Lawrence O'Donnell Quotes

We always may be what we might have been.

Anyone can achieve their fullest potential, who we are might be predetermined, but the path we follow is always of our own choosing. We should never allow our fears or the expectations of others to set the frontiers of our destiny. Your destiny can't be changed but, it can be challenged. Every man is born as many men and dies as a single one.

When I was in the eighth grade, I wrote this huge long paper about how I had no idea what I was gonna do with my life, but that I wanted to make a difference and touch even if it was like one person's life... inspire them.

You don't have that much choice in your life, which is one of the big lessons I've learned. I was going to be a designer whether I wanted to be a designer or not.

Some ideas, like what you're going to do with your life, take time to form.

I had no idea what I wanted to be when I was 17. I just knew I wanted to be something larger than myself.

People are shaped in myriad ways by their upbringing and family. We also have agency in our lives, the people we become, and the lives we lead.

I never had time to dream about being anyone else.

The simplest questions are the most profound. Where were you born? Where is your home? Where are you going? What are you doing? Think about these once in a while and watch your answers change.

I remember sitting in school and thinking, 'I don't know why I'm here, because I know I'm going to act and I know I'm going to America.'

I was never really sure what I wanted to do - I'm in awe of these people who knew at age 10 or 12 they wanted to be a brain surgeon, and they did it, and they still are.

To find one's calling is perhaps not the easiest thing in the world, but probably the most important.

I loved my boarding school, but I didn't know what I wanted to do. I didn't have a career.

Not sure of my place in the world (still up for debate) and not sure what I wanted to do with my life (not really up for debate).

The way I was brought up, there was a little bit of prodding to do something more practical, and I wasted a lot of time trying to be a practical person.

My grandmother had the most dramatic effect on my life because she set me in one direction, and I had to go back the other direction for my sanity, and for my ability to be a social human being.

Where you grew up becomes a big part of who you are for the rest of your life. You can't run away from that. Well, sometimes the running away from it is what makes you who you are.

Dostoevski was on to something. You are the path you choose. You are what your vocation is.

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.

I think life experiences are different for people who know what they want as children.

I used to think I had ambition... but now I'm not so sure. It may have been only discontent. They're easily confused.

Every time I took a long leave from home, I felt as if I were going to conquer the world. Or rather, take possession of what is my birthright, my inheritance.

I never had the chance to consider what or how I wanted to be.

Despite my mother saying I have been destined to be an actress my whole life, I remember being the kid who grew up not knowing what I wanted to do with my life.

I know from experience that careers do not always arise from a deep sense of destiny.