Marisa Tomei Quotes

Growing up, I've always made a point to not be placed in a box.

Negativity sells. I have been labelled a rebel. If I had been one, would I have got married at 23? Would I have been a straight A student?

Many of us will endure a lifetime following others. Institutionalisation suits many but not all. Some of us thrive beyond those boundaries.

I don't want to be seen in a way where all I can do is what people expect of me.

I don't like being pigeonholed. Why would you want to limit yourself to one style or one genre? Labels are something I want to avoid. I've had it my whole life, being pushed into a place, a circumstance or situation I didn't want to be in. My motivation has always been to get away from it.

It's kind of a Catch-22. The more successful you get, the less normal you get.

After all, a girl is... well, a girl. It's nice to be told you're successful at it.

I've always had my wrist slapped for being myself.

We've never tried to fit any mould because we already broke the one we started.

I wasn't overwhelmed by dogma, and that sort of freed me up to look at things differently.

I know some people like to follow the tradition, and that's who they are. That's not me.

You can never assume that something is going to do well.

I have a natural tendency to resist conformity.

As a film-maker, I certainly don't want to be put into some box.

School is not for me. I'm volatile and hate being told what to do.

I had no idea if 'No Roots' was going to work or not.

Action is not really my genre, but it's what people expect out of me. And it works, too.

My success came from the fact that I'm not a typical blogger.

You don't have to make yourself look like people expect you to look.

Sometimes you make plays, sometimes you don't.

My first reaction to being pigeonholed or pushed into certain confines is to be like, 'No, I'm the opposite,' you know? Like, don't put me in a stereotypical black-girl category, because I'm not like that; I'm doing this thing over here.

There are definitely advantages to not looking like a Viking in real life.

The biggest thing I've learnt is not to limit myself by the norm or what I should be doing.

Everyone always says, 'We don't want to be pigeonholed.' But sometimes, your pigeonhole is a great place to be.

Hip-hop is so saturated with the same old same old that people always expect the guy to actually be the guy. They want you to be real and straight from the streets and all that.