“The face is its own fate — a man does what he must —
And the body underneath it says: I am.”

— Randall Jarrell

"The Knight, Death and the Devil," lines 34-39
The Seven-League Crutches (1951)
Context: Death and the devil, what are these to him?
His being accuses him — and yet his face is firm
In resolution, in absolute persistence;
The folds of smiling do for steadiness;
The face is its own fate — a man does what he must —
And the body underneath it says: I am.

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Randall Jarrell 215

poet, critic, novelist, essayist 1914–1965

Randall Jarrell (1914–1965) poet, critic, novelist, essayist

"The Knight, Death and the Devil," lines 34-39
The Seven-League Crutches (1951)

“In this state of mind it is not proper for him to say: "I am He". When a man does all sorts of worldly things, he should not say, "I am Brahman".”

Ramakrishna (1836–1886) Indian mystic and religious preacher

As quoted in Ramakrishna : Prophet of New India (1948) by Swami Nikhilananda, p. 77
Context: In the Kaliyuga, man, being totally dependent on food for life, cannot altogether shake off the idea that he is the body. In this state of mind it is not proper for him to say: "I am He". When a man does all sorts of worldly things, he should not say, "I am Brahman". Those who cannot give up attachment to worldly things, and who find no means to shake off the feeling of "I", should rather cherish the idea, "I am God's servant; I am His devotee."

“Every sin which a man does is without the body, but he that commits fornication sins against his own body.”

Paul of Tarsus book First Epistle to the Corinthians

1 Corinthians 6:18
First Epistle to the Corinthians

“It's not a pretty face, I grant you. But underneath its flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.”

Oscar Levant (1906–1972) American comedian, composer, pianist and actor

Describing himself, in lines he contributed to An American In Paris (1951), although officially credited to Alan Jay Lerner, as told in The Memoirs of an Amnesiac (1965); also quoted in The Dictionary of Biographical Quotation of British and American Subjects (1978) by Richard Kenin and Justin Wintle, p. 485.

“Man does not control his own fate. The women in his life do that for him.”

Groucho Marx (1890–1977) American comedian

“Nobody ever really sees me the way I am, underneath everything. But she did. She does.”

Holly Black book Black Heart

Source: Black Heart

“What I am saying is that it is not so much what man is that counts as it is what he ventures to make of himself. To make the leap he must do more than disclose himself; he must risk a certain amount of confusion. Then, as soon as he does catch a glimpse of a different kind of life, he needs to find some way of overcoming the paralyzing moment of threat, for this is the instant when he wonders who he really is - whether he is what he just was or is what he is about to be. Adam must have experienced such a moment.”

George Kelly (psychologist) (1905–1967) American psychologist and therapist

Variant: What I am saying is that it is not so much what man is that counts as it is what he ventures to make of himself. To make the leap he must do more than disclose himself; he must risk a certain amount of confusion. Then, as soon as he does catch a glimpse of a different kind of life, he needs to find some way of overcoming the paralyzing moment of threat, for this is the instant when he wonders who he really is - whether he is what he just was or is what he is about to be. Adam must have experienced such a moment.
Source: The Language of Hypothesis, 1964, p. 158