Self-Suppression Quotes

My lighter, more superficial side will always steal a march on the deeper side and therefore always win. You can't imagine how often I've tried to push away this Anne, which is only half of what is known as Anne - to beat her down, hide her.

Once you “volunteer” and engage in self-censorship something happens to your conscience.

Art requires, above all things, a suppression of self, a subordination of one's self to an idea.

You have always fought against your dreams, and 'I want' has never even shown its face. It was always drowned out by 'I must' or 'I hope' or 'I need...'

I'm fascinated by how much we, as women, have to subjugate and hide ourselves in order to get on in the world.

For all these years I kept my mouth closed so selfish desires would not fall out. And because I remained quiet for so long now my daughter does not hear me... All these years I kept my true nature hidden, running along like a small shadow so nobody could catch me. And because I moved so secretly now my daughter does not see me... We are lost, she and I, unseen and not seeing; unheard and not hearing, unknown by others.

What seems different in yourself; that's the rare thing you possess. The one thing that gives each of us his worth, and that's just what we try to suppress. And we claim to love life.

Self-censorship has become a part of me. I think because we live in a place where community is very important, family is very important, you feel the weight of how people look at you. Even though I might seem very modern and very liberated, I still have a lot of issues to deal with. I'm scared of how people look at me.

By choosing not to allow parts of ourselves to exist, we are forced to expend huge amounts of psychic energy to keep them beneath the surface.

The most exhausting effort in my life has been to suppress my own nature in order to make it serve my biggest plans.

Shyness is invariably a suppression of something. It's almost a fear of what you're capable of.

I was brought up to be a good boy and proud of myself so I suppress all the things about me that are bad.

I am assuming my father learned at an early age that there is nothing more dangerous than showing your true self. I think a lot of us learn that, and it actually may be true.

I think the enemy is self-censorship. In a free society the biggest danger is that you're afraid to the point where you censor yourself.

I did grow up in a household in which I felt that to be myself was to damage the people I loved.

Every time you suppress some part of yourself or allow others to play you small, you are in essence ignoring the owner's manual your creator gave you and destroying your design.

As long as I can remember, I saw myself as black. I was socially conditioned to discard that. It was an all-white town. I was very unhappy. I felt like I was constantly self-sabotaging in order to conform to religion, culture dynamics. I was censoring myself. I was shutting down inside.

However, because they have no actual interests of their own (or if they do, they squelch them in order to fit in) and merely pursue those that they think will look best on their college apps, they're zombies.

I spent my life learning to feel less.

I felt so contained at home. I always really felt like I couldn't be myself at home, so I was always quiet. I remember I used to sit in my room and listen to Bone Thugs and close the door.

I've been the person who hides behind people and lets everyone else do their thing, and I've been content there.

I like not being noticed. It has been a struggle because I love performing, but if I'm in a group of people and someone has a bigger personality, I'm like, 'Go ahead, and have fun!'

I feel like I've lost so many amazing traits because I've listened to stupid people, ignorant people who are bullies.

I was very pushed to look a certain way and act a certain way, and it wasn't me, but I played by their rules to get my foot in the door.

I'm a very creative person, but that side of me was suppressed because I was academic. I was depressed at school, and I didn't know why.