Apolo Ohno Quotes

Once you have a child, you change so much along the way, you don't even recognize yourself by the time they're ready to move out!

I didn't actually get along with my dad when I was growing up, so by the time I was in my 20s, I didn't think I was going to be a writer.

Since I was five, I've known that I was adopted, which is a politically correct term for being clueless about one's own origins.

I've had a lot of different lives. I was adopted, I grew up in Nebraska, and then I went to Northwestern... Then I had this really extraordinary, different life than my parents.

When you have a tough loss, go through it and agonize. I had one loss that I still want to change, but at the same time I realize it is an important part of who I am.

I like writing about teenagers because it's a time of great change and conflict. Up to then, you accept what your parents tell you.

When one has not had a good father, one must create one.

It's pretty strange because you have images of people in your head when you left, then you just think they're going to be the same when you come back, like time freezes. I have sisters and from the ages of 11 to 13 - it's a big change for girls.

A dramatic thing, the first time you stand up to your dad.

It can be very difficult to trace your birth parents.

I wanted my dad to be proud of me, and I fell into acting because there wasn't anything else I could do, and in it I found a discipline that I wanted to keep coming back to, that I love and I learn about every day.

I'm just doing the best I can now to keep this going... trying to grow up and remain young at the same time.

Teens are passionate, questioning, curious, have a bit of the idealism I still cling to, and they're making decisions for the first time that can alter the course of their lives - and sometimes, the course of the world.

You want to find out what it is about you or what it is about your past and your lineage that's in you now, and whether you carry those traits and maybe what one's mission is to take it to the next level.

The problem as you get older... is that you become more self-aware. At the same time, you have to surprise yourself. There's no way of arranging the surprise, so it is tricky.

I don't know much about my biological background.

Dad's Jewish and Irish, Mom's German and Scotch. I couldn't say I was anything. My last name isn't even Downey. My dad changed his name when he wanted to get into the Army and was underage. My real name is Robert Elias. I feel like I'm still looking for a home in some way.

When you have a child, you think about your personal history and what you offer them as a larger narrative, and I realised I knew nothing about my father's circumstances other than what he'd told me.

I think my mother is my biggest influence. There are so many things I hate about her but at the same time I'm thankful for her. All I know is that when I'm a parent I want to be just like my mom. I can talk to my mom more than any of my friends could talk to their parents.

I've never tried to find my real parents. I'm very grateful to my mum and dad for adopting me - they're completely incredible people. It was my dad who encouraged me to question everything, to forge my own path, to think, to read. I always felt it was my right to question everything.

My biological dad was Armenian. My last name is Lopez, and I have a darker complexion, which throws people for a loop. My mother's first husband is Mexican. That's where I got Lopez.

I think there is a time in every person's life where they have to let their parents go and figure out what being a parent means for themselves.

I was never obsessed with being adopted. I was simply curious about my biological parents.

Like me as a teen - and like many teenagers now - my characters are at a peculiar crossroads in their lives. They desperately seek freedom. But at the same time, they are constantly thwarted.

With time, you do get mature.