60 Authenticity Quotes About Being Your Genuine, Authentic Self (2022)

These beautiful authenticity quotes will remind you to always be true to yourself. After all, you are the best friend you could ever have.

Are you living a life that is authentic? What does authenticity really mean?

Are you doing what you love for work? Are you telling the people that matter how much you love and appreciate them on a regular basis? Are you being true to yourself in your thoughts and actions?

The fact is that most people cannot truly say yes to this whole list. We need to learn what needs to change to be our authentic selves again.

Once we learn this, we have an ease and peace we only imagined before. Here are some inspiring authenticity quotes from those who have mastered being genuine.

Also, check out our collection of fake people quotes to help you weed out the not-so-genuine ones.

The Best Inspirational Authenticity Quotes

1. “No legacy is so rich as honesty.” – Shakespeare

2. “Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway.” – Mother Teresa

3. “The closer you stay to emotional authenticity and people, character authenticity, the less you can go wrong. That’s how I feel now, no matter what you’re doing.” – David O. Russell

4. “There is a certain kind of respect for authenticity today that there wasn’t back in the days when they did ‘Cleopatra,’ where everything looked like a giant motel. People want to have it be authentic in the look, and authentic in the way people behave.” – John Milius

5. “Just be what you are and speak from your guts and heart – it’s all a man has.” – Hubert Humphrey

6. “Hard times arouse an instinctive desire for authenticity.” – Coco Chanel

7. “We need to find the courage to say NO to the things and people that are not serving us if we want to rediscover ourselves and live our lives with authenticity.” – Barbara de Angelis

8. “No one man can, for any considerable time, wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which is the true one.” – Nathaniel Hawthorne

9. “That inner voice has both gentleness and clarity. So to get to authenticity, you really keep going down to the bone, to the honesty, and the inevitability of something.” – Meredith Monk

10. “Be your authentic self. Your authentic self is who you are when you have no fear of judgment, or before the world starts pushing you around and telling you who you’re supposed to be. Your fictional self is who you are when you have a social mask on to please everyone else. Give yourself permission to be your authentic self.” – Dr. Phil

11. “Dare to declare who you are. It is not far from the shores of silence to the boundaries of speech. The path is not long, but the way is deep. You must not only walk there, you must be prepared to leap.” – Hildegard Von Bingen

12. “To find yourself, think for yourself.” – Socrates

13. “Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, “This is the real me,” and when you have found that attitude, follow it.” – William James

14. “Be yourself – not your idea of what you think somebody else’s idea of yourself should be.” – Henry David Thoreau

15. “Authenticity requires a certain measure of vulnerability, transparency, and integrity.” – Janet Louise Stephenson

16. “The easiest thing to be in the world is you. The most difficult thing to be is what other people want you to be. Don’t let them put you in that position.” – Leo Buscaglia

17. “Always be a first-rate version of yourself and not a second-rate version of someone else.” – Judy Garland

Authenticity Quotes and being Sincere

18. “I can be a better me than anyone can.” – Diana Ross

19. “I choose to be authentic in everything I do.” – India Arie

20. “Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.” – Albert Schweitzer

21. “To be nobody but myself-in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make me somebody else-means to fight the hardest battle any human can fight, and never stop fighting.” – E.E. Cummings

22. “I’ve always loved the idea of not being what people expect me to be.” – Dita Von Teese

23. “Everything will line up perfectly when knowing and living the truth becomes more important than looking good.” – Alan Cohen

24. “Authenticity is the alignment of head, mouth, heart, and feet – thinking, saying, feeling, and doing the same thing – consistently. This builds trust, and followers love leaders they can trust.” – Lance Secretan

25. “The keys to brand success are self-definition, transparency, authenticity, and accountability.” – Simon Mainwaring

26. “Authenticity is your most precious commodity as a leader.” – Marcus Buckingham

27. “If any man seeks for greatness, let him forget greatness and ask for truth, and he will find both.” – Horace Mann

28. “You attract the right things when you have a sense of who you are.” – Amy Poehler

Authenticity Quotes To Inspire You

29. “Yes, in all my research, the greatest leaders looked inward and were able to tell a good story with authenticity and passion.” – Deepak Chopra

30. “When you are real in your music, people know it and they feel your authenticity.” – Wynonna Judd

31. “Some writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always to aim at, with originality, which they should never bother about.” – W. H. Auden

32. “Aspire to be authentic.” – Yann Martel

If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of trust issues quotes that will help you understand the meaning of trust.

33. “Only the truth of who you are, if realized, will set you free.” – Eckhart Tolle

34. “The accusation that we’ve lost our soul resonates with a very modern concern about authenticity.” – Patricia Hewitt

35. “Being in your element is not only about aptitude, it’s about passion: it is about loving what you do … tapping into your natural energy and your most authentic self.” – Sir Ken Robinson

36. “To become conscious and aware, we must become authentic. Authenticity is the highest form of being.” – Teal Swan

37. “To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end in life.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

38. “Don’t settle for a relationship that won’t let you be yourself.” – Oprah Winfrey

39. “Authenticity is about being true to who you are, even when everyone around you wants you to be someone else.” – Michael Jordan

40. “The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.” – C.G. Jung

More Authenticity Quotes and Sayings

41. “We are constantly invited to be who we are.” – Henry David Thoreau

42. “I had no idea that being your authentic self could make me as rich as I’ve become. If I had, I’d have done it a lot earlier.” – Oprah Winfrey

43. “Accept no one’s definition of your life, define yourself.” – Anonymous

If you’re enjoying this article, make sure to also check out our collection of superhero quotes to inspire the best version of you.

44. “Don’t compromise yourself. You are all you’ve got.” – Janis Joplin

45. “To become authentic we require a thirst for freedom.” – Don Mateo Sol

46. “We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be.” – May Sarton

47. “Authenticity is more than speaking; Authenticity is also about doing. Every decision we make says something about who we are.” – Simon Sinek

48. “The most common form of despair is not being who you are.” – Soren Kierkegaard

49. “Authenticity is at the heart of success.” – Anonymous

50. “Be yourself. Authenticity trumps cool every time.” – Craig Groeschel

Authenticity quotes on being your real self

51. “What we know matters but who we are matters more.” – Brené Brown

52. “Don’t let anyone tell you that you have to be a certain way. Be unique. Be what you feel.” – Melissa Etheridge

53. “You are imperfect, you are wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging.” – Brené Brown

54. “The 3 A’s of awesome: attitude, awareness and authenticity.” – Neil Pasricha

55. “If you trade your authenticity for safety, you may experience the following: anxiety, depression, eating disorders, addiction, rage, blame, resentment, and inexplicable grief.” – Brené Brown

56. “Truth is a point of view, but authenticity can’t be faked.” – Peter Guber

57. “Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are.” – Brené Brown

58. “When do you feel most authentic? Authenticity feels so natural, so why isn’t it easy?” – Robert Holden

59. “The authenticity thing has never been an issue for me.” – Marcus Mumford

60. “Honesty and authenticity are a big deal for me.” – Scarlett Thomas

Which of these authenticity quotes struck you most, and why?

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