Amish Tripathi Quotes

Growing up, the last thing I ever thought I'd do is be an entertainer.

When I was younger I thought I was an artist, and inspiration would just come to me.

I have a masters in African-American literature, and I got a Ph.D. in American Literature. I spent a number of years teaching as a professor in the university system. Then I turned forty and decided I was going to be the woman I wanted to be!

My sophomore English teacher encouraged me to write for the school paper, and that's what got me started. Suddenly it struck me that being a writer could be a romantic and adventurous position. Previously, I had thought I would be a tennis pro, giving lessons at a local club. I thought that would be a good life, and it might have been.

I'm not sure I would have ever decided to try to write when I was forty-five if I hadn't already gotten that degree [in English].

I could never have dreamed the life I lead. Given where I started, it's remarkable to me the constant adventure that my life has become.

I went to college to study hospitality. I quickly got out of that and realized that what I liked to do was write.

Our life is an endless journey; it is like a broad highway that extends infinitely into the distance. The practice of meditation provides a vehicle to travel on that road. Our journey consists of constant ups and downs.

You are the imagination of yourself.

The fact that I was a junkie for a long time is only one slice of my own personal pie, which is made up of a lot of different slices.

I really never thought I would be an actor professionally. I was very academic and was like, "That's so irresponsible. I would never do that." And now, here I am.

I learned long ago that being Lewis Carroll was infinitely more exciting than being Alice.

I wouldn't have known when I was a teenager that when I was coming up to being a sixty-year-old woman that I'd be making music, I'd be recording music, talking about music, and incorporating my views on the world into the music-making. So it's a very rarefied place to be, and I'm very grateful for that.

It takes years to develop into the kind of human being you want to be.

What do you know about yourself? What are your stories? The ones you tell yourself, and the ones told by others. All of us begin somewhere. Though I suppose the truth is that we begin more than once; we begin many times. Over and over, we start our own tales, compose our own stories, whether our lives are short or long. Until at last all our beginnings come down to just one end, and the tale of who we are is done.

In the deepest realm of being, is the imagination of ourselves. What is your next evolutionary leap? What are you imagining, (for yourself) right now?

I never thought I'd be a person who would want to write books...I promise you not a single English teacher I've ever had would have thought that this would be going on right now.

I used to be someone.

...[She] felt as if she were both a stranger to herself and more herself than she'd ever been.

I have examples of people who find their way back later on in life, in their 30's, 40's, it can happen in your 50's, I'm sure it can. It's not really a science. It's maybe more of an art.

All of us invent ourselves. Some of us just have more imagination than others.

Now more than ever I am aware that a person's significant birthdays can either mark the passage of time, or they can mark changes they've made in their lives to reach their potential and become the person they were created to be. With each passing year, I want to make good choices that make me a better person, help me become a better leader, and make a positive impact on others.

I never want to lose the story-loving child within me, or the adolescent, or the young woman, or the middle-aged one, because all together they help me to be fully alive on this journey, and show me that I must be willing to go where it takes me, even through the valley of the shadow.

College is something you complete. Life is something you experience.