--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: All my life I had been looking for…" description: "\"All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was. I accepted their answers too, though they w..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dfd/ralph-ellison-2676_be-yourself_all-my-life-i-had-been-looking-for-somet_789894.jpg" --- # All my life I had been looking for something, and… ![“All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was. I accepted their answers too, though they were often in contradiction and even self-contradictory. I was naïve. I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I…” quote by Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dfd/ralph-ellison-2676_be-yourself_all-my-life-i-had-been-looking-for-somet_789894.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dfd/ralph-ellison-2676_be-yourself_all-my-life-i-had-been-looking-for-somet_789894.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dfd/ralph-ellison-2676_be-yourself_all-my-life-i-had-been-looking-for-somet_789894.jpg) > “All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was. I accepted their answers too, though they were often in contradiction and even self-contradictory. I was naïve. I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer. It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: that I am nobody but myself.” [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Self‑discovery requires rejecting external definitions and listening to one's own inner truth. **In simple terms:** Find yourself, ignore others' labels. Key Takeaway Trust your own voice. Themes identity self‑knowledge authenticity Mood introspective thoughtful Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - career counseling - therapy - spiritual practice - creative writing Key Concepts existentialism personal truth Questions to Reflect On - What inner questions have you avoided? - How does external advice shape your self‑image? A Different Perspective Self‑search can be isolating and painful. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Be yourself](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/be-yourself/) [Being yourself](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/being-yourself/) [Contradiction Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contradiction-self-1883958/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Long time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long-time/) [Realization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/realization/) [Realization Appears](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/realization-appears-3143682/) [Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self/) [Self Contradictory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self-contradictory-1010057/) ## Related quotes > [It goes a long way back, some twenty years. 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That's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-w-wood/kant-is-not-saying-about-freedom-or-any-other-subject-anything-of-the/) [Allen W. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-w-wood/) > [ \[The Head of Radio Three\] had been ensnared by the Music Director of the college and a Professor of Philosophy. These two were busy… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-adams/the-head-of-radio-three-had-been-ensnared-by-the-music-director-of/) [Douglas Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-adams/) > [The story of Noah is self-contradictory, uncorroborated by independent historical evidence, and is generally at odds with everything we know about our planet's geology,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kyle-hill/the-story-of-noah-is-self-contradictory-uncorroborated-by-independent/) [Kyle Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kyle-hill/) > [Agnosticism is epistemologically self-contradictory on its own assumptions because its claim to make no assertion about ultimate reality rests upon a most comprehensive assertion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornelius-van-til/agnosticism-is-epistemologically-self-contradictory-on-its-own/) [Cornelius Van Til](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornelius-van-til/) > [“Ours is a historical faith, and to uproot the Bible from its historical contexts is self-contradictory.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-enns/ours-is-a-historical-faith-and-to-uproot-the-bible-from-its/) [Peter Enns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-enns/) > [“For thirty years now I have been studying my fellow-men. I do not know very much about them. I should certainly hesitate to engage…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-somerset-maugham/for-thirty-years-now-i-have-been-studying-my-fellow-men-i-do-not-know/) [W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) ## More by Ralph Ellison > [“Civil wars...are the best wars for the writer...because they have a way of continuing long afterwl wars between nations are resolved; because, with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/civil-wars-are-the-best-wars-for-the-writer-because-they-have-a-way/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [“But what a feeling can come over a man just from seeing the things he believes in and hopes for symbolized in the concrete…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/but-what-a-feeling-can-come-over-a-man-just-from-seeing-the-things-he/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [I suspect that all the agony that goes into writing is borne precisely because the writer longs for acceptance-but it must be acceptance on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/i-suspect-that-all-the-agony-that-goes-into-writing-is-borne/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [Everywhere I've turned somebody has wanted to sacrifice me for my own good—only /they/ were the ones who benefited. 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It will only excite them more.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/no-matter-how-badly-people-treat-you-never-drop-down-to-their-level/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“You go into extinction by being obsessed about becoming something else and then travelling in the wrong car while your real self keeps waiting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/israelmore-ayivor/you-go-into-extinction-by-being-obsessed-about-becoming-something/) [Israelmore Ayivor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/israelmore-ayivor/) > [It's always brave to be yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/liu-yifei/it-s-always-brave-to-be-yourself/) [Liu Yifei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/liu-yifei/) > [My true Self is free. I cannot be contained.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/my-true-self-is-free-i-cannot-be-contained/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) > [Why is it that anyone can pretend to be someone there not and never be someone they are?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/akeem/why-is-it-that-anyone-can-pretend-to-be-someone-there-not-and-never/) [Akeem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/akeem/) > [You can never change the Past, not control the future. But, you can change the mood of the day, by touching someone's Heart with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ritu/you-can-never-change-the-past-not-control-the-future-but-you-can/) [Ritu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ritu/) > [Just be you. Do what you love. 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No matter what happens, you can choose what and how to think, act, and speak!…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/nothing-has-power-over-you-unless-you-allow-it-no-matter-what-happens/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Be who you want to be, not what people want to see.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/be-who-you-want-to-be-not-what-people-want-to-see/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I'm might not be the best , I might not be strongest or the fastest or the smart ,but I'm sure as hades ain't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mrawesome/i-m-might-not-be-the-best-i-might-not-be-strongest-or-the-fastest-or/) [MrAwesome](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mrawesome/) > [I'm not a person to judge but I really don't care for people that follow I love the ones that want to lead unless…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jordan-brown/i-m-not-a-person-to-judge-but-i-really-don-t-care-for-people-that/) [Jordan Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jordan-brown/) [Browse all 2,115 Be yourself quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/be-yourself/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was. 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