Pat Conroy Quotes

My parents made us do everything, try everything.

My parents didn't want me to be a regular in a series. I was a working actor from time to time but they thought was a little too much being a star of a series. They wanted me to have a slightly more normal childhood.

I grew up in west London, but my dad wouldn't let me go to school there, so I went in south London.

A lot of people ask me what my mom has taught me about modeling. The truth is the things she teaches me go deeper than what pose to make or what my good side is.

The truth is, I have made very few public appearances, and when I have, my parents have been very careful to allow me to have my own experience.

When I was seven, I was allowed to be an extra in 'Parenthood,' which was amazing. But then I kind of got addicted to it, and my parents didn't want me to want to act. They felt that would be putting your kid in an adult world.

I think the sense of family and family achievement, plus the discipline which I received there from that one-room school were really very helpful in what I did later on.

My first conscious thought of 'I should be like that and not like this' was probably at about six, and I was playing with... I have a twin brother, and we were playing with our twin cousins, who are a boy and a girl.

My father was a minister and so rock music was banned in our house.

For example, I loved English and history at school. I would have loved to have done a degree in either. But my Mom said I didn't have time for university.

I always had short hair, and I hated my short hair. I was always mistaken for a boy, but my mom wouldn't let me change my hair because she was always chasing me around with a hairbrush, and it was always tangled, so she just would cut it off, and she's right: short hair did suit me.

Well, our children do know what this industry is about, but they have a good grip on who they are.

People are always saying that Hollywood messes up kids. I'm like, 'No, families mess up kids!' I grew up in Hollywood, and I'm perfectly fine. If my children want to go into the entertainment business, I won't stop them, as long as they're passionate about it.

Oh, my father's had a huge, immense impact on my career. I grew up on movie sets that he was working on, and it just become a part or was a part, was the only part of my life because I spent my whole childhood traveling and being on film sets.

And, I think, as a kid, I had a strong motivation to do something of my life. And, I think that's the strongest motivation I really got. And, that came obviously from my parents and my grandparents.

I remember being about eight and watching 'Pollyanna' with Hayley Mills. I looked at my mum and said, 'Mum, I want to be Pollyanna.' She said, 'You're going to have to make yourself cry if you want to be an actress.' So I turned my head away, and when I turned it back I was in floods of tears.

Now I can look back and say I actually like the upbringing I had and my father was very attentive and a great educator.

My mom was very strict. She didn't let me watch anything rated R or anything with cussing.

I was brought up by my mother and my two sisters, although they're older than me and fled the nest very young, so I was technically raised as an only child, but I was very much loved.

How people keep correcting us when we are young! There is always some bad habit or other they tell us we ought to get over. Yet most bad habits are tools to help us through life.

I love heels. I remember the first time I saw a pair of heels my mum said: 'You're not wearing those. They're too high!'

I think I've been brought up very well by both my parents. I am very cautious and I think I'm now fit for the world I'm in. They're very much behind my modelling and very supportive.

My favorite subject was English, and I wanted to study English abroad when I was young, when I was a kid, but my mom said 'No, it's too dangerous to go abroad by yourself.' So I gave up.

Our parents have, by far, the greatest influence on shaping who we are and how we deal with the world.

We're so preoccupied with protecting children from disappointment and discomfort that we're inadvertently excusing them from growing up.