Quotes about Authenticity

No man can afford to express, through words or acts, that which is not in harmony with his own belief, and if he does so he must pay by the loss of his ability to influence others.

I sat there thinking about how all real music has to be born in the human spirit. Well, these ballads surely had been. There was something childlike and basic about them, an absence of sham or pretense.

You just go out and do the best that you can. I think people feel that, and they embrace it, and it's a part of what makes Metallica special.

Early on, someone had told me, 'You know, the camera can always tell when you're lying.' And, Jesus, that intimidated me. 'The camera can always tell? How am I going to do this?' Until one day I thought, 'Wait a minute, acting is lying. Acting is all about lying.'

if the content of your speech is not authentic, talking or texting on a device doesn't mean you're communicating with another person.

You don't have to run anywhere to become someone else.

Some days we may feel hollow, exhausted, and joyless, not really our true selves. On such days, even if we try to be in touch with others, our efforts will be in vain. The more we try, the more we fail. When this happens, we should stop trying to be in touch with what is outside of ourselves and come back to being in touch with ourselves. We should be alone.

If you feel that your dreams aren't coming true, you might think that you need to do more, or to think and strategize more. In fact, what you might need is less—less noise coming to you from both inside and outside—so that you have the space for your heart's truest intention to germinate and flourish.

It is in our lives, and not from our words, that our religion must be read.

Pride makes us artificial; humility makes us real

What we have to be is what we are.

Ask me not where I live or what I like to eat . . . Ask me what I am living for and what I think is keeping me from living fully that.