John Guare Quotes

And the greatest lesson that mom ever taught me though was this one. She told me there would be times in your life when you have to choose between being loved and being respected. Now she said to always pick being respected.

The way a woman or a man handles themselves, at a certain age I can't blame you for the way you act, because somebody didn't bring you up right, and the betterment is why I have a foundation titled Angels and Hearts. That's why I have Trey's Angels: to let women know that they are angels.

Art was something I could do better. It gave me a sense of self.

I don't care what people say about my relationship; I don't care what they say about my boobs. People are buying my songs; I have a sold-out tour. I'm getting incredible feedback from my music.

Education does loads of things for girls that won't surprise you at all - it provides self-esteem, teaches important life skills, and offers the kinds of choices a good education can give anyone.

At the level at which I work with people, their great talent is paired with great insecurity. Self-doubt is literally the twin of self-confidence. And I have to be there for both.

I'm not going to doubt my life.

Vocational education programs have made a real difference in the lives of countless young people nationwide; they build self-confidence and leadership skills by allowing students to utilize their unique gifts and talents.

As a working mother, the last thing you need is to be hard on yourself. As a stay-at-home mother, the last thing you need is to be hard on yourself. As a twenty something with no job prospects or life partner in sight, the last thing you need is to be hard on yourself.

I had a science teacher in middle school who inspired me... simply because she acknowledged me and made me feel that what I had to offer was worthy.

I would say Will came at a time in my life where he saw beauty in me that I didn't see in myself at the time. And, you know, he saw a diamond in the rough and kind of, picked me up and blew off all the dust and said, 'I'm telling you, I'm going to make you shine, girl.'

You know, you do need mentors, but in the end, you really just need to believe in yourself.

When I was 14 or 15, a camp counselor told me I was smart. I had never been very good in school, but he told me once that I was smart but my mind operated a little differently.

I was very insecure at the beginning of my career. I didn't value my talent. I would have probably skipped signing up for movies that I didn't want to do if I had understood that I had been accepted and people liked my work.

My life has been many examples of shortsighted goals that I thought would fix things. You know, if there's something broken inside me, if there's a hole in there, I thought: If I could just write a good song someday, then I'd be OK. You know, if I could just be on stage in front of people I'd never seen before and be validated by them.

Don't ever doubt yourselves or waste a second of your life. It's too short, and you're too special.

I hope all you young girls see yourself up there... we were just like you.

Everyone has to decide how they're going to appear in their lives, how they're going to put themselves out there to the world.

Children who open their lunchboxes and find mothers' handwritten notes telling them how amazingly bright they are tend to falter when they encounter academic difficulties.

It is what a man thinks of himself that really determines his fate.

I'm not good at many things. But I really like songwriting, and I get a good reaction from it. There's not much that I do that causes a good reaction, so it feels like if I want to have good things happen, then I should do the things I'm good at. I mean, in all seriousness, I left school at 15. I'm unqualified to do anything else.

The fact that people want to learn from you gives you confidence as well, especially if someone in an IPL dressing room that you respect comes up to you and asks how you do something. Your self-worth starts to improve.

I've been blessed to surround myself with good parents, and good people, and I think that's the secret: Surround yourself with people that are positive influences in your life that want to help and want to care.

If I can give that back to one little girl, much less thousands, and if they start on this journey because they saw me do this, then I did a good thing with my career and my life.

Growing up, I really didn't have a lot of role models.