Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.
Harvey FiersteinRead
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Stand up for yourself and assert your identity without letting others dictate your worth.
This quote emphasizes the importance of self-acceptance and personal agency. It encourages individuals to resist external pressures and bullying, asserting that each person has the power to define their own life and identity, rather than allowing others to impose their views or judgments.
Themes
CourageSelf-DefinitionIdentityBullyingResilience
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about overcoming adversity.
More from Harvey Fierstein
All quotes βCBS really wants me on TV. That's their aim. My aim is to have an all-gay sitcom someday, with heterosexuals as token guest stars. Let them be the next-door neighbors for a change.
Harvey FiersteinRead
Theater is my temple and my religion and my act of faith. Strangers sit in a room together and believe together.
Harvey FiersteinRead
Theater has to resonate in your heart in a way that movies don't.
Harvey FiersteinRead
I really am a theater person. That means you put something out there, and you let it go. Tomorrow night is a new performance.
Harvey FiersteinRead
How often are the perpetrators of hate-crimes discovered to be self-loathing? Valued individuals do not strike out against strangers.
Harvey FiersteinRead
Similar quotes
I never saw a pessimistic general win a battle.
Dwight D. EisenhowerRead
My parents told me in the very beginning as a young child when I raised the question about segregation and racial discrimination, they told me not to get in the way, not to get in trouble, not to make any noise.
John LewisRead
I am not afraid of being sued by white businessmen. In fact, I should welcome such a law suit.
Carter G. WoodsonRead
The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.
TacitusRead
In a word, I was too cowardly to do what I knew to be right, as I had been too cowardly to avoid doing what I knew to be wrong.
Charles DickensRead
Following Emporer Nero's command, "Let the Christians be exterminated!:" . . . they [the Christians] were made the subjects of sport; they were covered with the hides of wild beasts and worried to death by dogs, or nailed to crosses or set fire to, and when the day waned, burned to serve for the evening lights.
TacitusRead