddhist doctrine of impermanence includes the notion that there is no self... It holds that the idea of a separate, individual self is an illusion, just another form of maya, an intellectual concept that has no reality. To cling to this idea of a separate self leads to the same pain and suffering (duhkha) as the adherence to any other fixed category of thought.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Fritjof Capra", "slug": "fritjof-capra", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fritjof-capra" }, "book": { "title": "The Web of Life", "slug": "the-web-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fritjof-capra/the-web-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 295, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "Buddhism", "slug": "buddhism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/buddhism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fritjof_Capra#The_Web_of_Life_(1996)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:04" }, { "id": "07a5ffc6-c663-43a8-8c64-777ad43943f3", "slug": "i-am-infinitely", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-fowles/the-french-lieutenants-woman/i-am-infinitely", "text": "I am infinitely strange to myself.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Fowles", "slug": "john-fowles", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-fowles" }, "book": { "title": "The French Lieutenant's Woman", "slug": "the-french-lieutenants-woman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-fowles/the-french-lieutenants-woman" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 340, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Fowles#The_French_Lieutenant's_Woman_(1969)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:30" }, { "id": "c83fc140-61d7-45d8-b32c-5177ac675e06", "slug": "when-i-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-sword-of-the-lictor/when-i-was", "text": "When I was alone I felt I had in some fashion lost my individuality; to the thrush and the rabbit I had not been Severian, but Man. The many people who like to be utterly alone, and particularly to be utterly alone in a wilderness, do so, I believe, because they enjoy playing that part. But I wanted to be a particular person again, and so I sought the mirror of other persons, which would show me that I was not as they were.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gene Wolfe", "slug": "gene-wolfe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe" }, "book": { "title": "The Sword of the Lictor", "slug": "the-sword-of-the-lictor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-sword-of-the-lictor" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "loneliness", "slug": "loneliness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_New_Sun#The_Sword_of_the_Lictor_(1982)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:24" }, { "id": "50e58633-4c14-4289-baae-61c92314c1d3", "slug": "the-brown-book", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-sword-of-the-lictor/the-brown-book", "text": "The brown book I carry says there is nothing stranger than to explore a city wholly different from all those one knows, since to do so is to explore a second and unsuspected self. I have found a thing stranger: to explore such a city only after one has lived in it for some time without learning anything of it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gene Wolfe", "slug": "gene-wolfe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe" }, "book": { "title": "The Sword of the Lictor", "slug": "the-sword-of-the-lictor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-sword-of-the-lictor" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "cities", "slug": "cities", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cities" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_New_Sun#The_Sword_of_the_Lictor_(1982)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:24" }, { "id": "9f2cfa41-43f5-441d-8fbf-eb8a12db33dd", "slug": "youre-you-jo-youre", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany/empire-star/youre-you-jo-youre", "text": "You’re you, Jo. You’re you and everything that went into you, from the way you sit for hours and watch Di’k when you want to think, to the way you turn a tenth of a second faster in response to something blue than to something red. You’re all you ever thought, all you ever hoped, and all you ever hated, too. And all you've learned.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Samuel R. Delany", "slug": "samuel-r-delany", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany" }, "book": { "title": "Empire Star", "slug": "empire-star", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany/empire-star" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 180, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_R._Delany#Empire_Star_(1966)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:17" }, { "id": "7052b358-0dc2-406d-9458-3ae115a90319", "slug": "maybe-thats-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany/empire-star/maybe-thats-the", "text": "Maybe that’s the most important thing there is, Lump. If there is an answer to that question, Lump, that’s what it is, to know you’re yourself and nobody else.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Samuel R. Delany", "slug": "samuel-r-delany", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany" }, "book": { "title": "Empire Star", "slug": "empire-star", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany/empire-star" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 180, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_R._Delany#Empire_Star_(1966)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:17" }, { "id": "320c4df1-86ab-4f69-b28d-a76dc5fb2ac2", "slug": "the-male-dares", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto/the-male-dares", "text": "The male dares to be different to the degree that he accepts his passivity and his desire to be female, his fagginess. The farthest out male is the dragqueen, but he, although different from most men, is exactly like all other dragqueens; like the functionalist, he has an identity - a female; he tries to define all his troubles away - but still no individuality. Not completely convinced that he's a woman, highly insecure about being sufficiently female, he conforms compulsively to the man-made feminine stereotype, ending up as nothing but a bundle of stilted mannerisms.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Valerie Solanas", "slug": "valerie-solanas", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas" }, "book": { "title": "SCUM Manifesto", "slug": "scum-manifesto", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 8, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "men", "slug": "men", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/men" }, { "name": "feminism", "slug": "feminism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Valerie_Solanas#SCUM_MANIFESTO_(1967)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:05" }, { "id": "f42503d1-f111-4b3a-a8b0-f49f87eff18f", "slug": "the-person-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-penn-warren/all-the-kings-men/the-person-that", "text": "The person that loves you has picked you out of the great mass of uncreated clay which is humanity to make something out of, and the poor lumpish clay which is you wants to find out what it has been made into. But at the same time, you, in the act of loving somebody, become real, cease to be a part of the continuum of the uncreated clay and get the breath of life in you and rise up. So you create yourself by creating another person, who, however, has also created you, picked up the you-chunk of clay out of the mass. So there are two you's, the one you yourself create by loving and the one the beloved creates by loving you. The farther those two you's are apart the more the world grinds and grudges on its axis. But if you loved and were loved perfectly then there wouldn't be any difference between the two you's or any distance between them. They would coincide perfectly, there would be a perfect focus, as when a stereoscope gets the twin images on the card into perfect alignment.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert Penn Warren", "slug": "robert-penn-warren", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-penn-warren" }, "book": { "title": "All the King's Men", "slug": "all-the-kings-men", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-penn-warren/all-the-kings-men" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "love", "slug": "love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/All_the_King's_Men#Chapter_7", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:59" }, { "id": "928dab0d-d22e-43d1-a9cc-fde3c1eeb8ea", "slug": "it-is-human", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-penn-warren/all-the-kings-men/it-is-human", "text": "It is human defect—to try to know oneself by the self of another.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert Penn Warren", "slug": "robert-penn-warren", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-penn-warren" }, "book": { "title": "All the King's Men", "slug": "all-the-kings-men", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-penn-warren/all-the-kings-men" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/All_the_King's_Men#Chapter_4", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:58" }, { "id": "81a526e0-664f-451b-ac6c-e0908f9dfba7", "slug": "they-say-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-penn-warren/all-the-kings-men/they-say-you", "text": "They say you are not you except in terms of relation to other people. If there weren't any other people there wouldn't be any you because what you do, which is what you are, only has meaning in relation to other people.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert Penn Warren", "slug": "robert-penn-warren", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-penn-warren" }, "book": { "title": "All the King's Men", "slug": "all-the-kings-men", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-penn-warren/all-the-kings-men" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "community", "slug": "community", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/community" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/All_the_King's_Men#Chapter_3", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:58" }, { "id": "4275a04f-e28b-431b-97e6-4ab38e2c44f9", "slug": "it-may-be-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-penn-warren/all-the-kings-men/it-may-be-the", "text": "It may be the reason they don't seem real to you is that you aren't very real yourself.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert Penn Warren", "slug": "robert-penn-warren", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-penn-warren" }, "book": { "title": "All the King's Men", "slug": "all-the-kings-men", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-penn-warren/all-the-kings-men" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/All_the_King's_Men#Chapter_2", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:58" }, { "id": "714e4033-df4b-4909-b236-a42c2fe6e871", "slug": "i-couldnt-tell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gabriel-garcia-marquez/living-to-tell-the-tale/i-couldnt-tell", "text": "I couldn't tell you because even I don't know who I am yet.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gabriel García Márquez", "slug": "gabriel-garcia-marquez", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gabriel-garcia-marquez" }, "book": { "title": "Living to Tell the Tale", "slug": "living-to-tell-the-tale", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gabriel-garcia-marquez/living-to-tell-the-tale" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gabriel_Garc%C3%ADa_M%C3%A1rquez#Living_to_Tell_the_Tale_(2002)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:53" }, { "id": "2e24b8e9-3bc4-4ef1-aedd-2a8615382428", "slug": "youre-always-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gloria-steinem/my-life-on-the-road/youre-always-the", "text": "\"You're always the person you were when you were born,\" she says impatiently. \"You just keep finding new ways to express it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gloria Steinem", "slug": "gloria-steinem", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gloria-steinem" }, "book": { "title": "My Life on the Road", "slug": "my-life-on-the-road", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gloria-steinem/my-life-on-the-road" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gloria_Steinem#My_Life_on_The_Road_(2015)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:49" }, { "id": "bfca4d29-104e-40de-a845-e7a4d42123fe", "slug": "a-person-likes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/laurell-k-hamilton/incubus-dreams/a-person-likes", "text": "A person likes to think of himself in a certain way, and when something happens that makes that no longer possible, you mourn the old self. The person you thought you were.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Laurell K. Hamilton", "slug": "laurell-k-hamilton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/laurell-k-hamilton" }, "book": { "title": "Incubus Dreams", "slug": "incubus-dreams", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/laurell-k-hamilton/incubus-dreams" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 311, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "loss", "slug": "loss", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loss" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Laurell_K._Hamilton#Incubus_Dreams_(2004)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:47" }, { "id": "c4a25d5f-2501-4d44-8a5e-7bd9ed70bcad", "slug": "i-once-heard", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/children-of-the-mind/i-once-heard", "text": "I once heard a tale of a man who split himself in two. The one part never changed at all; the other grew and grew. The changeless part was always true, the growing part was always new, and I wondered, when the tale was through, which part was me, and which was you.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Orson Scott Card", "slug": "orson-scott-card", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card" }, "book": { "title": "Children Of The Mind", "slug": "children-of-the-mind", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/children-of-the-mind" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "change", "slug": "change", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Children_of_the_Mind#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:45" }, { "id": "55a223f4-8a99-40db-98aa-14f4fd27c4cc", "slug": "we-become-one", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/speaker-for-the-dead/we-become-one", "text": "We become one tribe because we say we're one tribe.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Orson Scott Card", "slug": "orson-scott-card", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card" }, "book": { "title": "Speaker for the Dead", "slug": "speaker-for-the-dead", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/speaker-for-the-dead" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "community", "slug": "community", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/community" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Speaker_for_the_Dead#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:43" }, { "id": "ab01ac3c-b331-4ed4-9fbc-0c55a1cd1087", "slug": "frustrated-yes-why", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sylvia-plath/the-unabridged-journals-of-sylvia-plath/frustrated-yes-why", "text": "Frustrated? Yes. Why? Because it is impossible for me to be God — or the universal woman-and-man — or anything much. I am what I feel and think and do. I want to express my being as fully as I can because I somewhere picked up the idea that I could justify my being alive that way.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sylvia Plath", "slug": "sylvia-plath", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sylvia-plath" }, "book": { "title": "The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath", "slug": "the-unabridged-journals-of-sylvia-plath", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sylvia-plath/the-unabridged-journals-of-sylvia-plath" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 158, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "meaning of life", "slug": "meaning-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/meaning-of-life" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath#The_Unabridged_Journals_of_Sylvia_Plath_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:42" }, { "id": "9f8b5a0a-9b68-4d70-a4aa-365ebbdce4cd", "slug": "why-am-i-trying", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-miller/death-of-a-salesman/why-am-i-trying", "text": "Why am I trying to become what I don't want to be? What am I doing in an office, making a contemptuous, begging fool of myself, when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am!", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Arthur Miller", "slug": "arthur-miller", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-miller" }, "book": { "title": "Death of a Salesman", "slug": "death-of-a-salesman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-miller/death-of-a-salesman" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_Miller#Death_of_a_Salesman_(1949)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:23" }, { "id": "8d74b243-6689-4850-beb3-65ebfb75f5ef", "slug": "those-must-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-pynchon/gravitys-rainbow/those-must-have", "text": "Those must have all been important to me once. What I am now grew from that. A former self is a fool, an insufferable ass, but he's still human, you'd no more turn him out than you'd turn out any kind of cripple, would you?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Pynchon", "slug": "thomas-pynchon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-pynchon" }, "book": { "title": "Gravity's Rainbow", "slug": "gravitys-rainbow", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-pynchon/gravitys-rainbow" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "the past", "slug": "the-past", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-past" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Pynchon#Gravity's_Rainbow_(1973)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:19" }, { "id": "ed361bfc-d24b-42bb-84ab-47173d99a637", "slug": "i-am-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/margaret-atwood/oryx-and-crake/i-am-not", "text": "“I am not my childhood,\" Snowman says out loud.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Margaret Atwood", "slug": "margaret-atwood", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/margaret-atwood" }, "book": { "title": "Oryx and Crake", "slug": "oryx-and-crake", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/margaret-atwood/oryx-and-crake" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "childhood", "slug": "childhood", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/childhood" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Margaret_Atwood#Oryx_and_Crake_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:11" }, { "id": "874c6a8a-2504-423a-a9f8-8c521cd9076d", "slug": "you-can-forget", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/margaret-atwood/the-year-of-the-flood/you-can-forget", "text": "You can forget who you are if you're alone too much.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Margaret Atwood", "slug": "margaret-atwood", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/margaret-atwood" }, "book": { "title": "The Year of the Flood", "slug": "the-year-of-the-flood", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/margaret-atwood/the-year-of-the-flood" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "loneliness", "slug": "loneliness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Margaret_Atwood#The_Year_of_the_Flood_(2009)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:11" }, { "id": "c04c92d9-1bf5-476e-99d7-9b723b6327c4", "slug": "and-isnt-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-fountainhead/and-isnt-that", "text": "\"And isn't that the root of every despicable action? Not selfishness, but precisely the absence of a self.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ayn Rand", "slug": "ayn-rand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand" }, "book": { "title": "The Fountainhead", "slug": "the-fountainhead", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-fountainhead" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 658, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Fountainhead#Part_IV_(_Howard_Roark_)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:09" }, { "id": "8bb706c0-7c80-43a3-8907-579ae96066a4", "slug": "i-dont-wish", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-fountainhead/i-dont-wish", "text": "\"I don't wish to be the symbol of anything. I'm only myself.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ayn Rand", "slug": "ayn-rand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand" }, "book": { "title": "The Fountainhead", "slug": "the-fountainhead", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-fountainhead" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 655, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Fountainhead#Part_IV_(_Howard_Roark_)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:09" }, { "id": "20a6037f-e450-44a2-aea7-9df9da5519b8", "slug": "to-put-it-very", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/zbigniew-brzezinski/the-grand-chessboard/to-put-it-very", "text": "To put it very simply, anyone can become an American, but only a Chinese can be Chinese - and that places an additional and significant barrier in the way of any essentially national global hegemony.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Zbigniew Brzezinski", "slug": "zbigniew-brzezinski", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/zbigniew-brzezinski" }, "book": { "title": "The Grand Chessboard", "slug": "the-grand-chessboard", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/zbigniew-brzezinski/the-grand-chessboard" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 210, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "America", "slug": "america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/america" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Zbigniew_Brzezinski#The_Grand_Chessboard_(1997)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:08" }, { "id": "b51232e8-289d-46d0-a184-4c50efc7ef81", "slug": "we-can-spend", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/choke/we-can-spend", "text": "We can spend our lives letting the world tell us who we are...Or we can decide for ourselves.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Chuck Palahniuk", "slug": "chuck-palahniuk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk" }, "book": { "title": "Choke", "slug": "choke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/choke" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Choke_(novel)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:04" }, { "id": "b6ca1c0c-8352-45d2-9ae0-3b4120616082", "slug": "you-are-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami/hard-boiled-wonderland-and-the-end-of-the-world/you-are-not", "text": "\"You are not lost. It's just that your own thoughts are being kept from you, or hidden away. But the mind is strong. It survives even without thought. Even with everything taken away, it holds a seed-your self. You must believe in your powers.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Haruki Murakami", "slug": "haruki-murakami", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami" }, "book": { "title": "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World", "slug": "hard-boiled-wonderland-and-the-end-of-the-world", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami/hard-boiled-wonderland-and-the-end-of-the-world" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Haruki_Murakami#Hard-Boiled_Wonderland_and_the_End_of_the_World_(1985)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:01" }, { "id": "1dd2029c-d3e0-4943-ab8e-3ed167c95003", "slug": "once-when-i-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami/hard-boiled-wonderland-and-the-end-of-the-world/once-when-i-was", "text": "Once, when I was younger, I thought I could be someone else. I'd move to Casablanca, open a bar, and I'd meet Ingrid Bergman. Or more realistically - whether actually more realistic or not - I'd tune in on a better life, something more suited to my true self. Toward that end, I had to undergo training. I read The Greening of America, and I saw Easy Rider three times. But like a boat with a twisted rudder, I kept coming back to the same place. I wasn't anywhere. I was myself, waiting on the shore for me to return.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Haruki Murakami", "slug": "haruki-murakami", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami" }, "book": { "title": "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World", "slug": "hard-boiled-wonderland-and-the-end-of-the-world", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami/hard-boiled-wonderland-and-the-end-of-the-world" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Haruki_Murakami#Hard-Boiled_Wonderland_and_the_End_of_the_World_(1985)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:01" }, { "id": "429f2605-a92a-4abb-99c2-c168c90c9660", "slug": "when-i-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-farthest-shore/when-i-was", "text": "When I was young, I had to choose between the life of being and the life of doing. And I leapt at the latter like a trout to a fly. But each deed you do, each act, binds you to itself and to its consequences, and makes you act again and yet again. Then very seldom do you come upon a space, a time like this, between act and act, when you may stop and simply be. or wonder who, after all, you are.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ursula K. Le Guin", "slug": "ursula-k-le-guin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin" }, "book": { "title": "The Farthest Shore", "slug": "the-farthest-shore", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-farthest-shore" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "taking action", "slug": "taking-action", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/taking-action" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin#The_Farthest_Shore_(1972)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:56" }, { "id": "250e97e3-0783-403d-a170-2e4e6b7aa82f", "slug": "how-can-we-live", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-grapes-of-wrath/how-can-we-live", "text": "How can we live without our lives? How will we know it’s us without our past?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Steinbeck", "slug": "john-steinbeck", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck" }, "book": { "title": "The Grapes of Wrath", "slug": "the-grapes-of-wrath", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-grapes-of-wrath" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "the past", "slug": "the-past", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-past" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Grapes_of_Wrath#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:59" }, { "id": "6cd68f6e-4931-4b01-b9ca-33b36d629d34", "slug": "the-truth-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fscott-fitzgerald/the-great-gatsby/the-truth-was", "text": "The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God — a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that — and he must be about His Father’s business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "F.Scott Fitzgerald", "slug": "fscott-fitzgerald", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fscott-fitzgerald" }, "book": { "title": "The Great Gatsby", "slug": "the-great-gatsby", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fscott-fitzgerald/the-great-gatsby" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 98, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Great_Gatsby#Chapter_6", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:57" }, { "id": "860cdbce-e009-4e36-bf85-c83b328a6c23", "slug": "the-cliche-organizes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/vaclav-havel/disturbing-the-peace/the-cliche-organizes", "text": "The cliché organizes life; it expropriates people's identity; it becomes ruler, defense lawyer, judge, and the law.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Václav Havel", "slug": "vaclav-havel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/vaclav-havel" }, "book": { "title": "Disturbing the Peace", "slug": "disturbing-the-peace", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/vaclav-havel/disturbing-the-peace" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "conformity", "slug": "conformity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conformity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/V%C3%A1clav_Havel#Disturbing_the_Peace_(1986)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:56" }, { "id": "890997d2-d411-4c0a-9e22-dbb0d007571c", "slug": "my-person-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-shelley/frankenstein/my-person-was", "text": "My person was hideous and my stature gigantic. What did this mean? Who was I? What was I? Whence did I come? What was my destination? These questions continually recurred, but I was unable to solve them.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Mary Shelley", "slug": "mary-shelley", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-shelley" }, "book": { "title": "Frankenstein", "slug": "frankenstein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-shelley/frankenstein" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frankenstein_(novel)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:46" }, { "id": "83819129-39c1-42d1-b067-b7ae31ae8d6f", "slug": "i-am-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/don-delillo/white-noise/i-am-the", "text": "“I am the false character that follows the name around.” – Jack", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Don DeLillo", "slug": "don-delillo", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/don-delillo" }, "book": { "title": "White Noise", "slug": "white-noise", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/don-delillo/white-noise" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/White_Noise_(novel)#Jack", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:38" }, { "id": "232110d3-c00d-49d7-ac9d-74c4d7decb70", "slug": "once-youre-out", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/don-delillo/white-noise/once-youre-out", "text": "“Once you’re out of school, it is only a matter of time before you experience the vast loneliness and dissatisfaction of consumers who have lost their group identity.”- Murray", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Don DeLillo", "slug": "don-delillo", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/don-delillo" }, "book": { "title": "White Noise", "slug": "white-noise", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/don-delillo/white-noise" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "loneliness", "slug": "loneliness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "consumerism", "slug": "consumerism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/consumerism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/White_Noise_(novel)#Murray", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:38" }, { "id": "791aa1c4-677c-4430-bb81-f78292245759", "slug": "oh-i-knew", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies/the-cornish-trilogy/oh-i-knew", "text": "Oh, I knew what was wrong with me, right enough; I wanted to be an intellectual, to escape from everything Mamusia and the generations of Kalderash behind her meant, and I knew I could do it only by the uttermost violence to myself.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robertson Davies", "slug": "robertson-davies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies" }, "book": { "title": "The Cornish Trilogy", "slug": "the-cornish-trilogy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies/the-cornish-trilogy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cornish_Trilogy#The_Rebel_Angels", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:15" }, { "id": "b1655273-16fd-4d5e-a043-d0589223ff24", "slug": "circumcision-is-startling", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-roth/the-counterlife/circumcision-is-startling", "text": "Circumcision is startling, all right, particularly when performed by a garlicked old man upon the glory of a newborn body, but then maybe that’s what the Jews had in mind and what makes the act seem quintessentially Jewish and the mark of their reality. Circumcision makes it clear as can be that you are here and not there, that you are out and not in — also that you’re mine and not theirs.... Quite convincingly, circumcision gives the lie to the womb-dream of life in the beautiful state of innocent prehistory, the appealing idyll of living \"naturally,\" unencumbered by man-made ritual. To be born is to lose all that. The heavy hand of human values falls upon you right at the start, marking your genitals as its own.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Philip Roth", "slug": "philip-roth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-roth" }, "book": { "title": "The Counterlife", "slug": "the-counterlife", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-roth/the-counterlife" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_Roth#The_Counterlife_(1986)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:08" }, { "id": "ad5d2b88-f037-4307-9bd8-09c82d07ebc7", "slug": "you-rebel-against", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-roth/the-facts/you-rebel-against", "text": "You rebel against the tribal and look for the individual, for your own voice as against the stereotypical voice of the tribe or the tribe's stereotype of itself. You have to establish yourself against your predecessor, and doing so can well involve what they like to call self-hatred. I happen to think that — all those protestations notwithstanding — your self hatred was real and a positive force in its very destructiveness. Since to build something new often requires that something else be destroyed, self-hatred is valuable for a young person. What should he or she have instead — self-approval, self-satisfaction, self-praise? It's not so bad to hate the norms that keep a society from moving on, especially when the norms are dictated by fear as much as by anything else and especially when that fear is of the enemy forces of the overwhelming majority. But you seem now to be so strongly motivated by a need for reconciliation with the tribe that you aren't even willing to acknowledge how disapproving of its platitudinous demands you were back then, however ineluctably Jewish you may also have felt. The prodigal son who once upset the tribal balance — and perhaps even invigorated the tribe's health — may well, in his old age, have a sentimental urge to go back home, but isn't this a bit premature in you, aren't you really too young to have it so fully developed?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Philip Roth", "slug": "philip-roth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-roth" }, "book": { "title": "The Facts", "slug": "the-facts", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-roth/the-facts" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "youth", "slug": "youth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/youth" }, { "name": "rebellion", "slug": "rebellion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/rebellion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_Roth#The_Facts:_A_Novelist's_Autobiography_(1988)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:08" }, { "id": "ab107809-ef3c-4d24-9aec-0ae919318cf4", "slug": "i-can-lie", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-roth/portnoys-complaint/i-can-lie", "text": "I can lie about my name, I can lie about my school, but how am I going to lie about this fucking nose? \"You seem like a very nice person Mr. Porte-Noir, but why do you go around covering the middle of your face like that?\" Because suddenly it has taken off, the middle of my face! Because gone is the button of my childhood years, that pretty little thing that people used to look at in my carriage, and lo and behold, the middle of my face has begun to reach out towards God. Porte-Noir and Parsons my ass, kid, you have got J-E-W written right across the middle of your face.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Philip Roth", "slug": "philip-roth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-roth" }, "book": { "title": "Portnoy's Complaint", "slug": "portnoys-complaint", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-roth/portnoys-complaint" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_Roth#Portnoy's_Complaint_(1969)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:08" }, { "id": "12bd3285-d4be-4046-85b5-48d5b6de8673", "slug": "all-i-can", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-roth/the-counterlife/all-i-can", "text": "All I can tell you with certainty is that I, for one, have no self, and that I am unwilling or unable to perpetrate upon myself the joke of a self .... What I have instead is a variety of impersonations I can do, and not only of myself — a troupe of players that I have internalised, a permanent company of actors that I can call upon when a self is required .... I am a theater and nothing more than a theater.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Philip Roth", "slug": "philip-roth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-roth" }, "book": { "title": "The Counterlife", "slug": "the-counterlife", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-roth/the-counterlife" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "self-knowledge", "slug": "self-knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-knowledge" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_Roth#The_Counterlife_(1986)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:08" }, { "id": "057cd0db-8a10-403d-8a82-511cfc768d5a", "slug": "englands-made-a-jew", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-roth/the-counterlife/englands-made-a-jew", "text": "England’s made a Jew of me in only eight weeks, which, on reflection, might be the least painful method. A Jew without Jews, without Judaism, without Zionism, without Jewishness, without a temple or an army or even a pistol, a Jew clearly without a home, just the object itself, like a glass or an apple.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Philip Roth", "slug": "philip-roth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-roth" }, "book": { "title": "The Counterlife", "slug": "the-counterlife", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-roth/the-counterlife" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_Roth#The_Counterlife_(1986)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:08" }, { "id": "d6712a0d-ba48-42bc-9abb-b5cda1113d10", "slug": "i-use-bits", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-cobain/journals/i-use-bits", "text": "I use bits and pieces of others [sic] personalities to form my own. [p. 95]", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Cobain", "slug": "kurt-cobain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-cobain" }, "book": { "title": "Journals", "slug": "journals", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-cobain/journals" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Cobain#Journals_(2002)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:18" }, { "id": "8a8f7ef8-dff8-460f-89a6-ad76762cceb5", "slug": "every-arrabin-desperately", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/wyst-alastor-1716/every-arrabin-desperately", "text": "Every Arrabin desperately asserts his individuality, with personal tricks and fads. A futile kind of life, no doubt, but isn’t all life futile?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jack Vance", "slug": "jack-vance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance" }, "book": { "title": "Wyst: Alastor 1716", "slug": "wyst-alastor-1716", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/wyst-alastor-1716" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 347, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "meaning of life", "slug": "meaning-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/meaning-of-life" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jack_Vance#Wyst:_Alastor_1716_(1978)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:02" }, { "id": "7a50a981-f01b-44e6-bcfc-9b00d8f19b84", "slug": "we-are-what", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/mother-night/we-are-what", "text": "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Vonnegut", "slug": "kurt-vonnegut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut" }, "book": { "title": "Mother Night", "slug": "mother-night", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/mother-night" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "appearances", "slug": "appearances", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/appearances" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#Mother_Night_(1962)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:35" }, { "id": "0f507b80-cddd-4fb5-9191-5f29348d1de2", "slug": "it-is-remarkable", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb/the-black-swan/it-is-remarkable", "text": "It is remarkable how fast and how effectively you can construct a nationality with a flag, a few speeches, and a national anthem; to this day I avoid the label \"Lebanese,\" preferring the less restrictive \"Levantine\" designation.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nassim Nicholas Taleb", "slug": "nassim-nicholas-taleb", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb" }, "book": { "title": "The Black Swan", "slug": "the-black-swan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb/the-black-swan" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 5, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "nationalism", "slug": "nationalism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nationalism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nassim_Nicholas_Taleb#The_Black_Swan:_The_Impact_of_the_Highly_Improbable_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:31" }, { "id": "6ccf1f7b-4d86-4f02-beda-6d325c336c0c", "slug": "what-you-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/intuition-pumps-and-other-tools-for-thinking/what-you-are", "text": "What you are is that rolling sum of experience and talent, solemn intention and daydreaming fantasy, bound together in one brain and body and called by a given name. The idea that there is, in addition, a special indissoluble nugget of you, or ego, or spirit, or soul, is an attractive fantasy, but nothing that we need in order to make sense of people, their dreams and hopes, their heroism and their sins.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Daniel Dennett", "slug": "daniel-dennett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett" }, "book": { "title": "Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking", "slug": "intuition-pumps-and-other-tools-for-thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/intuition-pumps-and-other-tools-for-thinking" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "soul", "slug": "soul", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/soul" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Dennett#Intuition_Pumps_and_Other_Tools_for_Thinking_(2013)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:30" }, { "id": "7bfafc8f-2b65-4121-8242-e780e0a07848", "slug": "in-hell-its", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/damned/in-hell-its", "text": "\"In Hell, it's our attachments to a fixed identity that torture us.\"0", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Chuck Palahniuk", "slug": "chuck-palahniuk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk" }, "book": { "title": "Damned", "slug": "damned", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/damned" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "hell", "slug": "hell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hell" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Damned_(Palahniuk_novel)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:00" }, { "id": "10661ca7-674a-4336-bd0c-15cc416f23fc", "slug": "why-is-it-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/damned/why-is-it-that", "text": "Why is it that I occur as a story to everyone except myself?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Chuck Palahniuk", "slug": "chuck-palahniuk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk" }, "book": { "title": "Damned", "slug": "damned", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/damned" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Damned_(Palahniuk_novel)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:00" }, { "id": "0e27fb56-a0ba-4c8d-a01a-2606246f1ab7", "slug": "i-never-had", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/claude-levi-strauss/myth-and-meaning/i-never-had", "text": "I never had, and still do not have, the perception of feeling my personal identity. I appear to myself as the place where something is going on, but there is no ‘I’, no ‘me.’ Each of us is a kind of crossroads where things happen. The crossroads is purely passive; something happens there. A different thing, equally valid, happens elsewhere. There is no choice, it is just a matter of chance.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Claude Lévi-Strauss", "slug": "claude-levi-strauss", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/claude-levi-strauss" }, "book": { "title": "Myth and Meaning", "slug": "myth-and-meaning", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/claude-levi-strauss/myth-and-meaning" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "chance", "slug": "chance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Claude_L%C3%A9vi-Strauss#Myth_and_Meaning_(1978)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:57" }, { "id": "c8c3870b-e058-4a3c-aa41-4e64d9fd10ad", "slug": "i-need-no-warrant", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/anthem/i-need-no-warrant", "text": "I need no warrant for being, and no word of sanction upon my being. I am the warrant and the sanction.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ayn Rand", "slug": "ayn-rand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand" }, "book": { "title": "Anthem", "slug": "anthem", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/anthem" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "independence", "slug": "independence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/independence" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand#Anthem_(1937)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:51" }, { "id": "42c4d115-3e2d-4db0-b278-5230dcf872c3", "slug": "and-now-i-see", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/anthem/and-now-i-see", "text": "And now I see the face of god, and I raise this god over the earth, this god whom men have sought since men came into being, this god who will grant them joy and peace and pride. This god, this one word: 'I.'", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ayn Rand", "slug": "ayn-rand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand" }, "book": { "title": "Anthem", "slug": "anthem", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/anthem" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "individualism", "slug": "individualism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/individualism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand#Anthem_(1937)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:51" }, { "id": "1e0e060c-495b-4ea3-b314-68f3d4168302", "slug": "i-am-i-think", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/anthem/i-am-i-think", "text": "\"I am. I think. I will.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ayn Rand", "slug": "ayn-rand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand" }, "book": { "title": "Anthem", "slug": "anthem", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/anthem" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand#Anthem_(1937)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:51" }, { "id": "1eb6b4f9-3377-478d-b635-760fd7dda59a", "slug": "it-makes-me-feel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/brave-new-world/it-makes-me-feel", "text": "\"It makes me feel as though...\" he hesitated, searching for words with which to express himself, \"as though I were more me, if you see what I mean. More on my own, not so completely a part of something else. Not just a cell in the social body.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Aldous Huxley", "slug": "aldous-huxley", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley" }, "book": { "title": "Brave New World", "slug": "brave-new-world", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/brave-new-world" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "individualism", "slug": "individualism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/individualism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brave_New_World#Chapter_6", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:34" }, { "id": "08c846f7-0414-41be-993d-c2a8d3a10d31", "slug": "id-rather-be-myself", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/brave-new-world/id-rather-be-myself", "text": "\"I'd rather be myself. Myself and nasty. Not somebody else, however jolly.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Aldous Huxley", "slug": "aldous-huxley", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley" }, "book": { "title": "Brave New World", "slug": "brave-new-world", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/brave-new-world" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "authenticity", "slug": "authenticity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/authenticity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brave_New_World#Chapter_6", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:34" }, { "id": "83c8104e-3378-46b1-a338-a554c4142c88", "slug": "who-were-all", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-kerouac/the-dharma-bums/who-were-all", "text": "Who were all these strange ghosts rooted to the silly little adventure of earth with me? And who was I?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jack Kerouac", "slug": "jack-kerouac", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-kerouac" }, "book": { "title": "The Dharma Bums", "slug": "the-dharma-bums", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-kerouac/the-dharma-bums" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Dharma_Bums", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:31" }, { "id": "cd92f2f8-11cd-46f3-a223-8347dbcdf82e", "slug": "i-woke-up-as-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-kerouac/on-the-road/i-woke-up-as-the", "text": "I woke up as the sun was reddening; and that was the one distinct time in my life, the strangest moment of all, when I didn't know who I was — I was far away from home, haunted and tired with travel, in a cheap hotel room I'd never seen, hearing the hiss of steam outside, and the creak of the old wood of the hotel, and footsteps upstairs, and all the sad sounds, and I looked at the cracked high ceiling and really didn't know who I was for about fifteen strange seconds. I wasn't scared; I was just somebody else, some stranger, and my whole life was a haunted life, the life of a ghost. I was halfway across America, at the dividing line between the East of my youth and the West of my future.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jack Kerouac", "slug": "jack-kerouac", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-kerouac" }, "book": { "title": "On the Road", "slug": "on-the-road", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-kerouac/on-the-road" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "travel", "slug": "travel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/travel" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/On_the_Road#Part_one", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:30" }, { "id": "59771477-e0a5-4329-88de-294f11db7a78", "slug": "who-what-am", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/salman-rushdie/midnights-children/who-what-am", "text": "Who what am I? My answer: I am the sum total of everything that went before me, of all I have been seen done, of everything done-to-me. I am everyone everything whose being-in-the-world affected was affected by mine. I am anything that happens after I've gone which would not have happened if I had not come. Nor am I particularly exceptional in this matter; each \"I\", everyone of the now-six-hundred-million-plus of us, contains a similar multitude. I repeat for the last time: to understand me, you'll have to swallow a world.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Salman Rushdie", "slug": "salman-rushdie", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/salman-rushdie" }, "book": { "title": "Midnight's Children", "slug": "midnights-children", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/salman-rushdie/midnights-children" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie#Midnight's_Children_(1981)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:26" }, { "id": "e43fa592-9f37-481f-896b-08a1ec36a21e", "slug": "our-friends-how", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/virginia-woolf/the-waves/our-friends-how", "text": "Our friends, how seldom visited, how little known — it is true; and yet, when I meet an unknown person, and try to break off, here at this table, what I call “my life”, it is not one life that I look back upon; I am not one person; I am many people; I do not altogether know who I am — Jinny, Susan, Neville, Rhoda, or Louis; or how to distinguish my life from theirs.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Virginia Woolf", "slug": "virginia-woolf", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/virginia-woolf" }, "book": { "title": "The Waves", "slug": "the-waves", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/virginia-woolf/the-waves" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "friendship", "slug": "friendship", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/friendship" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf#The_Waves_(1931)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:17" }, { "id": "9c6db052-2694-4276-abbe-c9622a519b60", "slug": "for-i-am-more", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/virginia-woolf/the-waves/for-i-am-more", "text": "For I am more selves than Neville thinks. We are not simple as our friends would have us to meet their needs. Yet love is simple.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Virginia Woolf", "slug": "virginia-woolf", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/virginia-woolf" }, "book": { "title": "The Waves", "slug": "the-waves", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/virginia-woolf/the-waves" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "love", "slug": "love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf#The_Waves_(1931)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:17" }, { "id": "53f78acc-5321-4c11-afd2-ab89cf83a779", "slug": "forty-two-his-age", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/a-maze-of-death/forty-two-his-age", "text": "Forty-two. His age had astounded him for years, and each time that he had sat so astounded, trying to figure out what had become of the young, slim man in his twenties, a whole additional year slipped by and had to be recorded, a continually growing sum which he could not reconcile with his self-image. He still saw himself, in his mind's eye, as youthful, and when he caught sight of himself in photographs he usually collapsed ... Somebody took my actual physical presence away and substituted this, he had thought from time to time. Oh well, so it went.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Philip K. Dick", "slug": "philip-k-dick", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick" }, "book": { "title": "A Maze of Death", "slug": "a-maze-of-death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/a-maze-of-death" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "old age", "slug": "old-age", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/old-age" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick#A_Maze_of_Death_(1970)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:06" }, { "id": "3007523b-96a4-47c3-a07a-567001c2b04c", "slug": "for-mercer-everything", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/do-androids-dream-of-electric-sheep/for-mercer-everything", "text": "For Mercer everything is easy, he thought, because Mercer accepts everything. Nothing is alien to him. But what I've done, he thought; that's become alien to me. In fact everything has become unnatural; I've become an unnatural self.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Philip K. Dick", "slug": "philip-k-dick", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick" }, "book": { "title": "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", "slug": "do-androids-dream-of-electric-sheep", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/do-androids-dream-of-electric-sheep" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 230, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "acceptance", "slug": "acceptance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/acceptance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick#Do_Androids_Dream_of_Electric_Sheep%3F_(1968)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:05" }, { "id": "48db8491-4482-4ce9-9d49-c4b83595b5ed", "slug": "im-not-much", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/martian-time-slip/im-not-much", "text": "I'm not much, but I'm all I have.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Philip K. Dick", "slug": "philip-k-dick", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick" }, "book": { "title": "Martian Time-Slip", "slug": "martian-time-slip", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/martian-time-slip" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "acceptance", "slug": "acceptance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/acceptance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick#Martian_Time-Slip_(1964)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:04" }, { "id": "549a457f-9793-49b0-8c4b-54113d4416a6", "slug": "im-a-strange", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/solar-lottery/im-a-strange", "text": "I'm a strange person. Sometimes I hardly know what I'm going to do or say next. Sometimes I seem a stranger to myself. Sometimes what I do surprises me and I can't understand why I do it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Philip K. Dick", "slug": "philip-k-dick", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick" }, "book": { "title": "Solar Lottery", "slug": "solar-lottery", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/solar-lottery" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "self-knowledge", "slug": "self-knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-knowledge" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick#Solar_Lottery_(1955)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:02" }, { "id": "87bb9a7e-aa5d-430b-9309-b54b2973a11c", "slug": "i-give-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/children-of-dune/i-give-you", "text": "I give you the desert chameleon, whose ability to blend itself into the background tells you all you need to know about the roots of ecology and the foundations of a personal identity.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Children of Dune", "slug": "children-of-dune", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/children-of-dune" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "ecology", "slug": "ecology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ecology" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Children_of_Dune_(1976)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:52" }, { "id": "d0eb093e-1ead-41ad-8de1-1227b91725c7", "slug": "when-a-creature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune-messiah/when-a-creature", "text": "When a creature has developed into one thing, he will choose death rather than change into his opposite.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Dune Messiah", "slug": "dune-messiah", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune-messiah" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "change", "slug": "change", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Dune_Messiah_(1969)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:51" }, { "id": "ac6780c7-07b9-4492-a79a-cb60a7be6ae1", "slug": "because-no-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville/moby-dick/because-no-man", "text": "Because no man can ever feel his own identity aright except his eyes be closed; as if, darkness were indeed the proper element of our essences, though light be more congenial to our clayey part.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Herman Melville", "slug": "herman-melville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville" }, "book": { "title": "Moby-Dick", "slug": "moby-dick", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville/moby-dick" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 59, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Moby-Dick#Nightgown_(11)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:40" }, { "id": "409f067e-1763-4fec-a0a4-2c208f5d758b", "slug": "they-had-made", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance/they-had-made", "text": "They had made the mistake of thinking of a personality as some sort of possession, like a suit of clothes, which a person wears. But apart from a personality what is there? Some bones and flesh. A collection of legal statistics, perhaps, but surely no person. The bones and flesh and legal statistics are the garments worn by the personality, not the other way around.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert M. Pirsig", "slug": "robert-m-pirsig", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig" }, "book": { "title": "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", "slug": "zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "character", "slug": "character", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/character" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_M._Pirsig#Zen_and_the_Art_of_Motorcycle_Maintenance_(1974)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:33" }, { "id": "aa00e251-b92d-4334-9059-60e9a22f843c", "slug": "i-once-asked", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/morris-west/lazarus/i-once-asked", "text": "I once asked a distinguished biologist to explain to me the genetic imprint, the famous double helix which differentiates one being from another. He called it \"the graffito of God\", because it can never be erased. All other imprints — of memory, environment, experience — he called \"human graffiti\".", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Morris West", "slug": "morris-west", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/morris-west" }, "book": { "title": "Lazarus", "slug": "lazarus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/morris-west/lazarus" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Morris_West#Lazarus_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:30" }, { "id": "e6d4c068-6cc3-416d-917d-823c4e6b087b", "slug": "the-search-for", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/brocas-brain/the-search-for", "text": "The search for extraterrestrial intelligence is the search for a generally acceptable cosmic context for the human species. In the deepest sense, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is a search for ourselves.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "Broca's Brain", "slug": "brocas-brain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/brocas-brain" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 314, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#Broca's_Brain_(1979)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:26" }, { "id": "18960b34-3696-4efd-a676-7ab53dbc3669", "slug": "his-own-image", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hans-christian-andersen/fairy-tales/his-own-image", "text": "His own image; no longer a dark, gray bird, ugly and disagreeable to look at, but a graceful and beautiful swan. To be born in a duck's nest, in a farmyard, is of no consequence to a bird, if it is hatched from a swan's egg.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Hans Christian Andersen", "slug": "hans-christian-andersen", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hans-christian-andersen" }, "book": { "title": "Fairy Tales", "slug": "fairy-tales", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hans-christian-andersen/fairy-tales" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "beauty", "slug": "beauty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/beauty" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hans_Christian_Andersen#Fairy_Tales_(1835)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:18" }, { "id": "1943ab11-cc59-43d2-9f26-405b1657b4ba", "slug": "this-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/american-gods/this-is-the", "text": "\"This is the only country in the world,\" said Wednesday, into the stillness, \"that worries about what it is.\"\n\n\"What?\"\n\n\"The rest of them know what they are. No one ever needs to go searching for the heart of Norway. Or looks for the soul of Mozambique. They know what they are.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Neil Gaiman", "slug": "neil-gaiman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman" }, "book": { "title": "American Gods", "slug": "american-gods", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/american-gods" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "homeland", "slug": "homeland", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/homeland" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/American_Gods#Chapter_5", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:09" }, { "id": "1b392df0-502d-4100-b440-13e13a6db746", "slug": "everything-i-ever", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/stardust/everything-i-ever", "text": "\"Everything I ever thought about myself—who I was, what I am—was a lie. Or sort of. You have no idea how astonishingly liberating that feels\".", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Neil Gaiman", "slug": "neil-gaiman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman" }, "book": { "title": "Stardust", "slug": "stardust", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/stardust" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stardust_(Gaiman_novel)#Chapter_Ten:_Stardust", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:08" }, { "id": "22306913-d6ab-4f55-9e6f-c39ecda10008", "slug": "for-my-part", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature/for-my-part", "text": "For my part, when I enter most intimately into what I call myself, I always stumble on some particular perception or other, of heat or cold, light or shade, love or hatred, pain or pleasure. I never can catch myself at any time without a perception, and never can observe any thing but the perception. When my perceptions are remov'd for any time, as by sound sleep; so long am I insensible of myself, and may truly be said not to exist. And were all my perceptions remov'd by death, and cou'd I neither think, nor feel, nor see, nor love, nor hate after the dissolution of my body, I shou'd be entirely annihilated, nor do I conceive what is farther requisite to make me a perfect non-entity. If any one upon serious and unprejudic'd reflexion, thinks he has a different notion of himself, I must confess I can reason no longer with him. All I can allow him is, that he may be in the right as well as I, and that we are essentially different in this particular. He may, perhaps, perceive something simple and continu'd, which he calls himself; tho' I am certain there is no such principle in me... But setting aside some metaphysicians of this kind, I may venture to affirm of the rest of mankind, that they are nothing but a bundle or collection of different perceptions, which succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity, and are in a perpetual flux and movement.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Hume", "slug": "david-hume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume" }, "book": { "title": "A Treatise of Human Nature", "slug": "a-treatise-of-human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "consciousness", "slug": "consciousness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/consciousness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Hume#Book_1:_Of_the_understanding", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:54" }, { "id": "6680221c-8a6f-4190-beea-c62ebdd0f7b4", "slug": "where-are-my-sensations", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/the-trouble-with-being-born/where-are-my-sensations", "text": "Where are my sensations? They have melted into... me, and what is this me, this self, but the sum of these evaporated sensations?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Emil Cioran", "slug": "emil-cioran", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran" }, "book": { "title": "The Trouble With Being Born", "slug": "the-trouble-with-being-born", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/the-trouble-with-being-born" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "the senses", "slug": "the-senses", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-senses" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emil_Cioran#The_Trouble_With_Being_Born_(1973)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:42" }, { "id": "8a591590-69cc-4718-bb73-6e1adb9ce557", "slug": "chaos-is-rejecting", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/a-short-history-of-decay/chaos-is-rejecting", "text": "Chaos is rejecting all you have learned. Chaos is being yourself.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Emil Cioran", "slug": "emil-cioran", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran" }, "book": { "title": "A Short History of Decay", "slug": "a-short-history-of-decay", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/a-short-history-of-decay" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "chaos", "slug": "chaos", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emil_Cioran#A_Short_History_of_Decay_(1949)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:40" }, { "id": "700f1e6f-525b-400c-a2a3-f4d1535fa41e", "slug": "remember-that-as-soon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/remember-that-as-soon", "text": "Remember that, as soon as selfishness has developed, the self in its relations to others is always with us, and the youth never observes others without coming back to himself and comparing himself with them. From the way young men are taught to study history I see that they are transformed, so to speak, into the people they behold, that you strive to make a Cicero, a Trajan, or an Alexander of them, to discourage them when they are themselves again, to make every one regret that he is merely himself. There are certain advantages in this plan which I do not deny; but, so far as Emile is concerned, should it happen at any time when he is making these comparisons that he wishes to be any one but himself—were it Socrates or Cato—I have failed entirely; he who begins to regard himself as a stranger will soon forget himself altogether. It is not philosophers who know most about men; they only view them through the preconceived ideas of philosophy, and I know no one so prejudiced as philosophers. A savage would judge us more sanely. The philosopher is aware of his own vices, he is indignant at ours, and he says to himself, \"We are all bad alike;\" the savage beholds us unmoved and says, \"You are mad.\" He is right, for no one does evil for evil's sake. My pupil is that savage, with this difference: Emile has thought more, he has compared ideas, seen our errors at close quarters, he is more on his guard against himself, and only judges of what he knows.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "ego", "slug": "ego", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ego" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_IV", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:34" }, { "id": "8e3ec5b5-cfda-4f79-8461-dd9f90744051", "slug": "sometimes-people-carry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/the-moon-and-sixpence/sometimes-people-carry", "text": "Sometimes people carry to such perfection the mask they have assumed that in due course they actually become the person they seem.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Somerset Maugham", "slug": "william-somerset-maugham", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham" }, "book": { "title": "The Moon And Sixpence", "slug": "the-moon-and-sixpence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/the-moon-and-sixpence" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 147, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "appearances", "slug": "appearances", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/appearances" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W._Somerset_Maugham#The_Moon_and_Sixpence_(1919)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:26" }, { "id": "897d97fb-fc55-4e5e-88bc-00cdafb5e8da", "slug": "i-feel-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/i-feel-that", "text": "I feel that I have within me a medieval soul, and I believe that the soul of my country is medieval, that it has perforce passed through the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Revolution — learning from them, yes, but without allowing them to touch the soul, preserving the spiritual inheritance which has come down from what are called the Dark Ages. And Quixotism is simply the most desperate phase of the struggle between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, which was the offering of the Middle Ages.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#Conclusion_:_Don_Quixote_in_the_Contemporary_European_Tragi-Comedy", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:23" }, { "id": "42baf03c-cbc7-439f-9889-c6ac0e18ccdf", "slug": "the-philosophy-of-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/the-philosophy-of-the", "text": "The philosophy of the soul of my people appears to me as an expression of an inward tragedy analogous to the tragedy of the soul of Don Quixote, as the expression of conflict between what the world is as scientific reason shows it to be and what we wish that it might be, as our religious faith affirms it to be. And in this philosophy is to be found the explanation of what is usually said about us — namely, that we are fundamentally irreducible to Kultur — or in other words, that we refuse to submit to it. No, Don Quixote does not resign himself either to the world, or to science or logic, or to art or esthetics, or to morality or ethics.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "culture", "slug": "culture", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/culture" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#Conclusion_:_Don_Quixote_in_the_Contemporary_European_Tragi-Comedy", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:23" }, { "id": "b32d413b-85fe-47b7-ac59-f65a7a468a72", "slug": "not-only-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/not-only-are", "text": "Not only are we unable to conceive of the full and living God as masculine simply, but we are unable to conceive of Him as individual simply, as the projection of a solitary I, an unsocial I, an I that is in reality an abstract I. My living I is an I that is really a We; my living personal I lives only in other, of other, and by other I's; I am sprung from a multitude of ancestors. I carry them within me in extract, and at the same time I carry within me, potentially, a multitude of descendants, and God, the projection of my I to the infinite — or rather I, the projection of God to the finite — must also be a multitude. Hence, in order to save the personality of God — that is to say, in order to save the living God — faith's need — the need of the feeling and the imagination — of conceiving Him and feeling Him as possessed of a certain internal multiplicity.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#VIII_:_From_God_to_God", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:22" }, { "id": "804520ec-ac10-4338-92f9-716386a2df62", "slug": "and-if-it-is-grievous", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/and-if-it-is-grievous", "text": "And if it is grievous to be doomed one day to cease to be, perhaps it would be more grievous still to go on being always oneself, and no more than oneself, without being able to be at the same time other, without being able to be at the same time everything else, without being able to be all.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "death", "slug": "death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#VII_:_Love,_Suffering,_Pity", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:22" }, { "id": "52206fc0-ea36-471b-95c7-4d0929e6af19", "slug": "i-must-avert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/i-must-avert", "text": "I must avert here once again to my view of the opposition that exists between individuality and personality, notwithstanding the fact that the one demands the other. Individuality is, if I may so express it, the container or thing which contains, personality the content or thing contained, or I might say that my personality is in a certain sense my comprehension, that which I comprehend or embrace within myself — which is in a certain way the whole Universe — and that my individuality is my extension; the one my infinite, the other my finite.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "individualism", "slug": "individualism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/individualism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#VIII_:_From_God_to_God", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:22" }, { "id": "f1b11035-27a6-45cb-9c28-6d349d1642c1", "slug": "it-appears-to", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/it-appears-to", "text": "It appears to me to be indisputable that he who I am to-day derives, by a continuous series of states of consciousness, from him who was in my body twenty years ago. Memory is the basis of individual personality, just as tradition is the basis of the collective personality of a people. We live in memory, and our spiritual life is at bottom simply the effort of our memory to persist, to transform itself into hope, the effort of our past to transform itself into our future.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "memory", "slug": "memory", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/memory" }, { "name": "tradition", "slug": "tradition", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tradition" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#I_:_The_Man_of_Flesh_and_Bone", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:20" }, { "id": "be15c1e7-4224-4517-b8a8-0cce5da8736f", "slug": "everything-in-me-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/everything-in-me-that", "text": "Everything in me that conspires to break the unity and continuity of my life conspires to destroy me and consequently to destroy itself. Every individual in a people who conspires to break the spiritual unity and continuity of that people tends to destroy it and to destroy himself as a part of that people.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "community", "slug": "community", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/community" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#I_:_The_Man_of_Flesh_and_Bone", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:20" }, { "id": "0082cf78-3bbe-47ec-8a00-33933cc3f248", "slug": "we-always-require", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-jung/memories-dreams-reflections/we-always-require", "text": "We always require an outside point to stand on, in order to apply the lever of criticism. This is especially so in psychology, where by the nature of the material we are much more subjectively involved than in any other science. How, for example, can we become conscious of national peculiarities if we have never had the opportunity to regard our own nation from outside? Regarding it from outside means regarding it from the standpoint of another nation. To do so, we must acquire sufficient knowledge of the foreign collective psyche, and in the course of this process of assimilation we encounter all those incompatibilities which constitute the national bias and the national peculiarity. Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves. I understand England only when I see where I, as a Swiss, do not fit in. I understand Europe, our greatest problem, only when I see where I as a European do not fit into the world. Through my acquaintance with many Americans, and my trips to and in America, I have obtained an enormous amount of insight into the European character; it has always seemed to me that there can be nothing more useful for a European than some time or another to look out at Europe from the top of a skyscraper. When I contemplated for the first time the European spectacle from the Sahara, surrounded by a civilization which has more or less the same relationship to ours as Roman antiquity has to modem times, I became aware of how completely, even in America, I was still caught up and imprisoned in the cultural consciousness of the white man. The desire then grew in me to carry the historical comparisons still farther by descending to a still lower cultural level.\n\nOn my next trip to the United States I went with a group of American friends to visit the Indians of New Mexico, the city-building Pueblos...", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Jung", "slug": "carl-jung", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-jung" }, "book": { "title": "Memories, Dreams, Reflections", "slug": "memories-dreams-reflections", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-jung/memories-dreams-reflections" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 246, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "self-knowledge", "slug": "self-knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-knowledge" }, { "name": "travel", "slug": "travel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/travel" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Jung#Memories,_Dreams,_Reflections_(1963)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:17" }, { "id": "73292163-b70f-49a9-8f33-e65a8ac95c2c", "slug": "one-of-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/one-of-the", "text": "One of the thousand objections to the sin of pride lies precisely in this, that self-consciousness of necessity destroys self-revelation. A man who thinks a great deal about himself will try to be many-sided, attempt a theatrical excellence at all points, will try to be an encyclopaedia of culture, and his own real personality will be lost in that false universalism. Thinking about himself will lead to trying to be the universe; trying to be the universe will lead to ceasing to be anything. If, on the other hand, a man is sensible enough to think only about the universe; he will think about it in his own individual way. He will keep virgin the secret of God; he will see the grass as no other man can see it, and look at a sun that no man has ever known.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "pride", "slug": "pride", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pride" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_IX:_%22The_Moods_of_Mr._George_Moore%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:34" }, { "id": "5f5fe9df-b1e5-4063-8c09-3c7cc8b9ba87", "slug": "they-called-themselves", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/the-carpet-people/they-called-themselves", "text": "They called themselves the Munrungs. It meant The People, or The True Human Beings.\n\nIt's what most people call themselves, to begin with. And then one day the tribe meets some other People or, if it's not been a good day, The Enemy. If only they'd think up a name like Some More True Human Beings, it'd save a lot of trouble later on.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Terry Pratchett", "slug": "terry-pratchett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett" }, "book": { "title": "The Carpet People", "slug": "the-carpet-people", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/the-carpet-people" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "society", "slug": "society", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Terry_Pratchett#The_Carpet_People_(1971%3B_1992)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:26" }, { "id": "e38b4a6e-230b-45b8-8249-5a47141c3a4e", "slug": "i-refuse-to-consider", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-asimov/i-refuse-to-consider", "text": "I refuse to consider myself to be anything more sharply defined than “human being,” and I feel that aside from overpopulation the most intractable problem we face in trying to avoid the destruction of civilization and humanity is the diabolical habit of people dividing themselves into tiny groups, with each group extolling itself and denouncing its neighbors.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Isaac Asimov", "slug": "isaac-asimov", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov" }, "book": { "title": "I, Asimov", "slug": "i-asimov", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-asimov" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 325, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "society", "slug": "society", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov#I._Asimov:_A_Memoir_(1994)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:25" }, { "id": "b9ad8368-1f1f-4bae-9c88-3282ba7f1e12", "slug": "i-know-a-girl", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/andy-warhol/the-philosophy-of-andy-warhol/i-know-a-girl", "text": "I know a girl who just looks at her face in the medicine cabinet mirror and never looks below her shoulders, and she's four or five hundred pounds but she doesn't see all that, she just sees a beautiful face and therefore she thinks she's a beauty. And therefore, I think she's a beauty, too, because I usually accept people on the basis of their self-images, because their self-images have more to do with the way they think than their objective-images do.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Andy Warhol", "slug": "andy-warhol", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/andy-warhol" }, "book": { "title": "The Philosophy of Andy Warhol", "slug": "the-philosophy-of-andy-warhol", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/andy-warhol/the-philosophy-of-andy-warhol" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Andy_Warhol#The_Philosophy_of_Andy_Warhol_(1975)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:12" }, { "id": "78ad34f6-5fd0-4433-8bb0-fc2e5d588a03", "slug": "je-ne-mappelle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/victor-hugo/les-miserables/je-ne-mappelle", "text": "Je ne m’appelle pas Fabantou, je ne m’appelle pas Jondrette, je me nomme Thénardier! je suis l’aubergiste de Montfermeil ! entendez-vous bien? Thénardier! Maintenant me reconnaissez-vous?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Victor Hugo", "slug": "victor-hugo", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/victor-hugo" }, "book": { "title": "Les Misérables", "slug": "les-miserables", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/victor-hugo/les-miserables" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Les_Mis%C3%A9rables#Chapter_XX_-_The_Ambuscade", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:06" }, { "id": "f1a900df-c43a-426c-a0aa-86e4dc10cf37", "slug": "jewishness-cropped-up-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/p-j-orourke/republican-party-reptile/jewishness-cropped-up-and", "text": "Jewishness cropped up and has never successfully been put down since.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "P. J. O'Rourke", "slug": "p-j-orourke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/p-j-orourke" }, "book": { "title": "Republican Party Reptile", "slug": "republican-party-reptile", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/p-j-orourke/republican-party-reptile" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/P._J._O'Rourke#Republican_Party_Reptile_(1987)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:58" }, { "id": "f51f0f04-1ec7-418b-aa51-b874a5c0c9ec", "slug": "man-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-rebel/man-is-the", "text": "Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Albert Camus", "slug": "albert-camus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus" }, "book": { "title": "The Rebel", "slug": "the-rebel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-rebel" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Camus#The_Rebel_(1951)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:57" }, { "id": "7cc38262-43e1-490f-8756-d92470a6b427", "slug": "a-living-dog", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/henry-david-thoreau/walden/a-living-dog", "text": "A living dog is better than a dead lion. Shall a man go and hang himself because he belongs to the race of pygmies, and not be the biggest pygmy that he can? Let every one mind his own business, and endeavor to be what he was made. Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Henry David Thoreau", "slug": "henry-david-thoreau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/henry-david-thoreau" }, "book": { "title": "Walden", "slug": "walden", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/henry-david-thoreau/walden" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 366, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "success and failure", "slug": "success-and-failure", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/success-and-failure" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau#Walden_(1854)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:52" }, { "id": "487bd112-4b95-4b97-9b32-a977a054bedc", "slug": "my-way-hither", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/caesar-and-cleopatra/my-way-hither", "text": "My way hither was the way of destiny; for I am he of whose genius you are the symbol: part brute, part woman, and part God — nothing of man in me at all. Have I read your riddle, Sphinx?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Bernard Shaw", "slug": "george-bernard-shaw", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw" }, "book": { "title": "Caesar and Cleopatra", "slug": "caesar-and-cleopatra", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/caesar-and-cleopatra" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw#Caesar_and_Cleopatra_(1898)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:32:33" } ] }