Be true to thine own self

We must have the daring to be nothing but ourselves if we are to know what true power is.

If you know who you are, and you keep that in mind at all times, and not let that get away from you to sacrifice your principles, your values, your true self. Because if you're true to you, then life will be true to you.

Be true to yourself. You know what’s right. Don’t let someone else decide for you.

If we are not true to ourselves, we cannot be true to others — our wife or husband, our family, our profession and colleagues

The most important gift we can give ourselves is the commitment to living our authentic life. To be true to ourselves, however, is not an easy task. We must break free of the seductions of society and live life on our own terms, under our own values and aligned with our original dreams. We must tap our hidden selves; explore the deep-seated, unseen hopes, desires, strengths and weaknesses that make us who we are. We have to understand where we have been and know where we are going.

No story has power, nor will it last, unless we feel in ourselves that it is true and true of us.

true power is living the realization that you are your own healer, hero, and leader. it is when you share your truth with compassion and peace. your power grows when you make progress in your own freedom and wisdom. those who are truly powerful do not harm themselves or others; instead, they use their energy to enrich all they know with love.

To assign unanswered letters their proper weight, to free us from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves — there lies the great, the singular power of self-respect. Without it, one eventually discovers the final turn of the screw: one runs away to find oneself, and finds no one at home.

(...)how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong, but to feel strong, to measure yourself at least once, to find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions, facing the blind, deaf stone alone with nothing to help you but your hands and your own head.

Here must thou be, O man,
Strength to thyself — no helper hast thou here — Here keepest thou thy individual state:
No other can divide with thee this work,
No secondary hand can intervene
To fashion this ability. 'Tis thine,
The prime and vital principle is thine
In the recesses of thy nature, far
From any reach of outward fellowship,
Else 'tis not thine at all.

Therefore, if you interpret being true to yourself as requiring that you retain every notion of your youth, you will be safely underway, not only toward maximizing ignorance but also toward whatever misery can be obtained through unpleasant experiences in business.

You must know who you are and be true to who you are if you are going to be who you can and should become.

Be faithful to that which exists nowhere but in yourself- and thus make yourself indispensable.