Tracy Chapman Quotes

I'm just a girl from Amsterdam. It's a small city. Everybody knows Amsterdam, but it's still a small city. To come from there, to work with Will. i. am... it's like, 'What happened?! What did I do right?'

I, sort of, got into comedy accidentally, and it got bigger than I wanted it to.

You never know what's going to happen sometimes, or what you think's going to happen never happens, or when you least expect it, the Santana record comes along and just blows up.

I don't know about whether I thought I would make it this big.

I never imagined that I would earn my way into anyone's rafters.

I never really thought I'd be successful. I never though I'd get books published, but this was something completely beyond me. The fact that it happened is wonderful, but it is not something that I was aiming for.

To me, all success is a delightful surprise, since one can absolutely never predict it.

My friends say everything I touch turns to gold. I'll say, 'I've been very lucky.'

I never went after fame. It fell into my lap.

I wasn't one of those kids who was chasing the dream and wanted to get to Hollywood because one day I was gonna get my chance and be a big star. I never felt like that.

When I booked 'Orange,' I thought things were going to change a little bit, and I'd be a little more busy, but obviously I underestimated it. I don't think anyone knew that my character would be taken to so well.

I sometimes lie awake at night and wonder why I am still so popular and, to be honest, I don't know.

No one was more surprised that that first Boston record took off than the record company itself.

I wasn't born a superstar.

I wasn't a kid growing up thinking, 'One day I'll get an Oscar and make a speech.' That wasn't on my mind.

I never had any real expectations about what sort of success I would have or all the publicity.

All my success seems to come straight away, and it's not until later that I get to appreciate it. Like with 'Popstars,' I won the competition, and now I look back and go, 'God, I was lucky to have number-one singles and albums.'

'La Mancha' was a gift from me to me. I never thought for a minute it was going to be a hit.

But I never really thought that I would be extraordinarily successful at skating, it's just something that happened, you know.

I don't think anyone expected me to get the BAFTA. The bookies didn't have me down. It's definitely made a huge difference in my career, but I don't dwell on it.

I would be humiliated if I found out that anything I did actually became a commercial success.

So, it didn't do well. But now when I talk to kids who are first seeing it, they're surprised to hear the movie failed at the box office. Sometimes that's what happens.

Some great people are leaders and others are more lucky, in the right place at the right time. I'd put myself in the latter category. But I'd never call myself a normal designer of anything.

People who are successful should never forget that it's 90 per cent luck. You've got to be an eejit to be an egomaniac. I had my glory years - 'Blankety Blank,' the talk show, when I was winning every award going.

I haven't yet figured out how I was made first captain, because I was not an outstanding student. I was an adequate student.