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What and how much had I lost by trying to do only what was expected of me instead of what I myself had wished to do?

Ralph Ellison

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Ralph Ellison
Age: 80 †
Born: 1914
Born: March 1
Died: 1994
Died: April 16
Autobiographer
Critic
Essayist
Journalist
Literary Critic
Literary Scholar
Music Critic
Novelist
Prosaist
Writer
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma
Ralph Waldo Ellison
Expected
Instead
Lost
Trying
Much
Wished

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I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer.
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And I knew that it was better to live out one's absurdity than to die for that of others.
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In those days it was either live with music or die with noise, and we chose rather desperately to live.
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I am not ashamed of my grandparents for having been slaves. I am only ashamed of myself for having at one time being ashamed.
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