--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I'm not a bourgeois person, never will be." description: "\"I'm not a bourgeois person, never will be.\" — Etta James" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a3/etta-james-10990_bourgeois_i-m-not-a-bourgeois-person-never-will-be_1166462.jpg" --- # I'm not a bourgeois person, never will be. ![“I'm not a bourgeois person, never will be.” quote by Etta James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a3/etta-james-10990_bourgeois_i-m-not-a-bourgeois-person-never-will-be_1166462.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a3/etta-james-10990_bourgeois_i-m-not-a-bourgeois-person-never-will-be_1166462.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a3/etta-james-10990_bourgeois_i-m-not-a-bourgeois-person-never-will-be_1166462.jpg) > “I'm not a bourgeois person, never will be.” [Etta James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/etta-james/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. She rejects bourgeois labels, embracing authenticity. **In simple terms:** She refuses to be class-defined. Key Takeaway Stay true to yourself, reject imposed categories. Themes authenticity class identity Mood defiant empowering Type personal cultural When to use this quote - personal branding - social circles - career choices - public perception Key Concepts self-definition cultural critique Questions to Reflect On - How do you define yourself beyond class? - What pressures push you toward conformity? A Different Perspective Labels can limit personal growth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bourgeois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bourgeois/) [Bourgeois Person](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bourgeois-person-3362653/) [Person](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/person/) [Persons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/persons/) ## Related quotes > [See, I don't like places where people can't dance - don't like clubs or theatres where a bunch of bourgeois people sit around tip,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/etta-james/see-i-don-t-like-places-where-people-can-t-dance-don-t-like-clubs-or/) [Etta James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/etta-james/) > [For what is the program of the bourgeois parties? A bad poem on springtime, filled to bursting with metaphors.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/for-what-is-the-program-of-the-bourgeois-parties-a-bad-poem-on/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [In a higher phase of communist society... only then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois right be fully left behind and society inscribe on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/in-a-higher-phase-of-communist-society-only-then-can-the-narrow/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) > [We can say farewell to 10 years of bourgeois rule... now we have the opportunity to change Denmark.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helle-thorning-schmidt/we-can-say-farewell-to-10-years-of-bourgeois-rule-now-we-have-the/) [Helle Thorning-Schmidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helle-thorning-schmidt/) > [Conformity may not always reign in the prosperous bourgeois suburb, but it ultimately always governs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-kronenberger/conformity-may-not-always-reign-in-the-prosperous-bourgeois-suburb/) [Louis Kronenberger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-kronenberger/) > [I think of myself as being a bit of a wimp deep down - a bourgeois wimp - and I'm fighting that. I think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-mirren/i-think-of-myself-as-being-a-bit-of-a-wimp-deep-down-a-bourgeois-wimp/) [Helen Mirren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-mirren/) > [One's existence should be in two parts: one should live like a bourgeois and think like a demigod.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/one-s-existence-should-be-in-two-parts-one-should-live-like-a/) [Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/) > [ Avant-garde theatre, with its distrust of the individual (that bourgeois invention), tends to go beyond \[character\] and the psychological approach in search of a… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrice-pavis/avant-garde-theatre-with-its-distrust-of-the-individual-that/) [Patrice Pavis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrice-pavis/) > [Advancing bourgeois society liquidates memory, time, recollection as irrational leftovers of the past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-adorno/advancing-bourgeois-society-liquidates-memory-time-recollection-as/) [Theodor Adorno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-adorno/) > [Where there is no danger of overt action there is rarely any interference with freedom. That is why there has so often been amazing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-lippmann/where-there-is-no-danger-of-overt-action-there-is-rarely-any/) [Walter Lippmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-lippmann/) > [The bourgeois thinkers of the eighteenth century thus turned Aristotle's formula on its head: satisfactions which the Greek philosopher had identified with leisure were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/the-bourgeois-thinkers-of-the-eighteenth-century-thus-turned/) [Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/) > [With almost no exceptions, art by men is much more expensive than art by women. Even great women artists, like Louise Bourgeois and Lee…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/siri-hustvedt/with-almost-no-exceptions-art-by-men-is-much-more-expensive-than-art/) [Siri Hustvedt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/siri-hustvedt/) > [The enmity of such a party towards Socialism does not mean that the members are only prejudiced against it because they do not know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-radek/the-enmity-of-such-a-party-towards-socialism-does-not-mean-that-the/) [Karl Radek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-radek/) > [“Like symbolism, decadence puts forth the idea that the function of literature is to evoke impressions and 'correspondences', rather than to realistically depict the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/asti-hustvedt/like-symbolism-decadence-puts-forth-the-idea-that-the-function-of/) [Asti Hustvedt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/asti-hustvedt/) > [“Economists have a singular method of procedure. There are only two kinds of institutions for them, artificial and natural. The institutions of feudalism are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/economists-have-a-singular-method-of-procedure-there-are-only-two/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) ## More by Etta James > [I want a Sunday kind of love A love to last past Saturday night And I’d like to know it’s more than love at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/etta-james/i-want-a-sunday-kind-of-love-a-love-to-last-past-saturday-night-and-i/) [Etta James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/etta-james/) > [It feels so good to be happy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/etta-james/it-feels-so-good-to-be-happy/) [Etta James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/etta-james/) > [People that can't stand to listen to the blues, they've got to be phonies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/etta-james/people-that-can-t-stand-to-listen-to-the-blues-they-ve-got-to-be/) [Etta James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/etta-james/) > [My mother always wanted me to be glamorous. When I thought about that, it really fired me up, and once I lost all those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/etta-james/my-mother-always-wanted-me-to-be-glamorous-when-i-thought-about-that/) [Etta James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/etta-james/) > [I talked to the record company about what I had in mind. They said they wanted something lush. I figured the best thing to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/etta-james/i-talked-to-the-record-company-about-what-i-had-in-mind-they-said/) [Etta James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/etta-james/) > [Now I can stand up on the stage again like I used to after five years of sitting down while I sang.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/etta-james/now-i-can-stand-up-on-the-stage-again-like-i-used-to-after-five-years/) [Etta James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/etta-james/) > [What happens is, when I perform, I'm somewhere else. I go back in time and get in touch with who I really am. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/etta-james/what-happens-is-when-i-perform-i-m-somewhere-else-i-go-back-in-time/) [Etta James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/etta-james/) > [The music was thunder and joy. Lightning bolts of happiness and praise, foot-stomping, dance-shouting, good-feeling singing from the soul.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/etta-james/the-music-was-thunder-and-joy-lightning-bolts-of-happiness-and-praise/) [Etta James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/etta-james/) > [See, I don't like places where people can't dance - don't like clubs or theatres where a bunch of bourgeois people sit around tip,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/etta-james/see-i-don-t-like-places-where-people-can-t-dance-don-t-like-clubs-or/) [Etta James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/etta-james/) > [That's where it begins and ends for me and these songs were the ones that touched me the deepest. It was like I was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/etta-james/that-s-where-it-begins-and-ends-for-me-and-these-songs-were-the-ones/) [Etta James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/etta-james/) > [You know the one with the big ears? Wait a minute, he ain't my president, he might be yours, he ain't my president. You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/etta-james/you-know-the-one-with-the-big-ears-wait-a-minute-he-ain-t-my/) [Etta James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/etta-james/) > [Bobby Womack is always very real, both with his music and as a person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/etta-james/bobby-womack-is-always-very-real-both-with-his-music-and-as-a-person/) [Etta James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/etta-james/) > [I'm not starry eyed, and I'm not money crazy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/etta-james/i-m-not-starry-eyed-and-i-m-not-money-crazy/) [Etta James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/etta-james/) > [My mother was a jazz fanatic and she wanted me to play the piano so I could play jazz tunes. I wish I had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/etta-james/my-mother-was-a-jazz-fanatic-and-she-wanted-me-to-play-the-piano-so-i/) [Etta James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/etta-james/) > [They said that Etta James is still vulgar. I said, Oh, how dare them say I'm still vulgar. I'm vulgar because I dance in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/etta-james/they-said-that-etta-james-is-still-vulgar-i-said-oh-how-dare-them-say/) [Etta James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/etta-james/) [Explore all 62 Etta James quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/etta-james/) ## More Bourgeois quotes > [“Economists have a singular method of procedure. There are only two kinds of institutions for them, artificial and natural. The institutions of feudalism are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/economists-have-a-singular-method-of-procedure-there-are-only-two/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) > [“Like symbolism, decadence puts forth the idea that the function of literature is to evoke impressions and 'correspondences', rather than to realistically depict the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/asti-hustvedt/like-symbolism-decadence-puts-forth-the-idea-that-the-function-of/) [Asti Hustvedt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/asti-hustvedt/) > [The enmity of such a party towards Socialism does not mean that the members are only prejudiced against it because they do not know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-radek/the-enmity-of-such-a-party-towards-socialism-does-not-mean-that-the/) [Karl Radek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-radek/) > [With almost no exceptions, art by men is much more expensive than art by women. Even great women artists, like Louise Bourgeois and Lee…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/siri-hustvedt/with-almost-no-exceptions-art-by-men-is-much-more-expensive-than-art/) [Siri Hustvedt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/siri-hustvedt/) > [The bourgeois thinkers of the eighteenth century thus turned Aristotle's formula on its head: satisfactions which the Greek philosopher had identified with leisure were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/the-bourgeois-thinkers-of-the-eighteenth-century-thus-turned/) [Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/) > [Where there is no danger of overt action there is rarely any interference with freedom. That is why there has so often been amazing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-lippmann/where-there-is-no-danger-of-overt-action-there-is-rarely-any/) [Walter Lippmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-lippmann/) > [Advancing bourgeois society liquidates memory, time, recollection as irrational leftovers of the past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-adorno/advancing-bourgeois-society-liquidates-memory-time-recollection-as/) [Theodor Adorno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-adorno/) > [ Avant-garde theatre, with its distrust of the individual (that bourgeois invention), tends to go beyond \[character\] and the psychological approach in search of a… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrice-pavis/avant-garde-theatre-with-its-distrust-of-the-individual-that/) [Patrice Pavis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrice-pavis/) > [One's existence should be in two parts: one should live like a bourgeois and think like a demigod.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/one-s-existence-should-be-in-two-parts-one-should-live-like-a/) [Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/) > [I think of myself as being a bit of a wimp deep down - a bourgeois wimp - and I'm fighting that. I think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-mirren/i-think-of-myself-as-being-a-bit-of-a-wimp-deep-down-a-bourgeois-wimp/) [Helen Mirren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-mirren/) > [Conformity may not always reign in the prosperous bourgeois suburb, but it ultimately always governs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-kronenberger/conformity-may-not-always-reign-in-the-prosperous-bourgeois-suburb/) [Louis Kronenberger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-kronenberger/) > [We can say farewell to 10 years of bourgeois rule... now we have the opportunity to change Denmark.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helle-thorning-schmidt/we-can-say-farewell-to-10-years-of-bourgeois-rule-now-we-have-the/) [Helle Thorning-Schmidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helle-thorning-schmidt/) > [In a higher phase of communist society... only then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois right be fully left behind and society inscribe on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/in-a-higher-phase-of-communist-society-only-then-can-the-narrow/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) > [For what is the program of the bourgeois parties? A bad poem on springtime, filled to bursting with metaphors.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/for-what-is-the-program-of-the-bourgeois-parties-a-bad-poem-on/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [What have we achieved since the end of the Second World War? We have allowed petty, bourgeois regimes in which everything is average, mediocre.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tahar-ben-jelloun/what-have-we-achieved-since-the-end-of-the-second-world-war-we-have/) [Tahar Ben Jelloun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tahar-ben-jelloun/) [Browse all 304 Bourgeois quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bourgeois/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I'm not a bourgeois person, never will be.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Etta James" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/etta-james/i-m-not-a-bourgeois-person-never-will-be/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Bourgeois" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/etta-james/i-m-not-a-bourgeois-person-never-will-be/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a3/etta-james-10990_bourgeois_i-m-not-a-bourgeois-person-never-will-be_1166462.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a3/etta-james-10990_bourgeois_i-m-not-a-bourgeois-person-never-will-be_1166462.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a3/etta-james-10990_bourgeois_i-m-not-a-bourgeois-person-never-will-be_1166462.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I'm not a bourgeois person, never will be.” — Etta James", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Etta James", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/etta-james/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I'm not a bourgeois person, never...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/etta-james/i-m-not-a-bourgeois-person-never-will-be/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/etta-james/i-m-not-a-bourgeois-person-never-will-be/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```