QuoteProject
I was a personality before I became a person - I am simple, complex, generous, selfish, unattractive, beautiful, lazy and driven.
Barbra Streisand
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote reflects the complexity of human identity, acknowledging the dualities within oneself.

Barbra Streisand emphasizes that before developing her personal identity, she was perceived as an artist with a public persona. This quote captures the multifaceted nature of being human, highlighting that individuals can embody contrasting traits simultaneously. It suggests a deeper understanding of the self beyond superficial labels, recognizing that everyone has both strengths and weaknesses.

Themes

IdentityDualitySelfComplexityHuman Nature

In practice

Example use cases

In a motivational speech about embracing one's true self.

More from Barbra Streisand

I think when I was younger, I wanted to be a star, until I became a star, and then it's a lot of work. It's work to be a star. I don't enjoy the stardom part. I only enjoy the creative process.
Barbra StreisandRead
The audience is the best judge of anything. They cannot be lied to. Truth brings them closer. A moment that lags - they're gonna cough.
Barbra StreisandRead
A man who graduated high in his class at Yale Law School and made partnership in a top law firm would be celebrated. A man who invested wisely would be admired, but a woman who accomplishes this is treated with suspicion.
Barbra StreisandRead
He (son Jason) doesn't see me as a (gay) icon, he sees me as his mother who touches his hair too much. No, I love being an icon to anybody. Equal rights, you know?
Barbra StreisandRead
In the music business, we all do different things, but we sit there and admire other people who can write a song differently or sing differently. It's not so competitive.
Barbra StreisandRead
You know, for me, the realization that two people should have the right to form a sacred union regardless of their gender was strengthened when I saw a performance of the play The Normal Heart in 1985. After feeling the love those two men had for each other, I dare anybody not to want them to get married by the end.
Barbra StreisandRead

Similar quotes

She was one of those Southerners who knew from an early age that the South could never be more for them than a fragrant prison, administered by a collective of loving but treacherous relatives.
Pat ConroyRead
The bonds between ourselves and another person exists only in our minds. Memory as it grows fainter loosens them, and notwithstanding the illusion by which we want to be duped and which, out of love, friendship, politeness, deference, duty, we dupe other people, we exist alone. Man is the creature who cannot escape from himself, who knows other people only in himself, and when he asserts the contrary, he is lying.
Marcel ProustRead
The volatile truth of our words should continually betray the inadequacy of the residual statement.
Henry David ThoreauRead
Unite liberality with a just frugality; always reserve something for the hand of charity; and never let your door be closed to the voice of suffering humanity.
Patrick HenryRead
When fascism comes to America, it will not be in brown and black shirts. It will not be with jack-boots. It will be Nike sneakers and Smiley shirts. Germany lost the Second World War. Fascism won it. Believe me, my friend.
George CarlinRead
Our fathers and ourselves sowed dragon's teeth. Our children know and suffer the armed men.
Stephen Vincent BenetRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.