Lynn Nottage Quotes

I have always let the lack of Indian actors in the industry drive me, not hold me back. I remember an agent in L.A. telling me a few years ago that an Indian actor wouldn't ever make it in Hollywood, but my ethnicity has helped me.

I'm proud of my driver test. So many people were waiting for me to test and fail, so they could say that women would never be able to race in F1. I always view my time in F1 as before and after the test. Beforehand, I could sense everybody asking, 'What's she doing in the F1 paddock? Is she good enough?' After my test, that attitude changed.

When I was with PSV Eindhoven in Holland, some people still thought Asian players weren't good enough to play in Europe. It's always good to rise to the challenge and prove them wrong. When I first came to United, I had to prove my ability again.

All of my life, I've been told no. That I was too poor, too short, too black. I enjoy it when people underestimate me.

When you're from an unknown place, I think it's hard for you to believe it's possible. You think you have to go to L.A. or New York to make it, but I don't think that's true. I'm glad to be an example that you can make it from where you are. All you need is talent and hard work.

I was painfully shy as a child; I was dyslexic. I had a single mother who's an immigrant. I just didn't believe acting was something that people like me could do on a professional level.

People tell me I'm not supposed to do the things that I do at my size. I just take it as a blessing.

My aim is to change the social norms of Pakistan; women here look up to me. I started very early, worked on myself, and the effect is for all to see.

They used to say a woman would never main-event a pay-per-view. I'm pretty sure I heard that from my dad.

There were always people in the audience that judged me on the way I looked. They just assumed, because I was a girl, that I wasn't going to be any good, and it motivated me to improve and nail it every night.

My entire life, people have told me that I couldn't do certain things. They told me I couldn't go to college. They told me I couldn't go to Yale, Georgetown, couldn't end up doing much on Capitol Hill. Couldn't be party chair. And my response has always been, 'Watch me.'

It's always good when you prove people wrong.

A lot of people see somebody who has one hand and not two, and they think it doesn't make sense. It's like, 'He has one hand, so how can he play football?' What if I say, 'You have two hands. How can you play football?'

I like being the underdog. I like turning around and shutting people up when they tell me I can't.

People do think I was a one-hit wonder, that I'm maybe not the kind of singer that I can really be - that impression is there. I have to work really hard to break down those walls.

I was told 'you can't play for England, you're at Bolton.' I proved them wrong.

Whatever else it was about, the feminist movement had no interest in exploding the myth of the mysterious and wonderful world of business; it simply wanted in on it.

To the extent that I can serve as a role model or mentor for other women in what might be traditionally viewed as a male-dominated field, I welcome that.

I just enjoy seeing people break through those ceilings when people press them down and say, 'He can't do this or that.' It's always fun to document those types of stories when someone breaks through.

People think that you're gonna come out, be a one hit wonder, and finished. You gotta prove 'em wrong.

When I first started to sing, people automatically asked what Barbi Benton was doing behind a microphone, and I'm determined to show them there is talent here.

I love the fact we do break taboos.

There always will be stereotypes that women can't drive. When I hear the comments, it just makes me more determined to prove them wrong.

For 10 years, I'd been told I was always going to be a catalogue girl, never a cover girl. Well, I got with IMG and did five covers in a year, boom, boom, boom.

The act of me just being robust in the world is so radical - it's so radical for a black woman to think she's going to be a star, because it takes so much to get there. It's still a battle every day, but I feel happy because I feel like I cracked the code and figured out how to work through it. Now I want to give the map to other women.