I - Be Yourself Unless
TO BE YOURSELF IN A WORLD that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring. Always be a first rate version of yourself and not a second rate version of someone else. About all you can do in life is be who you are. Some people will love you for you. Most will love you for what you can do for them, and some won't like you at all. Just be yourself, there is no one better.
The snow goose need not bathe to make itself white. Neither need you do anything but be yourself. Oh, never mind the fashion. When one has a style of one's own, it is always twenty times better. To be one's self, and unafraid whether right or wrong, is more admirable than the easy cowardice of surrender to conformity. Just because they disagree, doesn't mean you ain't right. Let others determine your worth and you're already lost, because no one wants people worth more than themselves. Be yourself. Be true to that, to your heart. Patience. See what happens if you step back instead of bounding forward.
Don't care what people say. Just follow your own way. Don't give up and use the chance. To return to innocence. That's not the beginning of the end. That's the return to yourself. The return to innocence. If you have the guts to be yourself, other people'll pay your price. What you say and how you look does not define who you are, because some of the most beautiful people do the ugliest things. You owe it to the people who hate you, who disrespect you and who put you down, because they’re the ones who have made you who you are today, for keeping your head up and not breaking down when they want you to.
Some people say, “Save yourself and you save your ways.” I say, “Be yourself and you save your soul.” You must always be yourself, and do things at your own pace. Someday, you'll catch up. Envy is ignorance, Imitation is Suicide. Menjadi diri sendiri jauh lebih mudah ketimbang menjadi diri orang lain…
To sum up? Be yourself. Unless you’re a serial killer, paranoid schizophrenic, obsessive compulsive, sourpuss, child abuser, wife beater, cheater, crepehanger, bipolar, cheapskate, asshole, dipshit, coward, sociopath, racist, braggadocio, alcoholic, ethnocentrist, drug addict, swindler, hypocrite, slimebucket, doormat, lecher, hedonist, misanthrope, worrywart, malingerer, psychopath, or bamboozler. In that case, you really should be someone else. Or take medication. Or both.
*Ralph Waldo Emerson; Marilyn Monroe; Judy Garland; Rita Mae Brown; Taylor Swift; Lao Tzu; Margaret Oliphant; Irving Wallace; Toba Beta, Master of Stupidity; Peter V. Brett, The Warded Man; Nora Roberts; Enigma; John Updike, Rabbit, Run; Amber Ward; Alice Hoffman, Incantation; Natsuki Takaya; Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance; Mega Elisa
