"It is up to us to give ourselves recognition. If we wait for it to come from others, we feel resentful when it doesn't, and when it does, we may well reject it"
About this Quote
Spencer Tracy’s line lands with the plainspoken authority of someone who spent a career being watched, judged, praised, and second-guessed. In Hollywood, recognition is currency, but it’s also capricious: studio politics, box-office myths, and a public that can turn on you between premieres. Tracy isn’t selling self-help; he’s naming the psychological trap created when your self-worth is outsourced to an audience.
The intent is almost corrective. “Up to us” isn’t motivational fluff here; it’s a boundary. Tracy points to a vicious feedback loop: if you treat validation as something owed to you, its absence curdles into resentment. You don’t just feel unseen; you feel wronged. That’s a subtle indictment of entitlement, but also of the industry’s power to make people think applause is proof of personhood.
The subtext gets sharper in the second clause. Even when recognition arrives, “we may well reject it” because dependence on external approval breeds mistrust. Compliments start to sound like manipulation, pity, or a temporary stay of execution. The person who waits to be validated becomes unable to metabolize validation when it finally shows up. It’s a bleak, actorly paradox: you crave the review, then pick it apart; you want the award, then feel like an impostor holding it.
Context matters: Tracy’s era prized stoicism and professionalism over confession. This reads like hard-earned craft wisdom smuggled in as life advice: decide what you’re worth before the world prices you, or you’ll spend your career negotiating with ghosts.
The intent is almost corrective. “Up to us” isn’t motivational fluff here; it’s a boundary. Tracy points to a vicious feedback loop: if you treat validation as something owed to you, its absence curdles into resentment. You don’t just feel unseen; you feel wronged. That’s a subtle indictment of entitlement, but also of the industry’s power to make people think applause is proof of personhood.
The subtext gets sharper in the second clause. Even when recognition arrives, “we may well reject it” because dependence on external approval breeds mistrust. Compliments start to sound like manipulation, pity, or a temporary stay of execution. The person who waits to be validated becomes unable to metabolize validation when it finally shows up. It’s a bleak, actorly paradox: you crave the review, then pick it apart; you want the award, then feel like an impostor holding it.
Context matters: Tracy’s era prized stoicism and professionalism over confession. This reads like hard-earned craft wisdom smuggled in as life advice: decide what you’re worth before the world prices you, or you’ll spend your career negotiating with ghosts.
Quote Details
| Topic | Self-Love |
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