Who am I?

This paragraph stayed with me this morning:


It is a quote by Wolfgang von Goethe, when talking to a friend, he asks of himself:  What am I?  
This is his answer:


'Everything that I have see, heard, and observed I have collected and exploited. My works have been nourished by countless different individuals,  by innocent and wise ones, people of intelligence and dunces.  Childhood, maturity, and old age all have brought me their thoughts,....their perspectives on life.  I have often reaped what others have sowed.  My work is the work of a collective being that bears the name of Goethe.'


(extract from  'Common as Air' by Lewis Hyde  2010)


Whether we recognize this or not, this is who we all are, and for this reason, we are ever changing.