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Ralph Ellison Quotes about Being Yourself

All Ralph Ellison Quotes Art Being Yourself quotes Chaos Giving Humanity Identity Individuality Inspirational Life Music Reality Writing
I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer.

I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer.

Ralph Ellison
Being Yourself, Individuality, Asking
Ralph Ellison (2010). “Invisible Man”, p.40, Vintage

It goes a long way back, some twenty years. 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 naive. 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. But first I had to discover that I am an invisible man!

Ralph Ellison
Inspirational, Being Yourself, Men
Ralph Ellison (2010). “Invisible Man”, p.40, Vintage

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.

Ralph Ellison
Being Yourself, Self Esteem, Expectations
Ralph Ellison (2010). “Invisible Man”, p.40, Vintage

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