For my peculiar face, I look best when I look as though I'm not wearing make-up.
Lauren BacallRead
I was always a little unsteady in my self-belief. Then there was the Jewish thing. I love being Jewish, I have no problem with it at all. But it did become like a scar, with all these people saying you don't look it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the personal struggle with self-identity and external perceptions. It highlights the tension between self-acceptance and societal expectations.
Lauren Bacall expresses her journey with self-belief amid the complexities of cultural identity. While she embraces her Jewish heritage, the statement reveals how society's expectations can create internal conflict, making one feel unsteady and isolated in their self-perception. The 'scar' metaphor suggests that external opinions can leave lasting impressions on one's self-confidence.
Themes
IdentitySelf-BeliefJewishAcceptanceCulturalSociety
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on cultural identity at a community center.
More from Lauren Bacall
All quotes →I think your whole life shows in your face and you should be proud of that.
Lauren BacallRead
I was this kid, and I was scared to death of all these pros around me... My head would shake, and my hands would shake, and I discovered if I kept my head down and looked up, my head would not shake, so I started to do that when I could, when it was appropriate in a scene.
Lauren BacallRead
When everything happens to you when you're so young, you're very lucky, but by the same token, you're never going to have that same feeling again. The first time anything happens to you - your first love, your first success - the second one is never the same.
Lauren BacallRead
I wasn't brought up as a society girl to go to balls and be a debutante and marry the social set and money and go to parties. No one in my family lived like that. And I never wanted to live like that. I was brought up to believe in work. I always wanted a career. Always.
Lauren BacallRead
Well, the people I've known I must say are extraordinary. When I think about some of them, I can't believe that I knew them all. And I think the reason I knew most of them at the beginning was because they were of Bogie's generation, 25 years my senior, not mine. But they were the most talented people of all.
Lauren BacallRead
Similar quotes
I'm an actor. Since I was a teenager, I have had to play different characters, negotiating the cultural expectations of a Pakistani family, Brit-Asian rudeboy culture, and a scholarship to private school. The fluidity of my own personal identity on any given day was further compounded by the changing labels assigned to Asians in general.
Riz AhmedRead
You're trying to grow up, and you don't want to be like your parents, and that gets mixed up with being Korean... They brought their values from Korea, and I accepted them because I didn't know anything more. But as I grow older, I feel more Korean every year; it's very strange.
John ChoRead
I'm of African descent and my sister looks completely black, but I didn't look black. I was the super-nerdy kid who was also willing to fight.
Junot DiazRead
Being South Asian in the U.K. is like being Latino in the U.S., I would guess. It's a bit more hood. You see things; things happen. I was bouncing between worlds. You're acting from a very early age, when you have to code-switch like that. I'm a hybrid, a mongrel. I think many people live that life.
Riz AhmedRead
I now realize that I am a gay man before anything else. Other gays may think they're a Jew first, or black, or a banker, but I'm gay.
Larry KramerRead
I'm not British. I'm not American. I'm not French. Whatever thing they practise, that is their business. I am an African. I am Rwandese.
Paul KagameRead