I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer. It took me a long time and much painful boome… - Ralph Ellison

I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer.

It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: That I am nobody but myself.

I remember that I'm invisible and walk softly so as not awake the sleeping ones. Sometimes it is best not to awaken them; there are few things in the world as dangerous as sleepwalkers.

Without the possibility of action, all knowledge comes to one labeled “file and forget,” and I can neither file nor forget.

Be your own father, young man