To be nobody-but-yourself in a world which is doing its
best to, night and day, to make you everybody else -
means to fight the hardest battle which any human
being can fight; and never stop fighting.
--E.E. (Edward Estlin) Cummings (1894-1962)
American poet.
_A Miscellany_ [1958]
Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead
of a second-rate version of somebody else.
--Judy Garland [Frances Gumm] (1922-1969)
American motion-picture singer and actress.
The qualities we have do not make us so ridiculous
as those which we affect to have.
[Fr., On n'est jamais si ridicule par les qualites que l'on a que
par celles que l'on affecte d'avoir.]
--François de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680)
French classical author.
_Maxims_ [1665] # 134
If I try to be like him, who will be like me?
--Yiddish Proverb
(From alt.quotations)
