Tomie dePaola Quotes

It was simple reality - most competitive tennis players in my day were privileged, spoiled, entitled and white. Also, many of them were beautiful, fit, tan and of good stock - great big hair and white teeth and long legs. Then there were the rest of us.

People with advantages are loath to believe that they just happen to be people with advantages.

I'm not exceptional. I didn't grow up with privilege.

My childhood was marked by a tension between privilege on the one hand and emotional dysfunction on the other.

If you're lucky enough to be raised in a rich family, good. But learn how to respect that luck. It's not a given, you know? It's not like, 'Well, it's normal'. No, it's not normal. It's lucky.

I realize I am very privileged. But there's a difference between being spoiled and privileged.

You know some of the people in The Strokes, yeah, their parents had success - but we didn't live like yuppies.

It is a melancholy truth that even great men have their poor relations.

A person should not have a second class life because he chose the wrong parents.

No matter how different a career path we choose from our parents, people will always say we wouldn't have gotten there if it hadn't been for our name. And in the end, there's no way to tell if that's true or not. Maybe it's not the worst thing for people not to see you coming. If people want to underestimate me, I'm fine with that.

There are a lot of people who were born into immense privilege who pretend that they weren't.

Because of how I grew up and on 'Made In Chelsea,' I never had any challenge.

I'd be the biggest hypocrite if I said I really worked very hard for my career, because it was given to me on a silver platter. I can't take any credit.

I am the daughter of the Chairman of the Board and thus, was raised with great music.

I'm aware people will think I've had an easy way into a dream career. My view is, if anyone has opportunities, they'll take them. My surname opens doors, but those doors will slam firmly if I'm no good.

I was quite the spoiled brat. I have quite a temper, obviously inherited from my father, and I became very good at ordering everyone around. I was the princess; the staff were absolutely terrified of me.

I think it's disingenuous to believe that being born into a privileged world means you feel like you are having an easy time.

I was an only child who had every advantage, every blessing, absolutely.

The problem with beauty is that it's like being born rich and getting poorer.

If I grew up in 'da hood,' it would make my story so much more interesting - if I had something to escape from. I had a pretty good life. My parents weren't rich; they weren't poor. I wasn't trying to escape from anything. It was always just the pursuit of something cooler.

I guess some kids around me had to grow up quickly, had all those problems. But I wasn't one of those kids, or around those kids, not at all.

George W. Bush was born on third base and somehow got the idea that he hit a triple.

Demoralization is something I know a great deal about, all my life I have got something for nothing. That is entirely due to luck and I think a great many members opposite are in the same position. We have all got something for nothing. The question is: are we demoralized? I am not demoralized.

People should not have all these privileges and advantages just because they emerged from the right vagina.

Beauty is a gift, just like good health or intelligence. The only thing is not to be proud of being beautiful. Because you didn't do anything - it was given to you.