Phyllis Smith Quotes

From the age of three to 15, I wanted to be a ballerina and trained really, really hard. Then I had that classic movie story moment, where I had an injury and had to give up my dream.

It's not that I'm retired; I just no longer accept acting work.

For 30 years I've been responsible for managing client money, and it's been a joy, but at some point I need to move on. Thirty years is enough.

Now I am ready to set new goals and start a new career for myself outside of the ring.

I had been a ballet dancer and never could make a living, and just being so excited that I got to, all of a sudden, live as an actor.

I look forward to the end of all this money-making part of the career, to be truthful.

I never looked at hockey as work. Now that I'd finished playing, I had to go to work.

It's an unusual situation for me to be working and making a living.

I was dancing on Broadway for many years. Then everyone was either getting injured or retiring, and I was dancing with younger dancers.

Either you die in Congress or you get out before you are 60 so you can still do something else.

I tried to make a distinct point that I wasn't retiring - that I was moving on.

I went into dancing but damaged my knees so decided to become an actress instead.

When I stepped down from the evening news at the age of 65, in '81, things were still going well. Immediately after that, the whole tenor of the CBS News Department changed.

It was only after I'd had some injuries that I basically retired from the performing side of show business and then began working in casting. I did that for 19 years or so before a friend of mine decided to cast me as Phyllis Lapin-Vance on 'The Office.'

At the time I retired I was kind of known for it, as one of the guys whose career ended technically as a result of a big hit.

I thought I was going to be a professor; then I ran screaming from there into magazine journalism.

I'd never worked for anyone else until I got to the NFL, and this will be my last time working for someone else.

The role we have in work may change over time, but the concept of retirement is not biblical.

I first started as an actor, but there was no money in it, which is why I drifted into comedy.

When I was 19 or 20 years old, I wasn't making a living wrestling. I needed a full-time income.

I am a very positive person, but you don't get taught how to deal with the end of your career. Never.

I had a really fun career in TV right after I left politics.

Everybody asks me, 'Lee when did you know it was time to retire?' I said, 'when they quit asking me to coach.' After the Orlando Renegades, not many people were busting down my doors to coach, so why not do something else.

First and foremost, that was always my passion: I wanted to wrestle, but unfortunately, it took me down a road that I can't do that anymore.

I knew that my career in dance would come to an end at some point, and transitioning into a career in fitness was a natural progression.