This quotation is widely attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt, but no reliable primary source or sufficiently documented secondary source has been identified showing that she actually wrote or said these exact words. It appeared under her name in Laurence J. Peter’s Peter’s Quotations in 1972, ten years after Roosevelt’s death, but that attribution does not provide an original source. The quotation should therefore be treated as unverified rather than confidently presented as Roosevelt’s own words.

Taken independently of its uncertain attribution, the statement describes identity as something gradually discovered and then incorporated into the way a person lives. The reference to a “decision” suggests that self-knowledge also involves choice: recognising one’s character, values or priorities and accepting the consequences of living accordingly. The quotation therefore connects self-understanding with personal responsibility and consistency between one’s sense of identity and one’s actions.