Quotes About Aspiration

My dad, coming from a very traditional family, always wanted me to be a doctor. So he would always ask me, 'What are you going to be when you grow up?' And I'd have to say 'Dr. Chen.'

I grew up in a very traditional family, but there was never anything I didn't think I could do.

I never in my life saw myself as a game show host. I don't want to be a traffic cop.

Why do you need to drive a Ferrari to get stuck in a traffic jam anyway? How do people afford these cars?

Had I not been a choreographer, I would have become nothing more than a traffic cop or peon in an office.

I think when I started out, when I was very young, I wanted to be an actor and do the great epic tragedies.

The tragedy is that so many have ambition and so few have ability.

I'm happy that I worked alone on 'Tragedy,' but it's obvious that I was trying to create something much bigger than I could do on my own.

Now most people do not want an ordinary life in which they do a job well, earn the respect of their collaborators and competitors, bring up a family and have friends. That's not enough any more, and I think that is absolutely tragic - and I'm not exaggerating - that people feel like a decent, ordinary, fun life is no longer enough.

I think 4 percent growth is a good goal. And I think the fact that we have become used to an economy that sort of putt putts along between 1 and 2 percent is sort of tragic.

Little girls and little boys need to have role models to look up to and know that, 'I'm not the first one. I'm not having to do this for the first time ever. Others have blazed the trail before me, and I can follow in their footsteps and do the same thing.'

All I ever wanted to do was be on Broadway. I mean, remember, I grew up in a trailer.

I'm always the kid that lived in the trailer park in my mind. So I'm always constantly proving to myself that I'm better than that and that I will never go back to that.

It's like a dream come true, coming to the Olympic trails and leaving being the champion.

How did I get to Hollywood? By train.

I wanted an electric train for Christmas but I got the saxophone instead.

Junior is such a great guy. He's the new and improved model. It's a beautiful thing. That's what you train your children to do. He's an inspiration to his brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews who say it's too hard living up to the family name.

I wanted to draw and do costumes. I was prepared to train for that, but I needed something to do on my time off from high school, so I called an agent without telling anyone and started working with her.

It was only when I saw films in my early 20s by Jane Campion, Mira Nair, Sally Potter and Kathryn Bigelow, I started to think, 'Oh, it's possible.' I dared to suggest that I wanted to train to be a film director.

I was trained in classical piano, but it kind of dawned on me that classical pianists compete for six job openings a year, and the rest of us get to play 'Blue Moon' in a hotel lobby.

Subliminally, I had always wanted to act. Although I had only performed in a couple of plays, I was serious about it and was subsequently trained by people like Lee Strasberg and Elia Kazan.

I would love to be trained by Kareem. That's a GOAT.

Nobody inspired me more than Julie Andrews, who is a classically trained soprano herself.

I've always wanted to be a professional dancer, I'd always wanted to be a ballerina. I trained for 13 years but it never came to be.