Echoes

Insist on yourself; never imitate.

Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.

To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men — that is genius.

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

Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise; seek what they sought.

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

To find yourself, think for yourself.

It would be better for me that the whole world should disagree with me than that I, being one, should be out of harmony with myself.

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.

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.

The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.

It is himself he is approaching, no other; and he should begin by turning resolutely away from all devices that are popularly believed to indicate style — all mannerisms, tricks, adornments.

The greatest thing in the world is to know how to be oneself.

No one can construct for you the bridge upon which precisely you must cross the stream of life.

If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.

I do not care so much what I am to others as I care what I am to myself.

It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.

Do not look for approval except for the consciousness of doing your best.

The unexamined life is not worth living.

What does your conscience say? — You should become who you are.

My life is my message.

You should rather please yourself than the people; take thought for the quality, not the number, of judgements made about you.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

There are no facts, only interpretations.

Face the facts of being what you are, for that is what changes what you are.