Quotes from Jane Fonda

The challenge is not to be perfect…it's to be whole

You can do one of two things; just shut up, which is something I don't find easy, or learn an awful lot very fast, which is what I tried to do.

It's never to late- never to late to change your life,never to late to be happy

Ask questions. Stay curious. It's much more important to stay interested than to be interesting.

The bravest soldiers aren't unafraid, but they're the ones who are able to harness their fear on behalf of courage.

I don't want my wrinkles taken away - I don't want to look like everyone else.

A good many dramatic situations begin with screaming.

you can be different if u be u

We are not meant to be perfect; we are meant to be whole.

Have you noticed how we are presented with the same lessons, over and over and over, before a tipping point is reached? The lessons we need to learn circle round us, closing in, until finally we are ready to take them in. Take them in. Those are the words that matter, because until I had embodied the lessons I was supposed to learn, absorbed them into the warp and woof of my being, they didn't "take"; they remained a head trip and didn't lead to changes in my behavior.

You don't need to," he replied. "You're already saved." And he went on to tell me that the original Greek meaning of the word saved meant that a person was whole.

In this country, the only way a minority can get anything done is to make a little noise.

Perhaps you think that by intimacy I mean sex, so allow me to clarify. Sex can be intimate but isn't necessarily so; sometimes it's just the pleasurable stimulation of genitalia. By intimacy I mean an attunement between two people who, despite each other's evident flaws, open their hearts fully to each other. This openness makes them vulnerable, so trust is key. So is self-love: It's impossible to be truly intimate with someone if you don't like yourself.

I am still baffled by those who feel that criticizing America is unpatriotic, a view increasingly being adopted in the United States since 9/11 as an excuse to render suspect what has always been an American right. An active, brave, outspoken (and heard ) citizenry is essential to a healthy democracy.

What many people failed to do then (and continue to fail to do today) is admit what happened, understand the context, and make sure those circumstances never happen again. The winter soldiers showed us that redemption is possible when truth is spoken. Nothing can change until we acknowledge what is—as I have learned over time.

Nothing can change until we acknowledge what is, as I have learned over time.

If you allow yourself, you can become stronger in the very places that you've been broken

I had it in my head. I thought I had it in my heart—in my body—but I didn't; not really. I couldn't. It was too scary, like stepping off a cliff without knowing if there was a trampoline below. It meant doing life differently.

No Pain No Gain

The most incredible beauty and the most satisfying way of life come from affirming your own uniqueness.

Where identity is not fixed, performance becomes a floating anchor." And could I perform! Making the unreal seem real, the sad seem happy, hoping that somewhere along the way it would all work out, that I would discover who I was. Meantime I had an anchor.

and my professional idol Vanessa Redgrave. There is a quality about Vanessa that makes me feel as if she resides in a nether-world of mystery that eludes the rest of us mortals. Her voice seems to come from some deep place that knows all suffering and all secrets. Watching her work is like seeing through layers of glass, each layer painted in mythic watercolor images, layer after layer, until it becomes dark—but even then you know you haven't come to the bottom of it.

We can no longer waste time and money. Every day, more than 2,000 girls in America, age 15-19, give birth - in the wealthiest, most educated nation in the world! Neither you nor I should accept this statistic.

I spent a good deal of time going back over my childhood, my midlife, to try to understand who I was. We're supposed to be complete and whole, and you can't be whole if you're trying to be perfect. Doing a life review helped me get over the disease to please.