Maria Semple Quotes

If someone else isn't making it happen for you, make it happen yourself.

You're the only person that can make your life happen.

If you need a certain vitality you can only supply it yourself, or there comes a point, anyway, when no one's actions but your own seem dramatically convincing and justifiable in the plot that the number of your days concocts.

The average man finds life very uninteresting as it is. And I think the reason why is that he is always waiting for something to happen to him instead of setting to work to make things happen

I should have been trying to build a career, rather than leaving it in the hands of somebody else.

God helps those who help themselves.

Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else.

You shouldn't wait for other people to make special things happen. You have to create your own memories.

You can listen to what everybody says, but the fact remains that you've got to get out there and do the thing yourself.

The gods help them that help themselves.

If you want something, you can't wait for someone to make it happen for you.

You wait for fate to bring about the changes in life which you should be bringing about by yourself.

I started posting covers online and having this crazy determination about what I wanted to do and just went for it. I was like, 'Okay, no one else can create my future for me, and no one can get what I want for me, so I have to go out and get it myself.'

I want everybody to find meaning in whatever they do. That's the only purpose to life, actually. Let that meaning be so strong that you can't not wake up every day and be like, "Yep, this is what I gotta do, let's keep it moving" and not be disgruntled about it, and start using other people as excuses for why you're not creating a better life for yourself.

The power to affect your future lies within your own hands.

We may find it convenient to live with the illusion that circumstances or other people are responsible for the quality of our lives, but the reality is that we are responsible-response-able-for our choices.

Be a creator of circumstances rather than just a creature of circumstances. Be proactive rather than reactive.

It's important to wake up everyday and remind yourself what you're working towards. You create your own life, it's not set out there for you.

People who do not take charge of their lives are lathi-charged by time.

I have to create opportunities for myself. But the thing I really have learned is that you gain nothing from sitting around waiting for the phone to ring - you have to do it for yourself.

The question isn’t whether or not you should wait to be picked, the question is whether you care enough to pick yourself.

If we really want something done, it is best to do it ourselves.

Anybody can do anything, it's up to themselves. All it takes is the right intentions.

I've come to realize that life is what you make it.

No one can stop you from doing exactly what you want to do. If you can accept that the cavalry won't come, and if you can be the cavalry, it gives you a chance to be happy.