Cornelia Parker Quotes

I believe in goals, but I believe that the individual should set his own. Goal setting should cause us to stretch as we make our way.

His ambition was to insert his dreams into the world, and if they were the wrong dreams, then he would dream them in solitude.

You have to be the one setting your own goals, trying to achieve those goals.

It's okay to have personal ambitions, but you have to take someone with you.

It is said that desire is a product of the will, but the converse is in fact true: will is a product of desire.

I always have high expectations for me.

If I thought that any of this was pre ordained, then it takes away any kind of incentive to struggle, or to put up with things, to reach for those impossible dreams, all those dramatic things.

No one should negotiate their dreams. Dreams must be free to fly high. No government, no legislature, has a right to limit your dreams. You should never agree to surrender your dreams.

What do you want? What do you want your life to be? What do you want your testimony to be? Go for it!

I would just say that I have high expecations for myself.

Every girl deserves the right to pursue their dreams.

Even when I was starting out, I knew there were certain things that I didn't want to do or wanted to do.

I want everything, but I can say I have a lot of goals and I have a lot of wishes, but it doesn't depend on me. If everything depends on me, I am doing it. Sometimes it just depends on how everything is going to go.

I think I've always felt that I want to do a very specific type of work and I've made informed decisions. You know, hopefully be part of a quiet movement or revolution.

I wanted to pursue my own thing - I had desires, ideas I wanted to accomplish, and I needed to be on my own for that.

I don't like telling people what my plans are, because I have big plans.

Reading interviews with other people, I see them say, 'All I want is for our band to be massive', but it was never an ambition of ours to be in a band that's this big. That's so far from how my mind works that I find it puzzling. There's nothing wrong with being ambitious, but we're not.

I think young folks have a good sense of what they want to do.

The light beyond my eyes flashflashflashes with a hundred futures for me. Doctor. Ship's captain. Forest ranger. Librarian. Beloved of that man or that women or those children or those people who voted for me or who painted my picture. Poet. Acrobat. Engineer. Friend. Guardian. Avenging whirlwind. A million futures--not all pretty, not all long, but all of them mine. I do have a choice" - p. 271

Children are potentially free and their life directly embodies nothing save potential freedom. Consequently they are not things and cannot be the property either of their parents or others.

every man is free to rise as far as he's able or willing, but the degree to which he thinks determines the degree to which he'll rise.

Let [children] be able to do all things, and love to do only the good.

Claim ownership of your dreams

Every man has business and desire, Such as it is.

Any system which allows men to choose their own future will end by choosing safety and mediocrity, and in such a Reality the stars are out of reach.