Amy Tan Quotes

There's so many inspiring people out there.

It's so weird to turn on a switch and be the role model for all women, for all African-Americans. That doesn't happen that easily. It just doesn't. And so I don't act up in public and I don't do anything weird - because my sisters are watching me, not because the world is watching me.

When I was younger, I didn't have that type of person that I could look up to and be like, 'OK, this is someone who dresses like me and I relate to.' I didn't have that growing up, so to give that opportunity to a younger generation of women - and not just Somali women, but anyone who feels different - that means a lot to me.

When I leave the NBA, I don't want my legacy to be, 'He won a championship ring.' I want my legacy to say, 'He played for the people. He gave everybody in the world hope that they can be just like him.'

I didn't have a hero playing in sports that looked like me.

It's hard to be what you can't see.

I think a lot of people do see me as like a role model or as an ambassador.

There's room for everyone, and everyone is wanted and needed. Whoopi showed me that. When I first saw 'The Color Purple,' it was so huge. That was the first time I had seen myself, my mother, my aunts, women that I had known my whole life on-screen. It gives us hope, and it gives us confidence.

As a model, I feel a great responsibility, and I understand how an image can make a young woman feel.

There is power in seeing a face that looks like yours do something, be someone. There is power in moving from the sidelines to the center.

It's important for kids to see someone who looks like them carving his own path. I definitely acknowledge that, and I think it's super great.

Like Ekalaiva, I learnt a lot watching my father from afar. Though I did imitate him initially, I soon changed tack. When people have already watched and enjoyed M. R. Radha on screen, why would they need another?

I think about a young person who is sitting at home, 13 or 14, a person of color, possibly questioning their sexuality, and watching Dr. Hugh Culber and saying, 'I'm a part of an ideal future that we could work towards.' We're planting seeds in the minds of young people to say, 'Your possibilities are limitless.'

Everybody wants somebody to look up to that looks like them so they can truly believe in that reality for themselves.

I think that is a really good message, especially for young girls to hear. The fact that someone like me from the western suburbs of Sydney could become an actress in movies who didn't look like a regular actress, and that I can make it I think gives a lot of hope to other girls who are really creative and don't necessarily follow the standard of what some people consider beauty to be.

The ego and the personality have to be dropped, then you will find individuality arising...a feeling of uniqueness. Yes, you are unique. Everybody else is also unique. In this world only unique people exist, so comparison is just stupid, because you alone are like yourself. There is nobody like you, so how to compare?

When people say 'I want to be like you', I tell them if you want to be like me, then be yourself.

I find it so important now to be a role model and a figure. And I know that may sound strange to some people, but most important is my connection with my fans and the connection that they breed with one another.

I feel blessed because not only my character is, but I, myself, can be a role model for people to show that is okay to be your own unique self.

When I see people of my likeness, or who are somebody that I feel connected to, doing something great, I fee like I can do it. It gives me some hope and vision.

Success is about making your life a special version of unique that fits who you are - not what other people want you to be.

I just try to be myself and not conform to something I'm not and just continue doing what I do. I just try not to think about the fact that I'm an inspiration for people.

You cannot be all things to all people. Be unique. Be different. Give to others what you want yourself. And do what you were made to do.

From the very beginning you are being told to compare yourself with others. This is the greatest disease; it is like a cancer that goes on destroying your very soul because each individual is unique, and comparison is not possible. I am just myself and you are just yourself. There is nobody else in the world you can be compared with.

When I was younger, I felt pressure to become someone else once I became successful. But it's the intention of the work that's changed. I have fans now. I have a new purpose: to remind them that I am one of them, that we are one another. My consciousness has changed.