30 celebrity quotes to put an end to your laziness
Need a little motivation to chase after your dreams? These quotes from our favourite high-achieving ladies are more than enough to leave you feeling inspired
Rex FeaturesRita Ora
When it comes to career (or fashion!), no one can accuse Rita Ora of playing it safe. “I wanna make a difference,” she said in the September 2014 issue of Glamour. “I wanna leave an impression. Start a f**king parade.”
PA PhotosNatalie Massenet
It took a major dose of confidence for Net-A-Porter founder Natalie Massenet to follow her entrepreneurial dreams in 2000. “Back then most of the Web was designed by men, for men," she told Glamour US. "I thought: Wait. I have pretty good ideas. I should do this. I'm not an idiot."
Getty ImagesCoco Chanel
“In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.” The legendary Coco Chanel clearly took her own advice to heart.
Getty ImagesVictoria Beckham
She struck it big with the Spice Girls, but making the transition from popstar to serious fashion designer wasn’t easy for Victoria Beckham. “For a long time there I was a bit of a laughingstock,” she told the Business of Fashion in April. “But while everybody was busy laughing, what was I doing? I was laying the foundation to what I have in place now.”
Rex FeaturesPaloma Faith
This eccentric singer always keeps us on our toes. "Life without change is not worth continuing,” Paloma Faith said in the July issue of Glamour. “You have to rejuvenate."
Rex FeaturesElizabeth Taylor
“Pour yourself a drink, put some lipstick on and pull yourself together,” Elizabeth Taylor famously said. Guess there’s no wallowing when she’s around.
Getty ImagesJane Moore
At 52, Jane Moore isn’t worried about her younger competition. In fact, she welcomes the challenge. "I kind of like that one day someone will be snapping at my heels, but for the time being they're going to get my boot in their forehead,” she said in the July 2014 issue of Glamour.
PA PhotosSandra Bullock
Sandra Bullock didn’t win an Oscar by letting other people bring her down. “For some reason, people want to see you fail,” she said in a commencement address in May. “But that's not your problem, that's their problem."
PA PhotosJK Rowling
“Some failure in life is inevitable,” JK Rowling said in her 2008 Harvard Commencement Address. “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all—in which case, you fail by default.” Wise words from the UK’s best-selling living author.
Rex FeaturesJanuary Jones
It’s hard to believe that Ashton Kutcher once dated January Jones - and it’s even harder to believe that he was kind of a jerk. "He was not supportive of my acting," the Mad Men star told GQ in 2009. "He was like, I don't think you're going to be good at this. So – f--- you! He only has nice things to say now. If anything, I should thank him because the minute you tell me I can't do something, that's when I'm most motivated."
Getty ImagesTina Fey
“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 I want to do?’ If the answer is no, ignore it and move on,” Tina Fey says in her hilarious memoir Bossypants. “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.” There’s certainly no one standing in her way now!
PA PhotosDame Helen Mirren
"Always do what scares you the most,” she said in the July issue of Glamour. “Shake it up a bit, and as long as you have a moral compass, don't worry about harsh criticism." Now that she’s a Dame her advice holds even more weight than ever.
Rex FeaturesLena Dunham
When the hit show GIRLS debuted, Lena Dunham found instant fame. But for her, success was a long way coming. "In some ways, I'm insanely surprised by it,” she told The Guardian. “Then, in another way, I'm like, well, when you work really hard and do the same thing and continue to jam it down people's throats, something happens…”
Rex FeaturesLupita N’yongo
“No matter where you’re from, your dreams are valid.” There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when Lupita N’yongo uttered this line as she accepted her first Oscar earlier this year.
PA PhotosDolly Parton
She’s been entertaining audiences for more than five decades but she hasn’t lost one bit of her bubbly personality. “I want to go and go and then drop dead in the middle of something I'm loving to do,” Dolly Parton told New York Magazine in 2009. “And if that doesn't happen, if I wind up sitting in a wheelchair, at least I'll have my high heels on."
PAEllen Degeneres
Leave it to Ellen to deliver solid advice with a side of funny. “Follow your passion. Stay true to yourself,” she said during her 2009 commencement address at Tulane University. “Never follow someone else’s path. Unless you’re lost in the woods and you see a path, then, by all means, you should follow that.”
Getty ImagesNaomi Campbell
Naomi Campbell showed her true, fabulous colours in the July issue of Glamour 2014. "There are so many women I admire. But I don't aspire to be anyone other than my best self." We wouldn’t expect anything less!
Rex FeaturesAnne Hathaway
She makes her performances look effortless, but don’t be fooled. Anne Hathaway revealed her secret during her Oscars acceptance speech: “I have a practical approach to acting, which is: gotta work, gotta work, gotta work.”
PA PhotosCate Blanchett
“I believe that a creative career is only as good as the risks that you take with it,” Cate Blanchett said at this year’s Women in Film Gala. The Australian Oscar winner certainly has the accolades to back up her theory.
Rex FeaturesMarilyn Monroe
Fifties icon Marilyn Monroe was promoting the feminist cause way before Beyoncé made it cool. “Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world,” she famously said.
PA PhotosJessica Ennis-Hill
Tempted to hit snooze and have a lie-in, instead? Just ask yourself what Jessica Ennis-Hill would do. “Missing a session is out of the question,” the Olympic champ told The Telegraph in July. “I think about my competitors training if I’m feeling lazy.”
PA PhotosBeyoncé
“I can never be safe; I always try and go against the grain,” Beyoncé told Billboard in 2011. “As soon as I accomplish one thing, I just set a higher goal. That's how I've gotten to where I am.” We can’t imagine what the Queen Bey could possibly have left on her to-do list - but we can’t wait to find out!
RexOprah Winfrey
“I had no idea that being your authentic self could make me as rich as I’ve become,” Oprah Winfrey has said. “If I had, I’d have done it a lot earlier.” Of course, following that path may not make you Oprah rich - but it certainly can’t hurt.
PA PhotosKate Moss
Kate Moss is famous for saying: "I want to live my life in a way that when I get really old, I look back at my life and say: aaah I lived it, not survived it." At 40, we’d say she’s already more than accomplished that goal.
Getty ImagesEmma Watson
She may look delicate, but Emma Watson is tougher than she seems. “I feel like young girls are told they have to be a princess and fragile,” she told KidsWorld in 2011. “It’s bullsh*t. I identify much more with being a warrior - a fighter. If I was going to be a princess, I’d be a warrior princess, definitely.”
Vivienne Westwood
Almost every sentence that comes out of Vivienne Westwood’s mouth is inspirational, spirited and downright badass - but this is one of the best: “You’ve got to invest in the world, you’ve got to read, you’ve got to go to art galleries, you’ve got to find out the names of plants. You’ve got to start to love the world and know about the whole genius of the human race. We’re amazing people.”
Diane Von Furstenberg
: She married a German prince at age 22, but Diane von Furstenberg was never content with being a housewife. “I wanted to be an independent woman, a woman who could pay for her bills, a woman who could run her own life - and I became that woman,” the famed fashion designer says in the 2011 documentary Makers.
PA PhotosHelen Mirren
Hillary Clinton just might be the next president of the United States, but it won’t be because her husband did it first. Back in 1992, she famously told Nightline: “I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas, but what I decided to do was to fulfil my profession which I entered before my husband was in public life.”
PA PhotosFifty Shades of Grey director Sam Taylor-Wood has battled both colon and breast cancer - but instead of letting her health struggles bring her down, she used them as inspiration to push forward. “I seize all opportunities with two hands,” she told The Guardian in 2009. “Everything that's happened to me has taught me to live in the moment as much as possible.”
GettyMadonna
It’s no secret that Madonna is a strong woman - just look at those biceps! She proved that she’s just as strong in spirit when she famously said: “I'm tough, I'm ambitious, and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay.”
