Rita Wilson quotes: on battling breast cancer, getting into songwriting and singing, what makes her marriage so strong, aging gracefully, and more.
“It’s not too late to do that dream. You don’t know where that will lead you. Like even if it’s something like taking a painting class, or drawing or sewing or cooking, whatever it is, drama, comedy, there’s always a place that you can find to start pursuing that creatively. I think that that is a really important thing that people know they’re never just stuck. It’s never too late to follow your dreams.”
“What are we all blessed with? What are our gifts? And even if you think you have a gift for something, but you’re not quite sure, you should check it out because maybe you do. And that’s something worthwhile and worthy and might be affecting and touching somebody else. So go for it.”
“It’s never too late. Go for it!”
“Do what you love.”
“We’re all a work in progress. But when we take our imperfections and turn them into fuel to do what we love, we find joy.”
“I do think you have to scare yourself. That’s where your creativity or your growth comes from. Scaring yourself, challenging yourself, taking those risks, and not caring about what anyone thinks.”
“Be fearless in trying new things, whether they are physical, mental, or emotional, since being afraid can challenge you to go to the next level.”
“Creativity is time independent. I think there’s a myth that things just happen easily for you, ‘Oh if you want to do this, you make this happen,’ and we want that to happen. But I think anybody who has worked really hard at something knows it takes a lot of effort. It takes a lot of vision and it takes a lot of discipline and consistency.”
“I think that one of the things that is the most important is to not give up. To believe that you can do something. I think if you’re doing things for the right reasons, if they’re really truthful, it’s slightly easier to make the things that you want to do happen. And I do believe that you can set goals and make them happen. But before you do that, you have to know what it is that you want.”
“Awareness is empowering.”
“Recognizing that when you’re in the thick of things is challenging, but remember, it’s not forever, and it will pass.”
“We’re not really finished, and we are constantly trying to be better. When you think you have something figured out, something comes from this side and says, ‘Oh, well, I’m going to give you this new challenge and here’s what you can do about that.’ So I feel that sometimes you’re kind of one step forward, two steps back. But at the same time, I wouldn’t have it any other way, because if we’re lucky enough to be alive, we’re lucky enough to be a work in progress.”
“We’re works in progress. We’re not really finished, and we are constantly trying to be better.”
“I do think people ultimately want to be celebrated for their lives, and everybody wants to be remembered and missed. But at the end of the day, you want to be remembered for making someone’s life better.”
“You’ve got to want to be married to the person you’re married to. We work hard at our relationship.”
“Everyone has hardship and loss. But commitment is the foundation. There is such value in the depth of your relationships, your friendships, your marriage, your children, all of that. To me, that’s what makes you feel safe to go out and pursue the things that are more risky.”
“Not only do we love each other, we really like each other, and we like being together, and we support each other and we keep the communication channels open. That’s always important.”
“We have so much fun. Being on location is one of the greatest things. We’ve gone all over the world. We’ve taken our family. We’ve gotten to live in cities that you normally wouldn’t get to live in and become a normal person and going to the market and finding your favorite coffee store and shop.”
“My parents instilled in us really great family values and my parents were married for 59 years. I think you can grow up in a big city, and it doesn’t mean that you have to abandon who you are as a person and who you are by the nature of how you were raised. So I really have my parents to thank for that.”
“I always wanted to sing. I didn’t know how to do it. I didn’t know how to make the singing thing happen. It’s always been something I love to do but it has also been the most private and most secret thing that you don’t really want to let the world in on.”
“Music sometimes portrays an idealized version of women in music, and I wanted to shine the spotlight on the women who are maybe just doing their jobs with grace and dignity and perhaps asking, ‘Does anybody ever see me? Does anybody want to write a song about me?'”
“Performing live actually thrills me. Just get me a stage, get me a mic, and I’m going to be happy.”
“In 2012, I began writing my own songs. It’s an intensely personal way to connect. In a way, I’m a storyteller. And in 2015, I battled with breast cancer. It was terrifying. I told my husband, ‘If I should go before you, I want you to have a big party, with sparklers, food, my friends.’ I wanted everyone to sing, dance, tell stories and laugh.”
“Writing music, to me, is a really intensely personal connection, and I am so thankful for it because when you’re writing a song, you’re really writing your own personal experience. It’s an idea or a theme that you want to explore with your co-writers, for example, but it is still a personal story that you’re telling. It was always the stories that engaged me. I feel, in a way, like I’m a storyteller. I love that.”
“I feel really lucky and really blessed that I get to be doing music now, writing and singing.”
“I’m a big believer in prayer. One of my favorite passages is Matthew 6:27: ‘Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?’ That has given me a lot of peace.”
“Take refuge in faith. I have a little app that I read every day called Jesus Calling that brings me so much inspiration. I just get that prayer in the morning, get those quotes of scripture and that little meditation the writer Sarah Young made, and it gets me thinking. More important, keeps me thinking. Sometimes I go back to the passage three or four times, and every time I do, it gives me the reset I need to face whatever the day throws at me.”
“My faith has evolved as I’ve gotten older because, for one thing, it’s different. It’s not the same as when you’re younger, because the things that you think you want when you’re younger are very different. And having been blessed with an extraordinary life, you almost become more thankful. You can’t take credit for it. In a way, I feel like everything that I do—anything good that is coming out of it, I believe—is from a higher power.”
“I will tell you this quote that the late writer, film director and producer, Nora Ephron, said to me when I turned 50: ‘I just want to tell you, great things happen after you turn 50. I think it’s a very productive, creative time for people. Your kids are out of the house and you have time to think about what you love and want to do. So, turning 50 isn’t the end of the world. It could be the beginning’.”
“I’m not trying to prove anything.”
“I’ve always tried to live my life with a sense of gratitude.”
“I’m so thankful. Every day is a gift!”
Related: Tom Hanks quotes.
