Erving Goffman

"Social life requires a degree of theatrical skill from all participants"

"The self is neither fully authentic nor entirely false but strategically constructed"

"We are all performers on the stage of social life, playing roles that others expect of us."

"The self is not something that is born with the individual, but something that is created through social interaction."

"We manage impressions the way actors manage their performances on stage."

"Social life requires a kind of collective delusion where we all pretend things are what they appear to be."

"Every individual is always on stage, always performing for an audience."

"The presentation of self in everyday life is fundamentally a theatrical performance."

"We use information about others to define the situation and to guide our own conduct."

"In social encounters, people engage in impression management to control how others perceive them."

"The individual's performance often serves to express the ideal, the essence, the soul of the institution."

"We are not all merely performers; we are also audiences observing the performances of others."

"Social institutions function because people faithfully perform their roles within them."

"The face is a sacred thing and must be treated with deference and respect."

"When people engage in face-to-face interaction, they collaborate to maintain a shared sense of reality."

"Stigma is a social construction that marks certain individuals as morally discredited."

"The management of impressions is a necessary component of human social life."

"We each perform many different roles, switching between them as we move through different social settings."

"Social order is maintained through the careful coordination of individual performances."

"In public, we maintain a front that may differ significantly from our private behavior."

"The presentation of self is an art that everyone must master to function in society."

"Our identities are not fixed internal essences but are constructed through social interaction."

"People are motivated to present themselves favorably to maintain their social standing."

"Interaction is like a performance where each person plays a role and reads the cues of others."

"We organize our behavior to create impressions that will be accepted by others."

"The self is a performed character, not a mysterious internal force."

"Social encounters require a delicate balance of cooperation and competition."

"Information about ourselves leaks out despite our efforts to control it."

"We use social settings as a stage and props to support our performances."

"The individual must learn to manage the impressions they make on audiences."