“Never let anyone mask their misbehavior towards you as authenticity.”

Repentance and forgiveness both require courage and strength.

Growth is not a competition.

At times, a smile houses more sorrow than tears do.

Do not despair. The storm shall pass and the sun shall rise once more.

Choose peace over temporary pleasure.

Hang in there darling. The rain is necessary for the flower to fully grow.

How pleasant would it have been if our sorrows drowned themselves in our pellucid oceans of saline tears, beauty knows no limits.

Every album has its sad songs and happy songs.

Rain is the warm softness of a mother’s hand as she soothingly dabs that nasty smelling ointment on that bruised kneecap of yours, her delicate features creased with worry.

Her eyes sparkled with diamonds of hope and burned with fires of raw passion.

Your act of kindness towards someone could be the highlight of their day.

Don’t be afraid to bloom even in the darkest of times, just like moonflower blooms in the depths of the night.

You could see a butterfly as just a butterfly, or you could see it as an iridescent flower amidst the endless periwinkle blue skies.

Let the rainbows of hope kiss some color back into your numb cerulean heart.

Just like roses come with thorns, beauty comes with flaws. You could be the only rose in someone’s life full of thorns.

Each sunrise is a new chance to make your life the one you always dream of.

You still won’t be perfect, but success isn’t about perfection-it is about authenticity. You are a success if you are being your real, authentic self.

Busyness is the unrivaled archenemy of spiritual authenticity.

Stay true to yourself. People respond to authenticity.

It takes a lot of courage to be the same person on the outside that you are on the inside.

I try to make music with emotion and integrity. And authenticity.

Authenticity and sincerity were the most important unifying principles of all these apparently different essays.

The crucial ingredient in the success of any brand is its claim to authenticity.

Jorge Luis Borges was lamenting a variety of Orientalism that was used to measure the alleged authenticity of Argentine and Latin American writers in the midcentury.