“Beginning when we are girls, most of us are taught to deflect praise. We apologize for our accomplishments. We try to level the field with our family and friends by downplaying our brilliance. We settle for the passenger’s seat when we long to drive. That’s why so many of us have been willing to hide our light as adults. Instead of being filled with all the passion and purpose that enable us to offer our best to the world, we empty ourselves in an effort to silence our critics. The truth is that the naysayers in your life can never be fully satisfied. Whether you hide or shine, they’ll always feel threatened because they don’t believe they are enough. So stop paying attention to them. Every time you suppress some part of yourself or allow others to play you small, you are ignoring the owner’s manual your Creator gave you. What I know for sure is this: You are built not to shrink down to less but to blossom into more. To be more splendid. To be more extraordinary. To use every moment to fill yourself up.”
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Oprah Winfrey
“What I know for sure is that pleasure is energy reciprocated: What you put out comes back. Your base level of pleasure is determined by how you view your whole life.”
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Oprah Winfrey
“I know for sure that what we dwell on is who we become.”
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Oprah Winfrey
“The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.”
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Oprah Winfrey
“Here’s how I see your weight—it is your smoke detector. And we’re all burning up the best part of our lives.”
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Oprah Winfrey
“I became so frustrated with visiting inner-city schools (in America) that I just stopped going. The sense that you need to learn just isn't there. If you ask the kids what they want or need, they will say an iPod or some sneakers. In South Africa, they don't ask for money or toys. They ask for uniforms so they can go to school.”
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Oprah Winfrey
“As long as other people's opinions matter more than your own, you're owned by them. You're not even free.”
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Oprah Winfrey
“Dogs are my favorite role models. I want to work like a dog, doing what I was born to do with joy and purpose. I want to play like a dog, with total, jolly abandon. I want to love like a dog, with unabashed devotion and complete lack of concern about what people do for a living, how much money they have, or how much they weigh. The fact that we still live with dogs, even when we don't have to herd or hunt our dinner, gives me hope for humans and canines alike.”
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Oprah Winfrey
“You have to find what sparks a light in you so that you in your own way can illuminate the world.”
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Oprah Winfrey
“I want to live my life so my aura, when it leaves, is very bright.”
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Oprah Winfrey
“It makes no difference how many peaks you reach if there was no pleasure in the climb.”
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Oprah Winfrey
“I would like to thank the people who've brought me those dark moments, when I felt most wounded, betrayed. You have been my greatest teachers.”
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Oprah Winfrey
“I am grateful for the blessings of wealth, but it hasn't changed who I am. My feet are still on the ground. I'm just wearing better shoes.”
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Oprah Winfrey
“Life is about growth and change. When you are no longer doing that — that is your whisper; that is your whisper that you are supposed to do something else.”
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Oprah Winfrey
