David Whyte Quotes

Life changed at 40 for me, as predicted by my acting teacher when I was leaving college. I became more hirable and more interesting... I'm not sure why.

There was a time when my whole life was in chaos, really, and I didn't help myself sort it out. But one day I came to my senses, and I think I was lucky because a lot of people don't.

You hear women talk about it all the time, like when you turn thirty, 'That's when it all came together for me, girl.' Honestly, that's what I feel.

When I turned 30, I knew my life was at a crossroads. It was either over, or I was going to restart.

You know, let a few years go by until I hit my midlife crisis. Then that can be documented on film.

Most of my life I've had long periods of feeling down and lost. That's why every five years or so I've smashed my life to pieces and started again.

The romantic idealism of my youth has been replaced with realism and hard work at what I love.

Quite often in life, when a tragic event arrives it becomes a springboard for mirroring all other things in one's life that one hasn't come to terms with.

All of the things I used to obsess over, I'm no longer as obsessed with. I have new concerns but they're a little more existential or cosmic.

You either mellow at 30, or your head explodes - take your choice.

A woman has many faces as she goes through her life. It's like we need more than one hair-do. We have many, many changes in the evolution of our lives. We have, we learn, and we grow; we view life differently, and life views us differently.

You go through life experiences. Each record captures a different turning point in my life.

It is well for the world that in most of us, by the age of thirty, the character has set like plaster, and will never soften again.

I was a punk. I think that's why I'm such a good person now, because I was such a bad guy then.

I'm not the angry, rebellious child that I was. You can remain a child for a long time. I certainly did. I was a slow learner.

I always felt like if I lived in true authentic self-expression and lived in service and in support of many other people, I would be exempt from having to deal with yet another crisis in my life. I was wrong.

After each experience, you grow up, you get enriched with something, and you don't know how you're going to be in six months, you don't know what you're going to want, what you're going to need.

I had years of partying, and I was kind of surprised and happy I survived it all. Now, being a parent, I look back on it thinking, Oh God, the things you did!

There were a couple of years where I got a bit lost - I went out too much, I was a bit heartbroken, thought I was a bit more of a dude than I really was. I would love to go back and have a strong word with myself.

'South Pacific' - I really learned a lot. I swear I like to say that during 'South Pacific,' I went from being a girl to being a woman.

I'm not changing to the point where suddenly I wear floor-length skirts and start playing the violin; I'm just growing up a little bit, I guess.

We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance.

When you're in your early 20s, you go ahead and do everything. And it's very hard to judge yourself.

I got in trouble with the police, and that was a rude awakening. That was it. I'd seen the bottom of the pit, and it was time to scrape myself out of it.

In retrospect, I'm grateful for the break-up of my marriage because it forced me to deal with all the buried issues I probably wouldn't have otherwise faced. I'm a better, kinder, happier person today because of the spiritual and emotional growth I've experienced.