Paula Abdul quotes: the music mogul pop, lock and drops it for us.
“Break the rules, stand apart, ignore your head, and follow your heart.”
“If you lead with passion, anything is possible!”
“The steeper the mountain, the harder the climb, the better the view from the finish line.”
“Keep the faith, don’t lose your perseverance and always trust your gut extinct. Keep working hard and trust yourself.”
“All you can do is the best you can do.”
“Constructive criticism is about finding something good and positive to soften the blow to the real critique of what really went on.”
“True genius does not fulfill expectations; true genius shatters it.”
“Everyone is your best friend when you are successful. Make sure that the people that you surround yourself with are also the people that you are not afraid of failing with.”
“You end up becoming who you are by jumping into that circle of fear – that’s how it’s done.”
“You need these experiences.”
“When you go to meetings or auditions and you fail to prepare, prepare to fail. It is simple but true.”
“So time over time what will change the world, no one knows. The only promise is a day to live, to give and share with one another. See the wisdom from mistakes in our past; the promise of a new day.”
“Your talent is your art. It is not to be taken for granted.”
“What we think eventually becomes what we do, so I’m adamant about focusing on the positive, you know? If there’s a challenge, I focus on the solution, on what’s good.”
“I always have been one of those people that, you know, what do I have to lose? I’m going to prove myself.”
“Putting our expectations on others is an exercise in pressure and disappointment. Why not accept people just as they are? That’s love.”
“It’s up to us to be the change that we wish for and the time is now to co-create it.”
“I believe inner beauty is beauty in its truest form. When we nurture ourselves, it brings an inevitable, positive transformation.”
“The odds were against me, but my fighting spirit carried me through. I was put on this earth to dance, to create, to perform. I had a never-give-up attitude. And even though I was never the obvious choice, that didn’t stop me from manifesting my dreams.”
“I was in a small plane at the tail end of my tour, and one of the engines blew up. We did a crash landing, and I hit my head on the plane. I ended up crushing my C-spine. For many years, I wasn’t able to do anything. I had 15 spinal surgeries. I had partial paralysis of my whole right side.”
“Every day, I accept that if I love dance and want to continue to do it, there are exercises I’ll be doing regularly to make sure that happens. After a hectic day with a full schedule, going to the gym isn’t exactly the first thing on my mind! However, once I’m there and I start working out, I get more energy than I had before I arrived.”
“There are three things I commit to on a daily basis: exercising for an hour a day, tops; never skipping meals; and accepting the size and shape I was born with.”
“Find fitness with dancing. It is fun and makes you forget about the dreaded exercise. I dance because I have to, because I’m so passionate about it. Dance is one of the most precious gifts of my life. I’m blessed to experience it in so much of what I do.”
“I’m overwhelmed with gratitude and it’s been a labor of love. And it’s not as easy as it used to be. It gets harder every year as you get older. I have these long talks with my body saying, ‘Do not let me down, okay? We gotta go out there again. I know it’s not easy, but we’re gonna go out there and do it!'”
“As I get older I realize the quality of friendships in life is very important.”
“All my life I have been taught to take the high road and never to dignify salacious or false accusations and I have been taught never, never to lie. Not only do I never lie, I never respond to lies, no matter how vicious, no matter how hurtful.”
“I stand on principle, whereas, many people stand on money.”
“I will never forget my humble beginnings as a Laker Girl. It was probably one of the most fun jobs I ever had.”
“I love getting nervous, because it’s also a form of excitement and it makes me feel alive, you know? I like that feeling. I’ve always liked that feeling. People who don’t get nervous before they perform are no fun.”
“Performing live on stage in my career is absolutely both nerve-racking and liberating. I have nerves. But I’ve always felt like if I didn’t have that, I wouldn’t be passionate. That nervous energy? I rely on that. It sounds like a silly thing to say, but it just comes with the territory.”
“When people expect me to go right, I’ll go left. I’m unpredictable.”
“I’m very grateful that I had the belief that something better would happen. I knew there was more for me.”
“There have been so many wonderful moments where I’ve thought, ‘Oh, this is the coup de grâce. This is it.’ But I feel like being able to work with iconic legendary directors has been a highlight. I think most people don’t even know that I did the Doors biopic in 1991. With Oliver Stone, I literally transformed Val Kilmer into Jim Morrison. That’s a whole other aspect of choreography that’s not dance but helping someone inhabit a character.”
“You want to leave a legacy behind and know that you were instrumental or important in another artist’s life, to help create and set a tone for who they become as an artist. It truly is the most incredible feeling. It’s awesome.”
“I always feel like I was born in the wrong era. I grew up being obsessed with MGM musicals and I always thought that if I ever became an artist myself, maybe I could help bring that aspect and appreciation for dance into contemporary art and performance. So, I’m really blessed to see that that’s what has happened. To be someone else’s Gene Kelly and to see that my work stands the test of time, that is incredibly rewarding.”
“I love doing what I do. I’m a born mentor. I’ve launched so many people’s careers. I worked hard.”
“When you wish upon a star, you just might become one. Everything is always a little surreal.”
“The cool part of being an entertainer is getting the opportunity to get your feet wet in all areas.”
“I feel blessed to have as many comebacks as I can.”
“It’s been incredible. I never take anything for granted. Getting back out there to connect with my fans, it’s been insane. It’s been really great.”
“I never slow down… I will when I die.”
“Life truly is precious. Gather every moment of it into your arms and embrace it.”
