We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be.

Sarton frames authenticity as an act of courage rather than a comfortable state. The “self” is not presented as fixed or wholly knowable; it may reveal aspects that feel “frightening or strange,” suggesting that self-discovery can unsettle social roles, inherited expectations, or one’s own self-image. The line implies that integrity requires risk: to live truthfully may invite misunderstanding, loneliness, or change. In Sarton's broader preoccupations—inner life, solitude, and the disciplined work of becoming—this reads as a moral imperative to meet one’s complexity without evasion, and to accept that genuine identity can be both unfamiliar and demanding.