Catherynne M. Valente Quotes

I was never really sure what I wanted to do - I'm in awe of these people who knew at age 10 or 12 they wanted to be a brain surgeon, and they did it, and they still are.

Not sure of my place in the world (still up for debate) and not sure what I wanted to do with my life (not really up for debate).

You know, I'm still deciding what I'm going to be when I grow up.

I used to think I had ambition... but now I'm not so sure. It may have been only discontent. They're easily confused.

Sometimes I wake up and think, 'How did I get here?'

Despite my mother saying I have been destined to be an actress my whole life, I remember being the kid who grew up not knowing what I wanted to do with my life.

I was in college that first semester, and I was like, 'Wow, this isn't who I am. This isn't what I want to do.' I was like, 'Oh God, I'm going to have to go out and make something of myself, and I have no clue what that is.'

If you knew what you wanted to be when you were 6 years old - great! If you have no idea what you want to be, that's OK!

I still don't know quite what I'm supposed to do or be.

I'm totally confused about what I'm going to do with my life.

I had no idea what I wanted to be when I was 17. I just knew I wanted to be something larger than myself.

I've never had a particular skill. I can't cook, dance, play an instrument, speak a foreign language. This used to worry me. I'd think, when I'm grown up, at 18, then I made it 21, it will be clear what role I should have in life. It never happened. I never signed on the dotted line as the sort of adult my father wanted.

I was actually looking for answers where I kept asking myself - what am I doing?

I had no idea when I graduated from high school and then from graduate school what I wanted to do with my life. I had no idea that I was ever going to be an actor.

I had money, but I still didn't know what to do with my life.

I was a confused young man. I didn't know what I wanted to be.

I've always wanted better for myself; I just didn't know what route I was going to take.

My father always used to ask me what my aim in life is. I used to tell him I don't have any.

I graduated college valedictorian, got an M.A. from Columbia University in Spanish literature at the age of twenty-two, and still couldn't answer the question 'What do you want to do with your life?'

Whom can I ask what I came to make happen in this world? Why do I move without wanting to, why am I not able to sit still? Why do I go rolling without wheels, flying without wings or feathers, and why did I decide to migrate if my bones live in Chile?

All my life, I always wanted to be somebody. Now I see that I should have been more specific.

I couldn't see myself filling some definite niche in what is called a career. This was all misty.

I was very unsure about what I wanted to do in high school.

I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. It's funny - people ask me that, and I don't know what to tell them.

I don't know if I work in order to do something, or in order to know why I can't do what I want to do.