Irving Goffman

"We are all engaged in the art of managing our impressions constantly."

"Identity is not something we possess but something we do."

"Every social encounter involves a performance and an audience."

"We protect our image through strategic revelation and concealment."

"The presentation of self involves both conscious and unconscious strategies."

"Social order is maintained through our mutual agreement to play along with each other's performances."

"We are all engaged in an elaborate performance in the theater of everyday life."

"Embarrassment is the price we pay for being social beings."

"The self is a dramatic effect produced from a scene that must be motivated."

"Total institutions attempt to strip away the individual's social identity and impose a new one."

"We negotiate our identity through interaction with others."

"Performance is not separate from life; it is life itself."

"We all wear masks in social situations; the goal is to master which masks to wear."

"The maintenance of face requires a delicate balance of dignity and humility."

"We are constantly reading and interpreting the performances of those around us."

"Social institutions structure our performances and limit our freedom of action."

"The line between sincere and cynical performance is never clear."

"We invest tremendous effort in controlling how others perceive us."

"Interaction is a process of mutual influence and negotiation of reality."

"The presentation of self is both a personal art and a social necessity."

"We are all con artists in the service of social order."

"Identity emerges from the interaction between individual and society."

"The rules of social interaction are largely invisible until they are violated."

"We perform different versions of ourselves for different audiences."

"The self is an artifact of interaction, not a biological given."

"Social life requires that we engage in a kind of mutual trust despite knowing that everyone is performing."