Ross Mathews Quotes

I've learned a tremendous amount from Oprah.

I grew up watching Oprah on television. So, to say I didn't learn a lot from her just wouldn't be true.

When I go speak to these kids through my foundation and am able to sit down and tell them some of the things that I've been through, they can look up and relate to me, and they can understand the feelings I had that are similar to what they're going through and feeling.

Coach Wooden, when he speaks, you listen. I've taken a lot of things from him and his little blue book because to him, it's not just about basketball, it's about life as well.

Every kid needs a mentor. Everybody needs a mentor.

I look up to a lot of people, but outside of my parents, I've never really had a mentor.

Lately I've been going to all these high schools talking to the students, answering their questions, listening to what they have to say. It has been an incredible journey to be around them and try to give them what my mother gave me.

I look up to people that are much older than me, so being a mentor is a full time job.

You can't be around Oprah and not have her influence you, and I don't mean that because she's doling out the free advice. I mean it because she is someone that leads with truth and follows her heart. She's a force.

As I get older, I want to draw on my experience to make roles better. I see that in the older women who inspire me - their experience makes them better.

On the day my daughter was born, I started writing a book for her. The plan was that, over the course of her life, I'd fill it with advice on how to be a strong woman. But along the way, I got caught up in the stories of Amelia Earhart, Sally Ride, and so many others. So how do you pick the best heroes for your kids?

If you can draw something from my life that helps, more power to you.

I've met Oprah Winfrey twice, but I want to spend some quality time with her. I want to sit her down and talk at her for a minute about what she means to me and why she means that. Then I have some advice for her, too... I have an idea or two.

I've definitely had mentors, whether parents or friends or actors who I like.

Some of the best advice I've gotten was from William Hurt and Harry Connick Jr. I've really learned a lot from both of them.

What I like about graduation speeches is that they're an opportunity for someone to make sense of their life and to impart that wisdom to someone else. It's like a sanctioned self-help moment.

I have, I think, eight mentors. It's crazy, but I need them. They are all really important to me. They keep me grounded and advise me.

Oprah's aspiration to inspire her audience with hope - elaborated on her TV show, in her magazine, and on her website - is hardly ignoble.

It took me a long time to learn how to be brave enough to put myself out there and try everything, no matter how strange or silly. If I can impart that same wisdom to other folks - no matter what age - it would be an honor.

I think a role model is a mentor - someone you see on a daily basis, and you learn from them.

Mentorship is critical for young people. Mentorship by others for my children is very high on my agenda.

Coach's voice will never leave my head as long as I live.

John Wooden's books are great.

It's been true in my life that when I've needed a mentor, the right person shows up.

I wish there were people when I was young that I had a respect for and looked up to that I could have been guided by. I didn't have that, and I really do wish I did because I think I would've learned a lot more.