Best Impostor Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings

“I am gifted at blending myself into any given milieu—you've never seen such a typical California teenager as I was, nor such a dissolute and callous pre-med student—but somehow despite my efforts, I am never able to blend myself in entirely and remain in some respects quite distinct from my surroundings, in the same way that a green chameleon remains a distinct entity from the leaf upon which it sits, no matter how perfectly it has approximated the the subtleties of the particular shade.”

Simile Chameleon The Secret History Donna Tartt Impostor

Book:The Secret History

Source: The Secret History

“I had a bizarre rapport with this mirror and spent a lot of time gazing into the glass to see who was there. Sometimes it looked like me. At other times, I could see someone similar but different in the reflection. A few times, I caught the switch in mid-stare, my expression re-forming like melting rubber, the creases and features of my face softening or hardening until the mutation was complete. Jekyll to Hyde, or Hyde to Jekyll. I felt my inner core change at the same time. I would feel more confident or less confident; mature or childlike; freezing cold or sticky hot, a state that would drive Mum mad as I escaped to the bathroom where I would remain for two hours scrubbing my skin until it was raw. The change was triggered by different emotions: on hearing a particular piece of music; the sight of my father, the smell of his brand of aftershave. I would pick up a book with the certainty that I had not read it before and hear the words as I read them like an echo inside my head. Like Alice in the Lewis Carroll story, I slipped into the depths of the looking glass and couldn’t be sure if it was me standing there or an impostor, a lookalike. I felt fully awake most of the time, but sometimes while I was awake it felt as if I were dreaming. In this dream state I didn’t feel like me, the real me. I felt numb. My fingers prickled. My eyes in the mirror’s reflection were glazed like the eyes of a mannequin in a shop window, my colour, my shape, but without light or focus. These changes were described by Dr Purvis as mood swings and by Mother as floods, but I knew better. All teenagers are moody when it suits them. My Switches could take place when I was alone, transforming me from a bright sixteen-year-old doing her homework into a sobbing child curled on the bed staring at the wall. The weeping fit would pass and I would drag myself back to the mirror expecting to see a child version of myself. ‘Who are you?’ I’d ask. I could hear the words; it sounded like me but it wasn’t me. I’d watch my lips moving and say it again, ‘Who are you?”

Source: Today I'm Alice: Nine Personalities, One Tortured Mind

“One cannot become a pundit by proxy.”

Wisdom Effort Learning Verses Haiku Pundits Charlatan Grooks Impostor Royalroad

Book:The Ninth Pawn of White - A Book of Unwritten Verses

Source: The Ninth Pawn of White - A Book of Unwritten Verses

“The most detestable wickedness, the most horrid cruelties, and the greatest miseries, that have afflicted the human race have had their origin in this thing called revelation, or revealed religion. It has been the most dishonourable belief against the character of the divinity, the most destructive to morality, and the peace and happiness of man, that ever was propagated since man began to exist. It is better, far better, that we admitted, if it were possible, a thousand devils to roam at large, and to preach publicly the doctrine of devils, if there were any such, than that we permitted one such impostor and monster as Moses, Joshua, Samuel, and the Bible prophets, to come with the pretended word of God in his mouth, and have credit among us. Whence arose all the horrid assassinations of whole nations of men, women, and infants, with which the Bible is filled; and the bloody persecutions, and tortures unto death and religious wars, that since that time have laid Europe in blood and ashes; whence arose they, but from this impious thing called revealed religion, and this monstrous belief that God has spoken to man? The lies of the Bible have been the cause of the one, and the lies of the Testament of the other.”

Source: The age of reason

“A company of wolves, is better than a company of wolves in sheep's clothing.”

Fake Cheat Phony Counterfeit Deceiver Pretender Bastard Trickster Impostor Crook Quack Sham Forger Swindler Racketeer

Author:Anthony Liccione

“The thespian is an impostor, but the paying crowd colludes fully in the fraud as they seek to leave real problems behind to indulge in the fictitious ones of another. Hence adulation towards a performer starts.”

Actors Theater Theatre Stardom Adulation Fame And Fortune Audiences Impostor Acting Life Thespian

Author:Stewart Stafford

“You saw him as disapproving of you. I thought him disapproving of me. Funny, isn't it?" Not only funny, but a strange relief. Why hadn't she seen it? Rhys felt like an impostor here, too. [...] Tilting her head to the twilight sky, she mused, "Do you know what I think? I have a feeling that dour look on Lord Corning's face had nothing to do with either of us. Perhaps he'd just tasted something unpleasant.”

Social Awkward Awkwardness Disapproving Impostor

Book:Twice Tempted by a Rogue

Source: Twice Tempted by a Rogue

“Some years ago, I was lucky enough invited to a gathering of great and good people: artists and scientists, writers and discoverers of things. And I felt that at any moment they would realise that I didn’t qualify to be there, among these people who had really done things. On my second or third night there, I was standing at the back of the hall, while a musical entertainment happened, and I started talking to a very nice, polite, elderly gentleman about several things, including our shared first name. And then he pointed to the hall of people, and said words to the effect of, “I just look at all these people, and I think, what the heck am I doing here? They’ve made amazing things. I just went where I was sent.” And I said, “Yes. But you were the first man on the moon. I think that counts for something.” And I felt a bit better. Because if Neil Armstrong felt like an imposter, maybe everyone did. Maybe there weren’t any grown-ups, only people who had worked hard and also got lucky and were slightly out of their depth, all of us doing the best job we could, which is all we can really hope for.”

Inspirational Motivational Science Fiction Author Impostor Syndrome Impostor Neil Armstrong

Author:Neil Gaiman

“Its funny when people recently change their attitude to gain entrance into your heart, which may only ignite your passion to close the door.”

“He sounds to himself, saying this, like an impersonator; life, just as we first thought, is playing grownup.”

Grownups Faking It Rabbit Angstrom 1981 Impostor

Book:Rabbit is Rich

Source: Rabbit is Rich

“Crime films always advised impostors ro select a name close enough to their own to allow them to respond to it automatically.”

Crime Advise Name Impostor Lifehack Alias Fake Name

Book:Suffer the Little Children

Source: Suffer the Little Children

“What we fail to realize is we often become like Pharisees in our ruthless attempts to identify Pharisees (and impostors). While indeed some people use the old laws of religious pride to tear down men of God, others use the new laws of anti-religious anger to tear down men of God.”

Source: Healology