Giancarlo Esposito Quotes

When you are sixteen you do not know what your parents know, or much of what they understand, and less of what's in their hearts. This can save you from becoming an adult too early, save your life from becoming only theirs lived over again--which is a loss. But to shield yourself--as I didn't do--seems to be an even greater error, since what's lost is the truth of your parents' life and what you should think about it, and beyond that, how you should estimate the world you are about to live in.

There has to be room for people to make mistakes and lead their own lives.

So, you know, I think any life has in it enough material, enough points of departure, to fuel a writer's career and that we shouldn't worry about what we're not but to try to focus on what we are and what we do know.

With doing the movies I've done I don't think I would be half the person I am today.

Getting to a place where I am comfortable saying things was hard-earned for me. I've chewed on the ground glass of my own experience. I saw Gloria Steinem speak, and I was just like, Shut the front door. She was saying that she didn't come into her own until her 40s, and she was asking herself the question, Why should she have to get married? And I just thank God someone asked that question, right? I think we're the first generation of women asking ourselves certain questions and deciding for ourselves.

There is a tension between our desire to get our kids to turn out a particular way versus letting them develop to be their own person. If there were a pill that would make my child turn out the way I wanted, I'm not sure I'd take it.

I think people make their own faces, as they grow.

In a way I think why the Ghost story is very relatable to a large audience is that it's kind of a coming of age story and it's a realisation of 'I am what I am - what has happened to me, good or bad, that is the sum of who I am now'.

There is one thing you and I as parents cannot do, not do we want to do if we really think about it, and that's control our children's will--that spirit that lets them be themselves apart from you and me. They are not ours to possess, control, manipulate, or even to make mind.

First, I wanted to answer the question I'm most frequently asked: "How did you become who you are?" Well, you had to know John and Angelena Rice.

There are certain things in a man that have to be won, not forced; inspired, not compelled. Among these are many, I should say most, of the things that constitute the good life. All are essential to democracy. All are proof against its enemies.

Our natural thing to do when we break away from our parents and our family is to decide in how many ways they were wrong and bad, and the older you get you start to realize, "By 'bad' I mean 'different'" and then you get a little bit older and you think, "And by 'different' I mean 'pretty awesome but just not like me.'"

Children need parents who will let them grow up to be themselves, but parents often have personal agendas they try to impose on their children.

Exploring - that's what you have to do to find yourself sexually. You always think you have it figured out, and then you get older and you realize you didn't.

You grow up to become living proof of your parents' limitations. Their less-than masterpiece.

I was between 14 and 15, when I went through my angsty period. I was never very rebellious. I never did things to rebel against society, or against my parents, but I did think I knew everything. Then, one day, I woke up and realized I was a dot in this universe, and that quickly dissipated.

I think when you're 25 you're still finding yourself, and you should have the freedom of that.

It takes me a long time to change. I don't think you can just go out and figure out a bunch of visual ideas and photograph. The change happens in living and not through thinking.

He defined me first, as parents do. Those early characterizations can become the shimmering self-image we embrace or the limited, stifling perception we rail against for a lifetime.

What you get to choose today is who you are and what you wish to experience in your life. Remember, not to decide is to decide.

Parents aren’t the people you come from. They’re the people you want to be, when you grow up.

All my life I'd been told what to believe about politics, coloreds, being a girl. But with Constantine's thumb pressed in my hand, I realized I actually had a choice in what I could believe.

I suffer whenever I see that common sight of a parent or senior imposing his opinion and way of thinking and being on a young soul to which they are totally unfit. Cannot we let people be themselves, and enjoy life in their own way? You are trying to make that man another you. One's enough.

I am much more settled in who I am. I think a lot of your 20s is trying to figure out who you are - you're on your own, you've got you first job, you've got your first apartment, you're living away from your parents, you're just discovering who you are. I have deep, long friendships now and real relationships and I am so excited about the rest of my 40s.

The older I get, the more I'm surprised with life. Things don't end up the way you think they will. Unbelievable and unimaginable things do happen, and then you figure out if you'll be able to step up to the plate or not.