Essential Elements Of Charisma Revealed

Charisma isn’t as simple as personal charm – basic hygiene, proper language,right attitude, and strong sex appeal. Although, glamour is indeed a big partin enhancing that hidden charisma in you, there are other elements moreessential to learn to be able to complete the power of charisma. Remember:Charisma is more than just physical attractiveness!

SMILE

Smiling is the easiest, most inexpensive, yet most refreshing gesture onecan do without really exerting so much effort. Do you know that it only takes14 muscles to smile, and 74 to frown? Imagine that! A charming, pleasant smileis a strong representation of a friendly and welcoming attitude towards anotherperson. It is a receptive, nonverbal signal indirectly showing the willingnessto communicate. When you smile to somebody, you’re demonstrating that you havenoticed a person in a positive manner. The person, on the other hand, willconsider it a compliment, will feel good, and will most likely smile back.

Smiling doesn’t mean that you have to put on a phony face all the time orpretend that you are happy. However, doesn’t it really make you feel good whenyou see someone you know? Therefore, you show him something that doesn’t needwords or other friendly actions – because a smile is enough.

The human face sends out numbers of verbal and nonverbal signals, and thesmile is one of these. It is actually the easiest and best way to show someonethat you’ve noticed him. A smile indicates general approval towards the otherperson, and this will make him feel more open to talk to you.

A smile has endless advantages: it brightens not just your day, but theother’s day too; it lightens the mood, especially during problems and worries;it makes you look young, friendly, sweet, and attractive.

People tend to like those who smile more than those who frown or have nofacial expression at all. It gives them guarantee that these people know how tosee things lightly despite difficulties in life. And since a smile goes a longway, it is something that people cannot forget about you. They may not rememberyour name, but in the long run, they will surely see your smile in their minds,reminding them that you have brightened up their day even for a while.

Hence, learn to smile at any given chances. People will easily like you forit.

Developing That Charming Smile

Since the mouth produces a smile, it comes with the involvement of theteeth, the lips, the tongue, and the gums. Therefore, you should consider gooddental health care if you want your smile to be more than just sparkling, butto be healthy as well. Dental care includes proper and regular brushing of theteeth, proper flossing, breath-freshening, and dental check-ups. Make sure yourteeth are always clean – free from plaque, tartar, and food residues. This way,when you smile to other people, they will quickly notice the warmth and glow itadds to your face, making you more attractive, and not just a blank,emotionless person.

Although smiling doesn’t involve the odor of your breath, it is always safeto maintain the freshness and fragrance of it. Aside from brushing your teethand tongue, use mouthwash to ensure that your breath smells like heaven. Thiswill add, not just to the smile you are projecting, but to your over-allcharisma as well.

Aside from taking care of the body part that is most responsible forproducing your smile, you should also pay attention to your diet. A healthydiet brings a healthy smile and fresh breath. Avoid snacking between meals andremember to brush and floss your teeth after every meal. If you must snack,make them healthy snacks like fresh fruits and vegetables, instead of junkfoods. Apples, pears, celeries, carrots, and other crunchy foods are goodsuggestions. They will aid in enzyme production, and the natural chewing of thecrunchy foods will stimulate the gums.

Do not forget to drink plenty of water. Keep your mouth moist to avoiddryness. Remember that dry mouth is an indication of dental disease. Waterstimulates the production of saliva and keeps it moist all of the time.

In addition to this, you must avoid drinking soft drinks, soda, orcarbonated beverages. Do you know that Americans consume gallons of soda pop aday? Most are loaded with sugar, which obviously leads to poor dental hygiene,diseases, and discolored teeth. Don’t be fooled even if the label of the can orbottle says “diet.” Even they have huge amounts of acids that are very harmfulto the enamel of your teeth.

And, if you think that only sodas are the culprit, think again! A recentstudy claims that all those popular sports drinks we buy may not be such a goodidea after all. They may re-hydrate the body, but they can cause irreversibledamage to the dental enamel. The study reports that fitness water, sportsdrinks, energy drinks, and other non-cola beverages increase the risk of damageby anywhere from 3 to 11 times! These drinks can never replace water, afterall.

Finally, your smile will be more appealing if you share it with others. Beit strangers or friends, it wouldn’t hurt if you give some to them. What’s theuse of taking dental health care and eating a healthy diet if you won’t showthat lovely smile to the world? So, smile! Help the world reduce its heavyburden by lightening other people’s mood.

BODY LANGUAGE

Contrary to what many people believe that it is only through our mouths andtongues that we can communicate with other people, our body can send even moremessages than words can. Research has shown that over half face-to-faceconversations are nonverbal. “Body language,” as it is called, oftencommunicates our feelings and attitudes before we speak, using bodily gestures.It helps to project our level of receptivity to others. Hence, if we like to beliked easily, then we have to watch out the nonverbal messages we send to otherpeople.

Body gestures can signify both negative and positive expressions. Forexample, frowning, crossed arms, and looking away can let other people realizethat you are not interested at them at all. On the other hand, constant smilingand waving can mean friendly gestures to them and may make them notice youright away. Therefore, you have to know what possible messages other people canextract from your actions to avoid misunderstanding and eventually drawing awayfrom one another.

More than that, if you aim only to display positive expressions, you oughtto know what these body gestures are, so that you can catch other people’sattention in a positive manner. To help you be aware and remember what thesepositive behaviors are, take N-O-T-E of it, as inNod, Open arms, Touch, andEye contact.

Nod. A nod of the head indicates that you are listening andyou understand what the speaker is saying. It usually signals your approval tothe idea being talked about, encouraging him to continue talking. Indirectly,it is saying, “I hear you, go on!” By not nodding or by just staring blankly,you may appear to be lost in the discussion. Open Arms. Thisgesture suggests that you are friendly and available for contact, thus thephrase “welcoming with open arms.” During a conversation, open arms make othersfeel that you are receptive and listening. On the other hand, standing orsitting with arms crossed or very close to the body may mean being defensiveand closed-minded. With the latter description, people may think twice onapproaching you as you appear to be in deep thought, or just don’t want to bedisturbed. Touch. This touch refers to the warm handshake doneby two people meeting for the first time. It implies that you are pleased tomeet and know somebody personally. A warm and firm handshake is a safe way ofshowing an open and friendly attitude towards the people you meet. Indirectly,it says, “Hello! It’s nice to meet you.” Sometimes, at the end ofconversations, handshakes are also carried out. This time, it may mean, “I’vereally enjoyed talking with you!” or “Let’s get together again soon!”Eye Contact. Do you believe that the strongest of thenonverbal gestures is sent through the eyes? In fact, the way you look at oneperson may entail various meanings. Direct eye contact during conversations,however, indicates that you are listening intently to the speaker and you areinterested in what he is talking about. Remember that eye contact should bedone naturally and not forcefully, so that it won’t turn out to be awkward.

Body language does play a big role in communicating with other people. Evenif gestures don’t directly convey a message, there will always be an idea thecommunicators might extract from them. This is the reason why body language isan essential element in developing charisma. To get other people to notice andlike you, you’d have to know how your body should properly speak to otherpeople.

Learning to Speak the Language of the Body

Aside from taking N-O-T-E (Nod, Open Arms, Touch, and Eye Contact) of thebody language, here are other things to consider when communicating with otherpeople nonverbally:

Do not overdo the eye contact. Make direct eye contact to show you areengaged, open, and responsive to the conversation the other person is carryingout with you. However, too much eye contact can turn into a stare-down. Thatcan seem intimidating, or just plain awkward. Make use of your eyebrows. Letthem dance along with your voice and the thoughts you’re trying to convey. Themore animated your eyebrows are, the more outgoing, engaged, and friendlyyou’ll appear to other people. A positive thought is best expressed with arising eyebrows, indirectly saying “I am open for you.” On the other hand,lowering them can imply negative thought. Emote with the eyes. Widening youreyes implies interest and passion. This will signal that you’re accepting,welcoming, or reacting on what others are saying. On the other hand, narrowingthe eyes may mean disbelieving, doubting, or disagreeing to the idea of theother person. Combine your expressive eyes with a winning smile. A smilecommunicates friendliness. Eyes are expressions of emotions. When combined,they reveal attachment and so much interest on the other person. Their twofeatures combined will equal more perceived friendliness than either one alone.Hold your head up when you talk. When your head is up high, it shows confidence– you’ll seem to know what you are saying or doing. It shows a level ofengagement and warmth, as well. On the other hand, if your head is down low,you’ll appear timid, shy, and having no interest in participating aconversation or an activity. Maintain good posture. Proper poise and postureshows confidence, interest, as well as openness. Slouching is perceived asunfriendly because it indicates disengagement. Never tap your feet when someoneis talking. Tapping says, “Hurry up, I’m losing interest,” or “I’m bored. Whenare you going stop?” Unless you want to convey those ideas, don’t tap your feetin front of somebody who is speaking. It clearly shows an unfriendly aura. Youdon’t want others to see this on you. Hence, go with your relaxed feet that arekinder and more welcoming. Relaxation shows that you are interested and havemore time to listen. Speak up, rather than be quiet. Silence can be unfriendly.Words break the ice, so start a conversation. When you begin to talk, you canform a connection with other people that will get rid of the irritation andawkwardness possibly arising out of the silence. Maybe they are not as irksomeas you thought, and you will find out how interesting they are. There’s no harmin breaking the silence and making new friends by speaking up. GOODSENSE OF HUMOR

Humor captures people’s attention and sets them at ease. It is very helpfulwhen trying to lighten up the mood of a serious conversation. Most people findhumor entertaining and fun; hence, it gradually becomes part of everydayconversation.

However, there is a major difference between positive humor and negativehumor. The latter involves rude attacks on people or their ideas, or focuses onareas of behavior that should not be discussed at the dinner table. It usuallyhumiliates other people due to discrimination according to profession, race,age, and gender. Hence, this type of entertainment is morally wrong and canhurt the feelings of other.

The more appropriate sense of humor to use as entertainment duringconversations is the good one, in which it is loaded with pure silliness andcan offend nobody. The primary purpose of such jokes is to break the ice thatmight be forming during serious talks and discussions, motivating other peopleto participate more with such activities.

Louis Siegfried, a successful businessman of computers, says, “I think ifyou have fun, then you do well. We can’t tolerate people who aren’tenthusiastic.” Siegfried is known as practicing positive attitude while hetakes his business seriously. He says, “Whether it’s meetings, memos, orpolicies, most business seems to operate on the premise that if you canpossibly make something boring, make it extra boring. We operate under the rulethat the best way to get people to do their job well is to get them to want todo their job, and the best way to do that is to make sure there’s little fun inwhat we do.”

Building on that Positive Sense of Humor

Bring out the child in you. Children are naturally funny, amusing, andenjoyable. Showing up your innocent side to other people can help you developyour sense of humor easily. Assume playful behaviors. Be open to childish andeven meaningless stuffs. They may seem nothing to you, but they can totallyentertain other people. Think funny. See the lighter part of every situation,rather than the serious one. When you failed an exam, say that it was notbecause you didn’t study, but because you studied too well that your brainexploded with all the information it contained. On the other hand, when you’relate at work because you weren’t able to wake up on time, say, “I know it wouldbe traffic so I let it cease first before I went to the office.” Upon closeobservation, you’ll realize that there is always a flip side to everything, sotry to unravel and make use of it. Besides making you cheerful, funny thoughtscan reduce worries and anxiety that serious situations can bring about. Laughat your mistakes. Nobody is perfect, and no one will be. Therefore, it isinevitable that we all will commit mistakes. When this happens to you, don’tget mad right away or blame other people. Doing such won’t help you turn backthe hands of time and redo the situation. Hence, make fun of it instead. Yes,it may be embarrassing, but who cares? At least you know how to turn your lowpoints upside down. Be in between happy people. Surround yourself with thosewho can make you laugh or can teach you how to make use of laughter as aweapon. Adopt their culture and think the way they do. Funny people can inspireyou to be just like them. When you get used to seeing their happy persona andhearing their lively jokes, you’d gradually develop their skills at humoring.Learn to sing and dance. During tense moments, do not worry. Instead, fill yourheart and mind with cheerful emotions. Sing to express. Dance to let go of allthe worries and fears. Life is too short to waste on being upset all the time.Share laughter with family and friends. It is always more comfortable to havefun with people close to you than with strangers. Once in a while, go out andspend quality time together with them. Whether it’s just a simple scrabblematch or watching movies, there can always be a positive sense of humorsituation that can take place. Grab these opportunities to learn.FRIENDLINESS

It has been said that if love is blind, friendship is just not noticing. Afriend is a single term we use to call our allies, supporters, sympathizers,advisers, brothers, playmates, classmates, listeners, and a lot more. This isbecause we reveal things to friends that we just wouldn’t say to anybody else.They give us encouragement, feedback, honest opinions, and advice. A friend issomeone you can trust with confidential matters – you know that he won’t holdanything against you. A friend is someone who has the same interests as yours,and accepts, understands, and loves you for who you are.

Friendship is the first thing we can offer to and accept from a person afterhaving to meet him personally and know some things about him. By beingfriendly, it may mean “expressing a liking for one person,” “welcoming him intoyour life,” or “conveying a generally positive feeling towards him.”

On the other hand, unfriendliness is the communication of negative feelingsfor another person through verbal and/or nonverbal methods. The messageconveying this aura includes: “I’m not interested in you,” “You are notwelcome,” “You irritate me,” and other distant and cold remarks. That is whycharisma is about friendliness, and not the other way around; because ifsomebody feels this kind of atmosphere in you, then you’ll be stuck with justbeing noticed but not being liked.

Making friends requires time, effort, commitment, agive-and-take-relationship, and a lot of tolerance for the many limitations andweaknesses we all have. Although most people are open to new friendships, lifepursuits such as family and careers tend to become higher priority. Some peoplefeel it takes too much time and effort to develop friendship. For one, you haveto develop trust, as friendship requires mutual trust between two people; andtrust takes a lot of time to develop. Also, being familiar with the otherperson, including knowing and practicing similar interests, does not takelittle time.

When you are friendly, others would want to be with you. They would preferto stay with you rather than with people who make them feel unwelcome. That iswhy friendliness is an essential element in developing charisma – because it isactually how people will know your intentions and desires.

Being Friendly and Sociable

Get rid of all unfriendly behaviors. When you come to think of it, the mereabsence of unfriendliness can be perceived as friendliness. Hence, the best wayto boost your friendliness is to eliminate all your unfriendly attitudes.Prevent unfriendliness by adopting a new perspective or way of seeing things inlife, resulting in new ideas, values, and realities. Smile, rather than being asnub; trust, rather than doubt; and stay positive, rather than being negative.Develop a friendly mindset. Make sure your attitude is friendly forrealization. To do that, you must develop a way of thinking in whichfriendliness is the default position. Learn to like yourself. Before otherpeople can start liking you, you should give them enough reasons to. Becomefamiliar with people. When you see the same people over a period of time, startconversations with them. Find out if you have similar interests; and if theconditions are right, you can start up a friendship. Becoming familiar with thepeople you deal with everyday will make this much easier. Start by smiling,saying “hello,” and introducing yourself. And before you know it, a newfriendship has developed. Introduce yourself. Do not wait for other people toask you your name and more information about you. Be the first one to take theinitiative to say, “By the way, my name is [Maria]. What’s yours?” The sooneryou introduce yourself to other people, the more comfortable you become witheach other. On the other hand, when you wait longer to make an introduction,the situation gets more awkward. Make other people feel important. Rememberimportant facts and details about other people you meet. In doing so, you makethem feel special. Your attention shows your interest and curiosity, andencourages them to talk and reveal more information. When people begin to openup to you, it means they are starting to trust you and are comfortable withyou. Don’t be afraid to show your liking to the other person. When you want tomake friends with someone, let him know you are interested and that you want toget to know him better. Make it a point to stop and chat when there is aperfect opportunity. You will be building a friendly, outgoing attitude. Whenyou show a person that you like him, he will most likely respond in a friendlymanner. Manage your anger. A display of extreme anger can be the loudest doseof unfriendliness you can ever give someone. When you feel anger coming on,pause for a while and breathe deeply. Think about what you have to say firstbefore blurting out words not appropriate for the situation. Speak wisely. Ifyou need to vent your anger really badly, do it in private, or with anunderstanding friend. Go to the gym and take it out on a set of weights or apunching bag. After all, that punching bag won’t see your unfriendliness andcan’t destroy your personality. Learn to repair damages. Even if it can bedifficult at times, apologize and say you’re sorry, especially if you know it’syour fault. You may not be forgiven right away, but at least you have done yourpart in accepting your mistake and in asking for forgiveness. People tend toforget mistakes done by those who know how to acknowledge them and are ready tomake changes. CONFIDENCE

Do you know that for eight in ten people, self-image matters more in howthey rate their job performance than does their actual job performance? Infact, for most people studied, they claimed that the first step towardsimproving their job performance had nothing to do with the job itself, but withimproving how they felt about themselves.

Before we continue, let me ask you this: how good are you at your job (or atjust anything that you’re doing)? Do you carry out tests or other evaluationmeasures to assess your performance at a certain task? Surely, there is anobjective way to know whether you are good, excellent, or superb at what you do– whether you should consider yourself a success or not.

Actually, people who do not think they are good at what they do – admittingto themselves that they are just the typical kind – are not capable of successand leadership. Some people think others are really better than them, and theydo not change their opinion even when they are presented with indicators ofsuccess. Instead, their self-doubts overrule evidence to the contrary.

Don’t wait for your next evaluation to change your view on yourself, becauseyou are totally independent from facts; and feelings of confidence actuallystart with entertaining the thought that you are good enough.

It’s true! Believing and having enough faith in yourself – that you havewhat it takes to carry out a task – is more important than the actual result ofactually carrying out the task. Confidence, believing that you can makesomething happen, helps you become the better person you are thinking.

A dancer from Springfield, Missouri named Ross can exemplify the importanceof confidence. He dreamed of becoming part of Broadway, and eventually achievedhis most desired wish. He has one explanation for his surprising success: “Ihave confidence. If you want to do it, you have to really want it and believein it. You have to make it happen. You can’t sit back and hope that someone isgoing to help you along.”

Enough confidence is an essential component of an attractive personality.Authorities like bosses, leaders, teachers, and the likes, prefer working withpeople who know and believe they can handle a certain task. Somehow, they wouldlike that their work be reduced, rather than increased, so they tend to hire orappoint somebody who appears to be already knowledgeable enough. And withconfidence, you will surely get that kind of impression.

Making You More Confident about Yourself

The problem with most unconfident people is that they feel inferior toothers. Inferiority is a humiliating disbelief in one’s self. It comes, notfrom genetic factors, but from awful childhood experiences, in which theattempts of the child to express his growing personality were prevented by anover-bearing parent or guardian, by a sibling or a schoolmate, or by somehumiliating physical defect.

Inferiority starts at a stage in your life when your will was broken, andwhen your belief in yourself and in your ability was punctured. This resultsinto emotional immaturity. On one hand, you are “less than the dust” in yourown opinion. On the other hand, you compensate for this by exaggerated dreams,ideas, and ambitions quite beyond the scope of possibility. In consequence, youplan pretentious schemes in which you attain international recognition, rescueprincesses from the hands of the villains, discover earth buried treasure, orbecome the conqueror of the world! Nothing less will do.

You are like a baby unable to walk, but hopes to capture the moon…and tocapture it right now! But as soon as you make efforts to achieve your goals inreal life, your disbelief in yourself springs back on you and you are returnedon your native distrust. You think to yourself, I can never be good! And yourinferiority continues to battle with your superior thinking, with no tangibleoutcome apart from mental torture.

Challenging as it is, this problem with inferiority can be dealt with if youtrace it to its source and start a new lifestyle.

Relax. Remember to feel what it’s like to be a child again. Recall thecountless bullies you endured, or the scolds from your parents youopen-mindedly accepted. Live it over again in your mind. Bring back to memoryall the cruel remarks, humiliations, and embarrassments you never wanted tolive with in the first place.

Remember how these experiences were too much to bear – how your whole lifebecame a protest against the inevitable defeat, with the result that yourmental energies, instead of moving towards real achievement, were wrecked in asea of worry and conflict because you thought you were a failure. Everyone appeared to be superior and better than you. You were “the little kidthat nobody loves” and they became the monster in your eyes that you couldnever stand up to.

Now, since you’re not a kid anymore and you understand how this attitude hasstayed with you through life, you can gradually climb out of it. You do notneed to be the maltreated kid whom nobody loves anymore. You realize now thatyou are indeed a valuable member of the society and many recognize yourpresence.

You must control your mind and insist that the humiliating verdict passed onyou by your childhood authorities and bullies is not true – that you must beginto accept yourself and believe in your own worth.

Don’t prejudice your chance of success by pursuing impossible dreams andambitions. Instead, start with small accomplishments and work your way up withthem. Morbid as it may seem, you need to kill your inferior self, so the moreconfident you can show up and do what it has to do – build the best out ofyou.

BEING YOURSELF

Before continuing with this report, let me ask you something: Who are you?And please, don’t just give me a name, a profession, or family information. Ok,to help you answer my question, sit back, relax, take a deep breath, and askyourself the following questions:

-          How do Idescribe myself? Am I a happy person or do I get mad easily? Am I Mr.Know-It-All or just plain stupid most of the time? Do I believe that I’mgood-looking or am I contented with how people see me?

-          How did Icome up with such description? Are those how I truly feel or justthings I heard from other people?

-          How do Ibehave, react, and respond …in the house? …in the office? …with myfriends? …with strangers?

-          How doothers see me? Why could they possibly say that? Do I see their basesand can I justify it?

-          What are mydreams, goals, and ambitions in life? Have I already achieved evenjust a few of them? How do I plan to achieve the rest of them?

-          Who are mytrue friends? Close friends? Distant friends? Acquaintances? Am I areal friend to them, too?

-          What doother people expect of me? Am I meeting their expectations or have Idisappointed them even once?

-          What is mybest asset? Why did I say so? Has anybody told me it is really a goodfeature on me?

The above guide questions will help you realize how well you know yourself.And once you’ve known more, here’s another question: Are you being the “real”you at all times? No hesitations? No pretensions?

Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore, authors of the book Get Real, define the term realas “being true to yourself and being true to others; as possessing authenticityand sincerity.” They add, “Real people know their roots, their heritage, andtheir history. They remember where they came from and who brought them to thedance. And they retain that knowledge. They know their values, and they behaveaccordingly.”

Being real, or being you, is important on all occasions, not just to otherpeople, but also more to yourself. When you show people who you really are,they will believe that you are sincere. What they will hear is who you actuallyare. There will be no veil between your true nature and your perception of it.You are the same on the outside as on the inside.

People don’t want to be deceived in any way. And if you are untrue, if youare not real, if you do something that is not you, then you are performingdeceit. How can the acts of being unreal take your charisma away from you?

First, there is lying. When other people find out that you are not tellingthe truth to them, everything you have ever said or done will be put intoquestion. Another sign of being unreal is an act of hypocrisy. Don’t you feelterrible when someone is not being real with you? Finally, there is insincerity– when we are being fooled. How would you feel if you were given a praise thatmakes you feel great about yourself and then later on found out that it wasfull of hot air?

Isn’t it annoying how other people show not their true self, but somebodyyou don’t even know? We know the feeling. Hence, we should not be seen doingsuch act. If you want to be liked, be yourself. Never be afraid, because themore you show the real you, the more reasons you’ll have for other people tolike you.

How Can You Be True to Yourself?

Being yourself requires no other rules but to just stay whoever you are,wherever you are, and whenever it is. If we list down things here that youshould do with the purpose of aiming you to be yourself, following themwouldn’t make you yourself, but somebody we want you to be. Hence, just benatural. You may have limitations now, but opening your mind to furtherlearning can help you improve yourself and may transform you into a betteryou.

To help you motivate yourself to be just yourself and not like other people,here are some quotations cited by famous people who were definitely themselves,too:

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matterand those who matter don’t mind.  ~Dr. Seuss

He who trims himself to suit everyone will soon whittle himself away. –Raymond Hull

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate versionof somebody else. – Judy Garland

We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end webecome disguised to ourselves. - François Duc de La Rochefoucauld

Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize forthe truth. – Benjamin Disraeli

Almost every man wastes part of his life in attempts to display qualitieswhich he does not possess, and to gain applause which he cannot keep. -Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, 1750

If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise. – Johannvon Goethe

Let the world know you as you are, not as you think you should be, becausesooner or later, if you are posing, you will forget the pose, and then whereare you? - Fanny Brice

No man for any considerable period can wear one face to himself and anotherto the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be thetrue. - Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

You were born an original. Don’t die a copy. - John Mason

It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for something youare not. – Andre Gide

We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them withoutremoving some of our own skin.  – André Berthiaume, Contretemps.