Chris Rea Quotes

Being a nice girl from the Mid-West, my inclination is always to give in and say yes because I want people to like me.

I have a tendency to be awfully big-hearted and it's very hard for me to say no, even when I need to.

The essence of greatness is neglect of the self.

All I knew growing up was that my father was married to and loved my momma, period. He worked hard, made some money, and put it on the dresser. She spent it on the family, and he went out and earned some more. He taught me the most about love.

I'm not not going to stop giving away what I feel about something.

I'm definitely a people pleaser. I like people to be happy around me and be comfortable. I go out of my way, sometimes to a fault, to make sure everyone is okay.

My mother never asked me to do anything she wouldn't do herself. She always taught by example.

I want some colleague to be free to come help me when I say the time has come. That's what I'm fighting for, me. Now that sounds selfish. And if it helps somebody else, so be it.

A woman's decision to carry a baby to term knowing that she will not reap the fruits of motherhood should be treated as an act of bravery and selflessness - the ultimate standards of good motherhood.

I don't care what people think about me. I care what people think about my work. As a young woman, I was so eager to please that I served others' happiness and even their values before my own.

You need a particular talent only to want to please. I don't have this talent.

My father is my idol, so I always did everything like him. He used to work two jobs and still come home happy every night.

My parents instilled a really good work ethic from when I was little - if you want to have money to spend on holidays, you earn it. So I've always been someone who wanted to be able to survive by myself, but I think you have to let down the barriers a little bit - let other people in.

The existing principle of selfish interest and competition has been carried to its extreme point; and, in its progress, has isolated the heart of man, blunted the edge of his finest sensibilities, and annihilated all his most generous impulses and sympathies.

I remember calling directors numerous times and saying, 'Oh, you should cast so-and-so instead of me. They're much better for the role.'

Yield to all and you will soon have nothing to yield.

A man who can refuse no favor to any man. He would recommend ten persons for one and the same place rather than say no to any one of them.

He who is strong, concedes.

I love industry and abhor severity

The major forces in human nature: self interest and caring for others

… men who are governed by self-interest will combine, whether white or black, and the generous and selfless will similarly unite

It wouldn't bother me at all not to play on my own album.

I think I was raised by a very humble mother, who, if anything, is probably over skeptical. She has that sense of everything being a bonus: like, you have your lot, and anything else is on top. She's quietly proud, and quietly humble.

The happiest ones are those who have a character which would prefer their services to be unknown to all generations.

'Entrepreneur' is a long, fancy French word, but it didn't seem like something you aspire to. It seemed normal, because whatever your parents do seems normal.