“Be what you would seem to be.”

— Margaret Fuller

English proverb, used by many authors, including some prior to Margaret Fuller's time; Thomas Fuller expresses related thoughts in his "Panegyric" on Charles II, Section 21" in The History of the Worthies of England (1662):
Be you above your ancestors renown'd,
Whose goodness wisely doth your greatness bound;
And, knowing that you may be what you would,
Are pleased to be only what you should.
Misattributed

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update May 22, 2020. History

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Margaret Fuller 116

American feminist, poet, author, and activist 1810–1850

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