John Darnielle Quotes

I know who I am. And after all these years, there's a victory in that.

Be proud of your scars. They have everything to do with your strength, and what you've endured. They're a treasure map to the deep self.

You build inner strength through embracing the totality of your experience, both the delightful parts and the difficult parts.

I think that all of the scars and all of the layers that I've built over the years made me the person that I am today, and I'm pretty happy about that person.

When you finally understand who you are, ages 6 through 60 will understand who you are. Because when they see a person that's come through all that I've come through, still standing, it's amazing.

Don't let your wounds make you become someone you're not.

What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us.

Once you really know yourself, can't nobody tell you nothing about you.

You are bigger than your circumstances.

She had put despair and fear aside, as if they were garments she did not choose to wear.

I do not feel inhibited or bound by what I am. That does not mean that I have never had bad scenes relating to being Black and/or a woman, it means that other people’s craziness has not managed to make me crazy.

Hone and spread your spirit till you yourself are a sail, whetted, translucent, broadside to the merest puff.

Every moment is an invitation to live out of your weakness or to live out of your strength.

To endure oneself may be the hardest task in the universe. You cannot hire a wise man or any other intellect to solve it for you. There's no writ of inquest or calling of witness to provide answers.

Sometimes our strengths are also our weaknesses. Sometimes to be strong you have to first be weak. You have to share your burdens; you have to lean on other people while you face your problems and yourself.

It is not difficult to rebuild a life. All we need is to be aware that we have the same strength we had before, and to use it in our favor.

I want to be judged by who I am as a person, not by what happened to me. In fact, all the bad things have only contributed to my confidence and sense of self, because I survived them and became a better and stronger person.

When you understand yourself, that very day you have understood the whole of humanity. Then nobody can make you miserable.

Every time a man rises from defeat, he becomes mentally and emotionally stronger. Thus, in time, one may actually find his self - his true, inner self - through temporary defeat.

We have to confront ourselves. Do we like what we see in the mirror? And, according to our light, according to our understanding, according to our courage, we will have to say yea or nay - and rise!

People and what they say don't bother me like they used to. When I was younger, I really couldn't take it because I couldn't understand where the criticism was coming from.

Growing up, when I was younger, I didn't feel all that tough or smart or strong. As I got older, I was able to discover my own strength.

I always thought I could be brave and charge at things and smash 'em and walk away, but it takes courage to sit and look at things and say, 'This is what I am. How do I fix it? How do I live with it?'

Through life's ups and downs, and the few mistakes we make and all the successes that we get, let nobody - nobody's opinion - define who you are. And if anybody defines who you are, let it be yourself.

I have plenty of good people around me I can talk to and for me it's the man in the mirror that gives the answers if I have hard times or if I doubt.