“[If someone is between you and something you want to do] I suggest you model your strategy after the old Sesame Street film piece “Over! Under! Around! Through!”
“A wise friend once told me, 'Don’t wear what fashion designers tell you to wear. Wear what they wear.'”
“When faced with sexism or ageism or lookism or even really aggressive Buddhism, ask yourself the following question: "Is this person in between me and what do I want to do?" If the answer is no, ignore it and move on. Your energy is better used doing your work and outpacing people that way. Then, when you're in charge, don't hire the people who were jerky to you.”
“As an improviser, I always find it jarring when I meet someone in real life whose first answer is no. “No, we can’t do that.” “No, that’s not in the budget.” “No, I will not hold your hand for a dollar.” What kind of way is that to live?”
“Say yes, and you'll figure it out afterward" has helped me to be more adventurous. It has definitely helped me be less afraid.”
“This is one of the weird things about motherhood. You can predict that some of your best moments will happen around the toilet at six am while you're holding a pile of fingernail clipping like a Santeria priestess.”
“This is what I tell young women who ask me for career advice. People are going to try to trick you. To make you feel that you are in competition with one another. 'You’re up for a promotion. If they go for a woman, it’ll be between you and Barbara.' Don’t be fooled. You’re not in competition with other women. You’re in competition with everyone.”
“Somewhere around the fifth or seventh grade I figured out that I could ingratiate myself to peopleby making them laugh. Essentially, I was just trying to make them like me. But after a while it became part of my identity.”
“If you retain nothing else, always remember the most important rule of beauty, which is: who cares?”
“Some people say 'Never let them see you cry.' I say, if you’re so mad you could just cry, then cry. It terrifies everyone.”
“Follow your fear which in improv usually leads to someone making you sing an improvised song or rap, which is the worst thing that can happen. But the larger thing is the notion that if something scares you a bit, it means that you should follow it a little bit. Now, 'follow your fear' does not mean that you should get in the car with a weirdo in a small parking lot. But it does mean that there are moments in your life when something comes up, a chance to move to a new city, or the chance to study in another continent, read your short story out loud, and you feel a lot of fear. And that fear means that you should definitely do it.”
“Don’t be too precious or attached to anything you write. Let things be malleable. For sketch writers, remember they’re called sketches for a reason. They’re not called oil paintings. Some of them are going to stink. You have to let them stink.”
“I regularly ate health food cookies so disgusting that when I enthusiastically gave one to Rachel Dratch, she drew a picture of a rabbit and broke the cookie into a trail of tiny pieces coming out of the rabbit’s butt.”
“We’ve all worked with that person. That person is a drag. It’s usually the same person around the office who says things like 'There’s no calories in it if you eat it standing up!' and 'I felt menaced when Terry raised her voice.'”
“When people say, 'You really, really must' do something, it means you don't really have to. no one ever says, 'You really, really must deliver the baby during labor.' When it's true, it doesn't need to be said.”
“You have to let people see what you wrote. It will never be perfect, but perfect is overrated. Perfect is boring.”
“Make statements also applies to us women: Speak in statements instead of apologetic questions. No one wants to go to a doctor who says, 'I’m going to be your surgeon? I’m here to talk to you about your procedure? I was first in my class at Johns Hopkins, so?' Make statements, with your actions and your voice.”
“I am constantly amazed by Tina Fey. And I am Tina Fey.”
(I am always inspired by Tina Fey, her confidence is admirable.)
Read Tina Fey's hilarious/sweet prayer for her daughter Meg posted on her blog.)
(above graphic by me.)
