--- title: "4 Becoming yourself Quotes By Anna Quindlen" description: "4 Becoming yourself quotes by Anna Quindlen. Plus more from Anna Quindlen and more Becoming yourself sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e22/anna-quindlen-467_ambitious_trying-to-be-perfect-may-be-inevitable-f_8691.jpg" --- > [Trying to be perfect may be inevitable for people who are smart and ambitious and interested in the world and its good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/trying-to-be-perfect-may-be-inevitable-for-people-who-are-smart-and/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e22/anna-quindlen-467_ambitious_trying-to-be-perfect-may-be-inevitable-f_8691.jpg) > [“Nothing important, or meaningful, or beautiful, or interesting, or great ever came out of imitations. The thing that is really hard and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/nothing-important-or-meaningful-or-beautiful-or-interesting-or-great/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0d6/anna-quindlen-467_becoming-yourself_nothing-important-or-meaningful-or-beaut_127881.jpg) > [The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/the-thing-that-is-really-hard-and-really-amazing-is-giving-up-on/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a0f/anna-quindlen-467_becoming-yourself_the-thing-that-is-really-hard-and-really_1771215.png) > [What's really hard and really amazing is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/what-s-really-hard-and-really-amazing-is-giving-up-on-being-perfect/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ad4/anna-quindlen-467_becoming-yourself_what-s-really-hard-and-really-amazing-is_2288221.png) ## Other authors on Becoming yourself - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-nishan-panwar-14.jpg) Nishan Panwar 8 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/becoming-yourself/nishan-panwar/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-ritu-ghatourey-5.jpg) Ritu Ghatourey 7 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/becoming-yourself/ritu-ghatourey/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-senora-roy-422.jpg) Senora Roy 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/becoming-yourself/senora-roy/) ## More by Anna Quindlen > [I think books in which people are really happy and things are going well are probably the most challenging novels there are to write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-think-books-in-which-people-are-really-happy-and-things-are-going/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [Trying to be perfect may be inevitable for people who are smart and ambitious and interested in the world and its good opinion...What is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/trying-to-be-perfect-may-be-inevitable-for-people-who-are-smart-and/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [Sometimes change came all at once, with a sound like a fire taking hold of dry wood and paper, with a roar that rose…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/sometimes-change-came-all-at-once-with-a-sound-like-a-fire-taking/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [Loss as muse. Loss as character. Loss as life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/loss-as-muse-loss-as-character-loss-as-life/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [knowledge of our own mortality is the greatest gift God ever gives us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/knowledge-of-our-own-mortality-is-the-greatest-gift-god-ever-gives-us/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [You teach your 16-year-old with your heart in your mouth to be a good driver and none of that makes any difference when some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/you-teach-your-16-year-old-with-your-heart-in-your-mouth-to-be-a-good/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [Every reader, I suspect, has a book like this somewhere in his or her past, a book that seemed to hold within it, at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/every-reader-i-suspect-has-a-book-like-this-somewhere-in-his-or-her/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [“I’ve finally recognized my body for what it is: a personality-delivery system, designed expressly to carry my character from place to place, now and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-ve-finally-recognized-my-body-for-what-it-is-a-personality-delivery/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [A man who builds his own pedestal had better use strong cement.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/a-man-who-builds-his-own-pedestal-had-better-use-strong-cement/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [“In England I am always madam; I arrived too late to ever be a miss. In New York I have only been madamed once,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/in-england-i-am-always-madam-i-arrived-too-late-to-ever-be-a-miss-in/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [“Yet there was always in me, even when I was very small, the sense that I ought to be somewhere else. And wander I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/yet-there-was-always-in-me-even-when-i-was-very-small-the-sense-that/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [I can't think of a single downside to motherhood now.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-can-t-think-of-a-single-downside-to-motherhood-now/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [It would take a helluva man to replace no man at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/it-would-take-a-helluva-man-to-replace-no-man-at-all/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [Not writing at all leads to nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/not-writing-at-all-leads-to-nothing/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [Reading has always been my home, my sustenance, my great invincible companion. "Book love," Trollope called it. "It will make your hours pleasant to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/reading-has-always-been-my-home-my-sustenance-my-great-invincible/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/becoming-yourself/anna-quindlen/#itemlist", "name": "4 Becoming yourself Quotes By Anna Quindlen", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Trying to be perfect may be inevitable for people who are smart and ambitious and interested in the world and its good opinion...What is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Anna Quindlen" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/trying-to-be-perfect-may-be-inevitable-for-people-who-are-smart-and/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e22/anna-quindlen-467_ambitious_trying-to-be-perfect-may-be-inevitable-f_8691.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e22/anna-quindlen-467_ambitious_trying-to-be-perfect-may-be-inevitable-f_8691.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e22/anna-quindlen-467_ambitious_trying-to-be-perfect-may-be-inevitable-f_8691.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Trying to be perfect may be inevitable for people who are smart and ambitious and interested in the world…” — Anna Quindlen", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Nothing important, or meaningful, or beautiful, or interesting, or great ever came out of imitations. 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