Grounded Perspective Quotes

Don't believe your own publicity. You can't; you'll start thinking that you're better than you are.

I try to keep my feet on the ground. Even though I appreciate the fame and adoration, I remember once I used to pick cotton, and I felt like even then I was somebody. I have the same feet, hands and heart like everyone else. I'm just also blessed with a good voice.

I honestly don't have a lot of friends that are actors. Most of my friends I've known since sixth grade and are out of the industry. It gives me a sense of reality rather than surrounding myself with a bunch of actors.

There was a point in my teenage years, when we were starting to play bigger shows and females were running after tour buses and all that, and my mom - and I remember this like it was yesterday - said: 'Look, I want you to know that I couldn't be prouder of you. You are extraordinary. You move people. But it doesn't make you better than them. You still put your pants on the same way as them, one leg at a time every morning.' I thought about learning to jump right into them, just to mess with her. But what she said stuck with me, and I think it's true.

Keep away from fantasy. Shake off the image.

I am a realist. I expect miracles.

The minute I get swelled up about something, something has always brought me back down to earth.

I'm sick of pundits. Don't get me wrong. I love the guests I have on every day. I love their energy and smarts and sass. But I'm sick of pundits because they don't always have their ears to the ground.

Well, it might have been if I'd had success earlier in life, but having success that much later meant I was far more grounded when it came. The last few years of my life have just been surreal and after a lifetime of disappointment and heartache and rejection, I still don't believe this is all actually happening. I'm extremely grateful for my success - I just never expect it to last and my motto, if I have one, is just put your head down and do the job.

I think there's something kind of good about growing up in a place you know is not the cool place to be. I think it's good for your head.

Also, the more you're not focused on showbiz and instead focused on life, learning about other people, and keeping your eyes open and trying to be aware of the world.

The only benefit of my dad being in the film industry was that I got a reality check right from the start. I wasn't delusional and didn't want to be an actor just for the glamour.

You've got to be realistic.

Trust that the treasure we look for is hidden in the ground on which we stand.

Who is more in touch with the problems of this country? One of those guys who goes off to Oxford or to University of Yale, or someone who has lived in buses, in the Metro, in the street?

When rooted, you observe how systems actually affect people.

My biggest skill is common sense. I understand life.

People have to be realistic, or the dream just drags on.

Im not a celebrity. I dont take myself too seriously. I know where I stand in the food chain. And no matter how much of an insider I ever become or am, Ill still always be an outsider.

The whole publicity machine is a very weird one. It's kind of a necessary part of what we do here, but this helps me keep grounded.

I realize that after decades of positive thinking the notion of realism, of things as they are, may seem a little quaint. ... When the stakes are high enough and the risks obvious, we still turn to people who can be counted on to understand those risks and prepare for worst-case scenarios. A chief of state does not want to hear a general in the field say that he 'hopes' to win tomorrow's battle or that he's 'visualizing victory'.

There's no place for impractical dreamers around here.

I have no illusions about my position in this world as an actor or anything like that. I'm very realistic. Reality is a very liberating thing.