There are still many causes worth sacrificing for, so much history yet to be made.
If my future were determined just by my performance on a standardized test, I wouldn’t be here. I guarantee you that.
Whether you come from a council estate or a country estate, your success will be determined by your own confidence and fortitude.
You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not always be able to solve all of the world’s problems at once but don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.
We learned about honesty and integrity – that the truth matters… that you don’t take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules… and success doesn’t count unless you earn it fair and square.
One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals.
You can’t make decisions based on fear and the possibility of what might happen.
We learned about gratitude and humility – that so many people had a hand in our success, from the teachers who inspired us to the janitors who kept our school clean… and we were taught to value everyone’s contribution and treat everyone with respect.
I am an example of what is possible when girls from the very beginning of their lives are loved and nurtured by people around them. I was surrounded by extraordinary women in my life who taught me about quiet strength and dignity.
At the end of the day, when it comes time to make that decision, as president, all you have to guide you are your values, and your vision, and the life experiences that make you who you are.
Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.
What we know matters, but who we are matters more.
Truth and courage aren’t always comfortable, but they’re never weakness.
Want to be happy? Stop trying to be perfect.
Everyone wants to know why customer service has gone to hell in a handbasket. I want to know why customer behavior has gone to hell in a handbasket.
To love ourselves and support each other in the process of becoming real is perhaps the greatest single act of daring greatly.
Nothing has transformed my life more than realizing that it’s a waste of time to evaluate my worthiness by weighing the reaction of the people in the stands.
Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.
We risk missing out on joy when we get too busy chasing down the extraordinary.
To me, a leader is someone who holds her- or himself accountable for finding potential in people and processes.
Sometimes you make the right decision, sometimes you make the decision right.
It’s better to be healthy alone than sick with someone else.
It’s so much easier to tell people what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear.
There’s a big difference between falling in love and being in love. There’s a big difference between infatuation and falling in love.
People have the right to think and say whatever they want to. But you have the right not to take it to heart, and not to react.
Sometimes you make the right decision; sometimes you make the decision right.
The difference between winners and losers is that winners do things losers don’t want to do.
You are so much more than what people have done to you, and to let that define you would be a tragedy.
The Internet is just bringing all kinds of information into the home. There’s just a lot of distraction, a lot of competition for the parent’s voice to resonate in the children’s ears.
I do not believe, even remotely, that you have to have a partner in your life in order to be whole, in order to be complete, and in order to be fulfilled. You just don’t have to.
I celebrate myself, and sing myself. And what I assume you shall assume. For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
Have you heard that it was good to gain the day? I also say it is good to fall, battles are lost in the same spirit in which they are won.
I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.
In all people I see myself, none more and not one a barleycorn less, and the good or bad I say of myself I say of them.
I am larger, better than I thought; I did not know I held so much goodness. All seems beautiful to me. Whoever denies me, it shall not trouble me; Whoever accepts me, he or she shall be blessed, and shall bless me.
Stranger, if you passing meet me and desire to speak to me, why should you not speak to me? And why should I not speak to you?
Re-examine all you have been told in school or church or in any book, and dismiss whatever insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem.
Dazzling and tremendous how quick the sunrise would kill me, if I could not now and always send sunrise out of me.
You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me, You shall listen to all sides and filter them from yourself.
I will sleep no more but arise, You oceans that have been calm within me! how I feel you, fathomless, stirring, preparing unprecedented waves and storms.
I believe the experiences of life are more important than any film you make.
The thing you hate about yourself tends to be the thing that everyone likes about you.
Sometimes your mistakes are you biggest virtues. You learn so much from the mistake. Those things that you think are the worst thing that’s happening to you can somehow turn around and be the greatest opportunity.
Even as a child I had a strong relationship with yearning and desire. And loss. Those things spoke to me.
Cinema is a director’s medium, so you’re saying, ‘What do you want?’ Being an actor is about adapting – physically and emotionally. If that means you have to look great for it and they can make you look great, then thank you. And if you have to have everything washed away, then I’m willing to do that too.
Forget the past. You can never predict what the future is going to be. Live for the moment.
I wear sunscreen, and I don’t smoke. I take care of myself. And I’m very proud to say that.
Dealing with these emotions as an actress is like being a boxer put into the ring.
You’re either going to walk through life and experience it fully or you’re going to be a voyeur. And I’m not a voyeur.
I dig my heels in every now and then, and think ‘I’m not going to do what’s expected or what people think is the right thing.’ So I have a little bit of that in my personality.
Whatever possession we gain by our sword cannot be sure or lasting, but the love gained by kindness and moderation is certain and durable.
How happy had it been for me had I been slain in the battle. It had been far more noble to have died the victim of the enemy than fall a sacrifice to the rage of my friends.
Heaven cannot brook two suns, nor earth two masters.
I am dying from the treatment of too many physicians.
You shall, I question not, find a way to the top if you diligently seek for it; for nature hath placed nothing so high that it is out of the reach of industry and valor.
True love never has a happy ending, because there is no ending to true love.
Bury my body and don’t build any monument. Keep my hands out so the people know the one who won the world had nothing in hand when he died.
How should a man be capable of grooming his own horse, or of furbishing his own spear and helmet, if he allows himself to become unaccustomed to tending even his own person, which is his most treasured belonging?
For my own part, I would rather excel in knowledge of the highest secrets of philosophy than in arms.
I had rather excel others in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and dominion.
I decided, very early on, just to accept life unconditionally; I never expected it to do anything special for me, yet I seemed to accomplish far more than I had ever hoped. Most of the time it just happened to me without my ever seeking it.
Living is like tearing through a museum. Not until later do you really start absorbing what you saw, thinking about it, looking it up in a book, and remembering – because you can’t take it in all at once.
My own life has been much more than a fairy tale. I’ve had my share of difficult moments, but whatever difficulties I’ve gone through, I’ve always gotten the prize at the end.
The greatest victory has been to be able to live with myself, to accept my shortcomings… I’m a long way from the human being I’d like to be. But I’ve decided I’m not so bad after all.
I have learnt how to live… how to be in the world and of the world, and not just to stand aside and watch.
Pick the day. Enjoy it – to the hilt. The day as it comes. People as they come… The past, I think, has helped me appreciate the present – and I don’t want to spoil any of it by fretting about the future.
Not to live for the day, that would be materialistic – but to treasure the day. I realize that most of us live on the skin – on the surface – without appreciating just how wonderful it is simply to be alive at all.
I believe, every day, you should have at least one exquisite moment.
People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.
I was born with an enormous need for affection, and a terrible need to give it.
