Whoopi Goldberg quotes: about attitude, achievement, and the American Dream.
“The most important thing is that you have to listen to your truths, desires and wants. And you have to believe you deserve all of it.”
“You have to believe in yourself in spite of what other people believe.”
“If you want to be somebody, if you want to go somewhere, you’ve got to wake up and pay attention.”
“Things happen to you out of luck, and if you get to stick around it’s because you’re talented.”
“I have witnessed things the ancients would have called miracles, but they are not miracles. They are the products of someone’s dream, and they happen as the result of hard work.”
“I can do anything. I can be anything. No one ever told me I couldn’t. No one ever expressed this idea that I was limited to any one thing, and so I think in terms of what’s possible, not impossible.”
“We’re born with success. It is only others who point out our failures, and what they attribute to us as failure.”
“I don’t think in terms of failure. I don’t feel like anyone outside of me should be setting limitations. People should be encouraged to shoot for the moon.”
“The only way we’re going to make a change is if we commit to change.”
“It’s being willing to walk away that gives you strength and power – if you’re willing to accept the consequences of doing what you want to do.”
“I think the idea that you know who your inner-self is on a daily basis, because… you know… what’s good for you 25 years ago may not be good for you now. So, to keep in touch with that – I think that’s the first ingredient for success. Because if you’re a successful human being, everything else is gravy.”
“Taking action is hard, but know what? Enduring a bad situation can be its own hell.”
“Sometimes experience trumps assumption.”
“People have the power we give them. Words have the power we give them.”
“You can be yourself – an individual – if you are comfortable with not everybody liking you or how you think. If you’re comfortable with going against the grain. If you’re comfortable with people making fun or saying really nasty stuff. Flip out only when you need to, but then really flip out. Go all out. Make it a choice time when it really means something. Remember, we’re all kids at heart. Everybody wants to hear something nice. Just be nice to people, it’s not that difficult.”
“If you don’t look out for others, who will look out for you?”
“When you are kind to someone in trouble, you hope they’ll remember and be kind to someone else. And it’ll become like a wildfire.”
“In the dark times, if you have something to hold on to, which is yourself, you’ll survive.”
“We’re here for a reason. I believe a bit of the reason is to throw little torches out to lead people through the dark.”
“If you can handle the fact that people are going to be mad at you when you do what you think is right, you’ll be all right.”
“Normal is nothing more than a cycle on a washing machine. Normal is in the eye of the beholder.”
“It never occurs to me that there are things I can’t do.”
“I admired my mom because she made me fearless, and that is a trait you have to have if you are going to do what I do.”
“I used my imagination to make the grass whatever color I wanted it to be.”
“I’m as American as Chevrolet.”
“I won once an Oscar. So it can’t be that racist.”
“Who amongst us doesn’t want to be a hero?”
“The fact that people get older seems to be a shock to the industry. I wish that they’d get over that. I’d like them to stop being surprised that someone has gotten older and smarter.”
“Art and life are subjective. Not everybody’s gonna dig what I dig, but I reserve the right to dig it.”
“Thank you, God, because I am lucky. Also let’s face it, it turns out I’m black. And I’m having a career quite different from lots of people, so I feel doubly lucky.”
“When I started, I knew I didn’t fit any visual that anyone was going to lie down and take their clothes off about. Work doesn’t come to me; I go out and look for it.”
“I’ve learned to take time for myself and to treat myself with a great deal of love and respect, because I like me. I think I’m kind of cool.”
“And I don’t believe that I have to stay on one side of the fence or the other. I don’t believe that there is any good career move or bad career move. I believe there are only the things that make me happy.”
“Well… just ‘cause you won something doesn’t make you successful. It just means you won that competition. So I’m always looking for stuff to do. I’m always looking for stuff to create. I’m always looking for the thing that I want to be involved in next. So it’s a constant drive for information and education for me.”
“All I really want to do is just keep acting, and some of it will stink, and some of it will be really good, and maybe when I’m 85 and presenting an Oscar like Bette Davis did, I can look back and say, ‘It was okay, I did all right.'”
“I am where I am because I believe in all possibilities.”
“I am the American Dream. I am the epitome of what the American Dream basically said. It said you could come from anywhere and be anything you want in this country. That’s exactly what I’ve done.”
“I’m so proud to be here, I’m proud to be an actor and I’m gonna keep on acting, and thank you so much!”
“If you’re willing to stand for what you believe in… you won’t need advice from me, because you will be able to handle whatever comes.”
“Make sure you enjoy this ride. It’s important. Lots of people will try to stop you from having a good time, but the very first time is always wonderful, so enjoy it.”
Read Oprah’s quotes next.
