Sondra Locke Quotes

The world doesn't reward talent, it mostly rewards those who are connected.

George Karl's son probably wouldn't have made it to the NBA if he wasn't a coach. He would have never got the opportunity.

Those who belong to the film families may have a certain advantage, but nobody can keep you in this business if you don't deserve it.

I am sure it does not hurt that Mitt Romney is my dad. I'm sure it's opened a lot of doors for me. But I think I've been pretty effective once I've gotten through the door at doing a pretty good job.

People return my phone calls now, which is really interesting. I'll tell you what I've learned that's kind of bittersweet. So many doors have opened up. I've met everybody in the business. I'm fortunate people want to work with me.

At one point, you start wondering if being talented in Bollywood is enough, or you need connections.

It's good to keep in mind that prominence is always a mix of hard work, eloquence in your practice, good timing and fortuitous social relations. Everything can't be personalized.

I worked a long time to get good at what I'm doing, and nobody handed me a recording contract because of who my father is.

My name does help me get in the door, but it doesn't do the work for me.

I've always been, with acting, very hesitant to get myself into situations where I would be accused of nepotism.

You need fans in high places, I always tell people. I don't care how talented you are.

Most of us pay some sort of price for screwing up. Quayle never has. His high school guidance counselor told him his grades were too low for admission to DePauw University, where his grandfather was a trustee and major donor, but he got in anyway. In college he flunked the departmental exam that was supposed to be a prerequisite to graduation, but he graduated anyway. Although it was 1969, the height of the Vietnam War, a year when more than a quarter million young men were drafted and other Indianans were being told it would take years to get into the National Guard, Quayle landed a spot in a week flat, after a retired Guard general who worked for his family made a call on his behalf. Quayle was rejected by Indiana University Law School, but he got in anyway- under an affirmative action program, after he visited the dean of admissions, a Republican judge in a city (Indianapolis) where Quayle’s grandfather owned the newspaper. (Soon thereafter, the grandfather made a large contribution to the law school.) Quayle was indifferent law student, but he got a job in the state attorney general’s office anyway. (His father made a few calls.) He was a twenty-nine year old employee of his father’s paper, but he got elected to Congress anyway, with the help of the paper and his own good looks. He was a poor congressman, but he got elected to Senate anyway, in the 1980 Reagan landslide. Two years later the DePauw faculty voted against giving him an honorary degree, but he got it anyway. He was a mediocre senator, but Bush put him on the national ticket anyway. He blew the debate, but he’ll probably be elected vice president anyway. At this rate he’ll be president by cherry blossom time.

Writing can be taken up at any point. But you need to remember that the arts are fundamentally unfair. Hard work and diligence won't necessarily take you all the way. Talent, nepotism, influence, and pure luck play a huge part.

Whatever we do, whatever our backgrounds, we've all had some kind of advantage somewhere along the way. Some break that might have gone to someone else. Some edge or inside track we couldn't have counted on.

Star kids always get an upper hand at the start of their career. People in the industry often know them from the time they were toddlers, so they show support to them when their film is about to release.

After a point, it doesn't matter where you come from. There are many star kids who haven't done well in the industry and rank newcomers who have done amazingly well.

It is not a shocker to me that a film went out of my hands, not because I was not credible, but because I was not so-and-so's daughter or sister or dating so-and-so.

The result of being a Kennedy is that I have extraordinary opportunities that I wouldn't otherwise have.

Some young people can rely on a privileged background and great connections to get work experience, but I don't believe anybody can be guaranteed success nowadays.

A lot of people have that notion that it must have been easier for me because I had the Malik tag. But I don't feel it's right. With due respect to someone like Ankit Tiwari who leaves everything at home to come and make it big here without any backing, I agree I have an advantage.

We may have been born on third base, but we worked like we were starting from home plate. You know: batter up.

Ask Frank Stallone how far your name gets you.

I've certainly never used my father's name as a way of getting a meeting. And fortunately, I've never needed to.

I think the WikiLeaks releases furnish us with an opportunity to observe the upper reaches of the American status hierarchy in all its righteousness and majesty. High-achieving colleagues attempting to get jobs for their high-achieving children. Foundation executives doing fine and noble things. Prizes, of course, and high academic achievement.

I don't think the world works on merit.