I am what I am

I am what I am

1. I am as I must be; I cannot be changed; I can't help the way I am.
   • 1907, M. A. Chaplin, Chimes for the Times‎, London: Farncombe & Son, Gospel Chimes: "I Am That (What) I Am", page 22:

     For Jacob's God and Peter's Saviour Utters above each circumstance—"I am what I am"

   • 1965, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure‎, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, pages 65, 66:

     The Apostle said that he was 'not worthy to be called an apostle because he persecuted the Church of God', but he goes on to add: 'But by the grace of God I am what I am'. What does it matter what I was? 'I am what I am.'

   • 1974, Melvin White, Barriers to Health Care for Older Americans: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Health of the Elderly of the Special Committee on Aging, United States Senate‎, Part 10, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, Statement of Dr. Melvin White, Director, Rocky Mountain Gerontological Center at the University of Utah, page 1025:

     Popeye said, "I am what I am, that is all that I am, I am Popeye the sailorman." I like that. Somehow, we have to incorporate this concept throughout our lives. I am important because I am what I am.

   • 1983 [1981], Rosario Morales, edited by Cherríe Maraga, Gloria Anzaldúa, This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color‎, New York: Kitchen Table, "I Am What I Am", page 12:

     I am what I am and I am U.S. American

An alternative phrasing of I Am that I Am, God's explanation to Moses of who he is;^[1] also popularized as Popeye's explanation of why he behaves as he does, rendered in dialect as "I yam what I yam an' tha's all I yam", and variations thereof.^[2][3]

• it is what it is

• Law of identity on Wikipedia.Wikipedia