About this quote

There is a private brightness in you that will not behave like other people's rules. Letting that odd light show will look messy at first, and that mess helps you learn what actually fits. Try one small, strange act and see who stays around — the reaction tells you more than silence ever will. Keep doing it in small ways until the strange parts stop feeling like secrets.

When to use it

• At a product meeting where everyone suggested safe features, I quoted Ginsberg and pitched the weird idea anyway: 'Follow your inner moonlight; don't hide the madness,' I said, and then showed the mockup.
• In my senior art critique someone said my piece was 'too weird.' I remembered that line and answered, 'I'm keeping the madness—that's the whole point.'
• When my dad joked about my tattoo plans, I told him Ginsberg's line and explained I want to stop editing myself to make him comfortable.
• Before an open-mic night I felt like censoring my set; I repeated the line in the dressing room and then went onstage with the raw version of the jokes.