Sylvia Plath quote: “When they asked me what I wanted to be I said I didn't know.”

“When they asked me what I wanted to be I said I didn’t know.
"Oh, sure you know," the photographer said.
"She wants," said Jay Cee wittily, "to be everything.”

Sylvia Plath book The Bell Jar

Source: The Bell Jar

“I know everybody asked me the question, they wanted to know, 'What, Kan, I know he's gonna wile out, I know he's gonna do something crazy.' Everybody wanted to know what I would do, if I didn't win… I guess we'll never know!”

Kanye West (1977) American rapper, singer and songwriter

2005 Grammy acceptance speech

“I asked you what you wanted and you said you didn't want anything. And I told you I wasn't planning on giving you anything; I was planning on giving you something.”

David Levithan book Every You, Every Me

Source: Every You, Every Me

“I didn't know what made things tick. I didn't know what made people want to be friends. I didn't know what made people attractive to one another. I didn't know what underlay social interactions.”

Ted Bundy (1946–1989) American serial killer

Discussing his high school years. Quoted in Michaud, Stephen; Aynesworth, Hugh (1999) The Only Living Witness: The True Story of Serial Sex Killer Ted Bundy (Paperback; revised ed.). Irving, Texas: Authorlink Press. pg. 66

“I didn't know then what I wanted, but the ache for it was palpable.”

Sue Monk Kidd book The Mermaid Chair

Source: The Mermaid Chair

“I can't say, over the miles, that I had learned what I had wanted to know because I hadn't known what I wanted to know. But I did learn what I didn't know I wanted to know.”

William Least Heat-Moon book Blue Highways

Part Ten, Chapter 4.
Blue Highways (1982)

“Every now and then I ask myself, "What is it that I would want said?"”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

Paraphrased on the Stone of Hope in the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial in Washington, DC as "I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness." (Rachel Manteuffel, "Martin Luther King a drum major? If you say so." http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/martin-luther-king-a-drum-major-if-you-say-so/2011/08/25/gIQAmmUkeJ_story.html The Washington Post, 25 August 2011) The monument plans used a correct and contextualized quote, but the lead architect and the sculptor altered it to use fewer words for visual appearance. (Rachel Manteuffel, "Correcting the Martin Luther King memorial mistake", http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mlk-memorials-drum-major-quote-will-be-corrected-interior-secretary-says/2012/01/13/gIQAnjYvwP_story.html The Washington Post, 13 January 2012)
1960s, The Drum Major Instinct (1968)
Context: Every now and then I guess we all think realistically about that day when we will be victimized with what is life's final common denominator — that something we call death. We all think about it. And every now and then I think about my own death, and I think about my own funeral. And I don't think of it in a morbid sense. Every now and then I ask myself, "What is it that I would want said?" And I leave the word to you this morning.
If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don't want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. Every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize, that isn't important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards, that's not important. Tell him not to mention where I went to school.
I'd like somebody to mention that day, that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. I'd like for somebody to say that day, that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody. I want you to say that day, that I tried to be right on the war question. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. I want you to say, on that day, that I did try, in my life, to visit those who were in prison. I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.
Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice; say that I was a drum major for peace; I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that's all I want to say.

“When I took the pills, I wanted to kill someone I hated. I didn't know that other Veronikas existed inside me, Veronikas that I could love.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Source: Veronika Decides to Die

“If you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I am living for, in detail, ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully for the thing I want to live for.”

Thomas Merton (1915–1968) Priest and author

“I said I didn’t want to run for president. I didn’t ask you to believe me.”

Mario Cuomo (1932–2015) American politician, Governor of New York

New York Times (12 February 1985)

“When they asked me what I wanted to be I said I didn't know.”

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