Ellen Barkin Quotes

I think I was born strong-willed. That's not the kind of thing you can learn. The advantage is, you stick to what you believe in and rarely get pushed out of what you want to do.

I've always been pretty tough in that way, where if you tell me I can't do something, I will prove you wrong.

So many times, people told me I can't do this or can't do that. My nature is that I don't listen very well. I'm very determined, and I believe in myself. My parents brought me up that way. Thank God for that. I don't let anything stand in my way.

I'm a very stubborn person. I think it has helped me over my career. I'm sure it has hindered me at times as well, but not too many times. I know that if I set my mind to do something, even if people are saying I can't do it, I will achieve it.

Thanks to God that he gave me stubbornness when I know I am right.

I've learned that it's not a straight road to the top, and there are going to be setbacks along the way. You have to be patient, and you have to keep believing in what you're doing. And keep believing in yourself, no matter what is happening. And then eventually you'll get there.

In a way I'm lucky because when people suggest I won't be able to do something I have no choice but to show them they are wrong. If I say I'm doing it, I'm doing it. No matter how hard it is.

When people keep telling you that you can't do a thing, you kind of like to try it.

I'm the kinda person, you gotta fight for everything you get. You gotta believe in yourself.

You have to have an attitude that nothing's gonna stop me. I think that's just my New York kind of attitude - survival of the fittest.

You need to believe in yourself and what you do. Be tenacious and genuine.

If I listened to my critics, I would still be at home under my bed right now.

Only he has the calling for politics who is sure that he will not crumble when the world from his point of view is too stupid or base for what he wants to offer. Only he who in the face of all this can say "In spite of all!" has the calling for politics.

There is nothing you can tell me to discourage me.

My wife says I have happy delusions. I'm delusional that way. I just say, 'This is how it's got to be, and it's got to be.' I don't take no. I just don't like no. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. That's just how I am.

You tell me I can't do something, I'm going to do it.

I love when people tell me what I can't do.

That's why I kept wrestling - I'm too dumb to realize I can't win, so I keep wrestling until I ultimately succeed. I'm pretty dang stubborn.

When I hear people say that they don't think that I can do something or they don't think I belong somewhere, that's all it takes for me to prove them wrong, and it's motivation.

You have to be confident enough to pick yourself up and go to 30 meetings and be told no every time and not take that to heart.

I doubt myself a lot but go forward at full throttle anyway.

When people tell me I can't do something, I have a visceral reflex to say, 'Yes, I can.'

My stubbornness helped me for the first half of my career; I had that real determination to do it my way - I know the best way. That helped me from a 14-year-old to 25 in getting me to where I got to.

Never give up. People will always discount you, and you'll always get rejected. But set your sights high. Be boldly ambitious. Be relentless and never give up.

I had an extraordinary belief in myself. For years people told me to give it up and even though I was poverty- stricken, I never thought I should give it up.