Brooke Shields quotes: on modeling so young, balancing geek with chic, attending Princeton, denying yourself pleasure, and winning at life.
“Have faith in your own thoughts.”
“Don’t waste a minute not being happy. If one window closes, run to the next window or break down a door.”
“Choosing a career is a decision you don’t want to rush.”
“It’s okay to be successful and it’s also okay to be happy with your success even though it might not be easy.”
“Someone said adversity builds character, but someone else said adversity reveals character. I’m pleasantly surprised with my resilience. I persevere, and not just blindly. I take the best, get rid of the rest, and move on, realizing that you can make a choice to take the good.”
“The key is, listen, you’ve gotta have good people around you, you’ve gotta get a good education, you’ve gotta have parents who don’t see dollar signs as more important than the degree, and those are things that just go back to the basics.”
“Honesty is the quality I value most in a friend. Not bluntness, but honesty with compassion.”
“Humor has always been a self-defense mechanism for me.”
“We all struggle. I’m not saying any successful woman’s life is without struggle. But it doesn’t mean it has to be miserable.”
“I’ve never found therapy to be a sign of weakness; I’ve found the opposite to be true. The willingness to have a mirror held up to you definitely requires strength.”
“I was the first child at four at a modeling agency, so I had an advantage.”
“It was less glamorous for my mother than you’d think, because we were getting up at five in the morning on these trips and we were working 16-hour days during the summer. The times that I did go to camp, I wanted to go home. I wanted to go be with my mom, because we would have more fun doing a photo shoot in Italy, because they were with my friends. My friends always got to come with me, and it seemed… it was just a very different type of life, so I really can’t look at it as a sacrifice. I have no recollection of not liking it.”
“I went to an ordinary school in New York City with no other actors. I learned to compartmentalize different parts of my life. I was one person at home and then another person at work and for that reason my career didn’t challenge my family life.”
“Modeling is the world that I feel most welcome in. My younger years of modeling were really just filled with fun trips.”
“Eight shows a week is daunting, and it can be terrifying. But it just instills such a sense of confidence and growth.”
“I took my work seriously, but not as a craft. More as a life.”
“You are only as pretty as you are nice and smart.”
“At Princeton I gained a great deal of pleasure from success in my classes. Knowing that I could accomplish those things, and I realized that my success was directly proportionate to the work I put in.”
“I absolutely would categorize myself as one of successful professional females. I think you can be successful and still be extremely present in a healthy life.”
“We’ve been taught, ‘Deny yourself pleasure.’ But moderation is harder because it requires really committing to balance. It’s a matter of checks and balances. And I finally found out how to set myself up to succeed. But I still need to commit to it. And everything gets exponentially harder the older you are.”
“The older I get, the younger I feel. Growing up, I was always the kid, but I spoke like an adult and was in adult roles. I didn’t feel like a kid. The older I get, I actually feel younger! Which is good. I always thought when you get older, you’ll want to slow down, but I want to do even more.”
“Life is too short. I’m sure there are people that have strong, negative opinions about me, but I don’t have the time.”
“The thing I’m the most proud of in my personal life is that my daughter actually thinks that I’m fabulous.”
“I’ve learned to be silly with my kids and teach them that it’s okay to make mistakes, because that’s when they learn.”
“You have to keep doing your best.”
“I was such a nerd, a complete geek, but then I was lucky enough to have a fancy career, where I can be like, ‘See, I’m not a nerd. Look, I’m in Vogue.'”
“Want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing.”
“I look back at myself, this innocent person, and I think, ‘Gosh, she’s okay.’ I handled a lot, and I’m still here.”
“My responsibility is not to say, ‘Do exactly what I’ve done.’ It’s just to say, ‘This is what I did.'”
“I have so much further to go in my career and in my personal life.”
“As long as I’m growing, I’ve won. As long as I’m enjoying myself, that’s huge.”
Related: Demi Moore quotes.
