[Ads-l] Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

The saying in the subject line has been attributed to George Bernard
Shaw. I received a request to explore its provenance back in 2014. I
performed a preliminary search, but did not find any substantive
support for the attribution and suspended the search. I received
another request a few days ago, and decided to move forward.

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2021/09/28/create-yourself/

Here is an overview of a family of sayings:

1969: the real self is not something one finds as much as it is
something one makes
1973: the self is not something one finds; it is something one creates
1976: to find yourself is to create yourself
1994: Why find yourself when you can create yourself?
1996: Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself

In January 2021 Barry Popik explored this topic and located the
important 1996 citation.
In April 2021 Nigel Rees (newsletter) wrote about the topic and
presented the excellent 1973 citation from correspondent Sue Welfare.

Feedback welcome,
Garson

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