Shaquille O'Neal Quotes

Whether it's writing a monologue or writing standup or writing a screenplay or writing a play, I think staying involved in the creation of your own work empowers you in a way, even if you don't ever do it. It gives you a sense of ownership and a sense of purpose, which I think as an actor is really important.

You write to suit some sense in yourself and trust that that will resonate with a certain wider readership.

Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.

When I want to put out an album, I want to write it. I want to be able to say that I wrote my album, and all this stuff is from me.

If I'm cooking dinner for my hubby or designing a line or selling on QVC, I try to do it in an authentic way. To speak to people like I want to be spoken to, to be a voice for people who don't have one and to give them things they need and love.

I love my lecture tours. I get up onstage. I have my stack of books and a glass of water and a microphone. No podium, no distance between me and the audience, and I just talk to people and get all excited and tell a lot of jokes, and sing some songs, and read from my work and remind people how powerful they are and how beautiful they are.

It's great to get to make something in your own voice.

Through literacy you can begin to see the universe. Through music you can reach anybody. Between the two there is you, unstoppable.

As a model, I really stand for not being a model, if that makes sense. When I started, the whole idea of the model was very different; it was a bit stuck-up. Not stuck-up, but no one was trying to have fun, or not even have fun, but be willing to smile.

It's been so amazing. I've always struggled with this barrier that I felt like I'd had up until blogging came along. Just one comment from somebody really sparks something in me. It doesn't need to be this huge war between me and the listeners anymore. I really thrive on that.

Express yourself in any way possible.

LeBron is always interested in giving fans a very close and detailed look at his life.

I don't want to be super serious but I want to have fun with my platform. I want to touch people, I want to be relatable and let girls know that you can go to college and still pursue what you want after that.

If you aren't already a songwriter, try it. When you can say what you want to say, in your own words, it's incredibly easy to show an audience who you are.

It means so much to be able to share myself with the world.

If you're on the fence about speaking your truth or sharing your world with a greater audience, don't be. We need each other badly.

I just feel like I explain myself more, I'm trying to be more conscious about it, simply. Just enlightening my fans and letting them know to lock into me because I'm speaking real with them, more than anything.

Self-expression is a hallmark of an artist, of art, to get something off one's chest, to sing one's song. So that element is present in all art. It is the key to even standing up and saying, "Hey, listen to me." Self-expression can be based on looking at the world and making observations about it.

Writing is one of the most assertive things a person can do.

Don't try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say.

I want to reach people and express myself. You have to put up with the risk of being misunderstood if you are going to try to communicate. You have to put up with people projecting their own ideas, attitudes, misunderstanding you. But it’s worth being a public fool if that’s all you can be in order to communicate yourself.

I just kinda do what I feel. I never knew what lane I would fill, [or that] I would fill a lane at all. I didn't even really contemplate that far down the road. I just started having fun, and a lot of that came from me seeing Wayne dare to be different, and I started feeling like I can be a multifaceted rapper. I don't have to be a one-dimensional female rapper. Once I put that in perspective, it was like everything just got easier for me, because I no longer wanted to fit in anybody's box... I just wanted to be Nicki.

Just being able to express myself and reach so many other people by doing so is really great!

Do the stuff that only you can do. The urge, starting out, is to copy. And that's not a bad thing. Most of us only find our own voices after we've sounded like a lot of other people. But the one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can. The moment that you feel that, just possibly, you're walking down the street naked, exposing too much of your heart and your mind and what exists on the inside, showing too much of yourself. That's the moment you may be starting to get it right.

I have no desires, save the desire to express myself in defiance of all the world’s muteness.