Rachael Harris Quotes

I'm from a small town in North Carolina and went to a small college and didn't think that someone like me could make a living in L.A. doing comedy. I worked hard, especially in college, but at that age, you don't know what's next.

I started out with comedy in college, but had my major in Recreation Administration - which meant I wasn't going to get a real job - so I started doing a little standup.

Believe it or not, the first spark for everything I've done today came down to me meeting one person in college who changed my life. A student named Anthony Adams who lived across the hall from me in our freshman dorm showed me what it meant to be an 'entrepreneur' when I saw him launch his own start-up company.

I was in college and got arrested. It was a real scare for me/wake-up call/'Man, you better do something with your life 'cause you don't wanna be a bum' call. That's really why I took music serious.

They're great memories, not just as a footballer but as a person growing up - it sounds daft, but to come away from Liverpool to play the first-team football I needed. It's a fantastic place, a huge football club and they helped me a lot. I'm grateful for coming through there.

Wake Forest came knocking on the door, and I accepted that offer. It changed my life completely.

There was a moment when I was watching Martin Lawrence and Will Smith in 'Badboys' that I felt, you know, inspired. I don't know if I was proud, because so many people do the work. Everyone's part of a team that develops over the years and gives people chances. There have been some good moments watching people develop.

I never thought I could model, and I certainly never thought about acting. It's just something that happened to me.

And at the time, it is funny how you can look at something and say, for example with my shoulder injury, when it first happened I said this is the worst thing that could happen to me. Why me, why now? Now I look back and say it was probably the best thing that happened to me.

Part of becoming a little bit older and having the opportunities that I have, you want to start giving back to people who have been influential and helped you along the way.

I've always been extremely lucky in playing with great people who knew much more than I did. That's how I got from there to here.

I wanted to be an English teacher. I wanted to do it for the corduroy jackets with patches on the side. When I got to college, as I was walking across campus one day, I ripped off a little flyer for this sketch-comedy group. It ended up being one of the greatest things I've ever done.

I feel fortunate. I've really gotten to work with amazing talented people, and to learn from them, which is why I'm doing this. If I can work with the best director I'm going to do it.

I never really set out to be a comedian, but as a kid, I loved doing sketches and playing characters. And then a great friend kept telling me I should be a comedian, so I followed her advice and gave it a shot.

When you get out of school, you just go where the wind blows: Here's an audition; there's an audition. And before you know it, you're where you're supposed to be. And that was Second City.

In 1984, Nevada Senator Paul Laxalt gave me the opportunity of a lifetime to serve as a legislative intern in his office in Washington, D.C. Coming from humble beginnings, the experience changed my life and charted me on a path of public service.

When I was still a bright-eyed McKinsey consultant, I remember hitting a point where I didn't know what to do next, and someone gave me the book, 'How Remarkable Women Lead,' and I read it and scribbled in it, and it felt like a guide in helping me figure out my career.

If you're early on in your career and they give you a choice between a great mentor or higher pay, take the mentor every time. It's not even close. And don't even think about leaving that mentor until your learning curve peaks.

It wasn't until Joe Maddon called me in 2006 when I thought about pursuing a coaching career.

To be honest, my time at Dortmund wasn't a big success. I didn't settle well at the club and eventually moved on to Sevilla. But I am forever grateful about it because it gave me the opportunity to work with Jurgen Klopp. If I didn't go to Germany, I would never have had a chance to work with him.

It's really the city of Detroit that I owe the thanks to and all the people along the way, so many people that played a role in my success in giving me the dreams and aspirations to go to college and do the things that I did.

There were so many wonderful opportunities for me growing up in Cleveland. And whatever I'm doing in New York or Hollywood, I meet people from Cleveland.

The big turning point for me was a school debate in sixth year when, against all odds and to everybody's surprise, I put myself forward... I wrote this funny speech and was determined to do my own thing, and it wasn't on topic and people were laughing a lot. I really can't describe how wonderful an experience it was.

Being funny was something I was doing before I understood what that even was. Now I'm making a career out of it.

My life could have easily gone another way. But I had this one teacher who gave me direction and got me into performing. She got me into touring with an educational play called 'The Inner Circle' along with Pedro Zamora from MTV's 'The Real World.'