Quotes About Expectations

I did not then understand that we—the women of that academic community—as in so many middle-class communities of the period—were expected to fill both the part of the Victorian Lady of Leisure, the Angel in the House, and also of the Victorian cook, scullery maid, laundress, governess, and nurse. I only sensed that there were false distractions sucking at me, and I wanted desperately to strip my life down to what was essential. June

My husband spoke eagerly of the children we would have; my parents-in-law awaited the birth of their grandchild. I had no idea of what I wanted, what I could or could not choose. I only knew that to have a child was to assume adult womanhood to the full, to prove myself, to be 'like other women.

As soon as I was visibly and clearly pregnant, I felt, for the first time in my adolescent and adult life, not-guilty.

Black people are expected to be passive citizens, good immigrants, mute and grateful.

It's pretty inappropriate of fans to think they can expect any kind of narrative from showrunners or writers or actors. I just don't think that's the way you should engage with material that you're watching as a passive audience member.

People think that if you've written a book and somebody's given you a pat on the back then, you know, it's all - you're all settled, you know? You're going to be fine. I know that if I'm not confused, and really afraid, my work isn't going to be any good.

Being a mother is complicated because it's not just a paternal culture making demands on you; it's those internal demands and expectations that women have and are self-generated.

For so many generations, a woman's only career path was to marry well and to marry up. Those days have changed.

No one thought the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight would happen, but I had patience.

I was not supposed to be in any way a liberated person. I was a female born in the '40s in a patriarchal family; I was supposed to marry and make everyone around me happy.

To Sun-tzu and the ancient Chinese, doing something extraordinary had little effect without a setup of something ordinary. You had to mix the two - to fix your opponent's expectations with some banal, ordinary maneuver, a comfortable pattern that they would then expect you to follow.

Most players want to follow a pattern, especially when they're doing well, and when it goes wrong, they start looking for other patterns to do.

It's weird to me when an artist comes in, and the label says, 'We want him to sound like Chris Brown,' but he says he wants to sound like Sean Paul. There's a huge disconnect - it's like we're making a product.

Chris Paul, president of the NBA Players Association, can lead an entire league but can't lead his team when it really counts.

Everyone takes pause at 40. It's the age you have to assess everything in your life. It's the fictitious marker that's always coming up when you're young. The world really does look at you to kind of have it together by 40, and be successful by 40. Whatever success means.

They don't pay you a million dollars for two-hand chest passes.

You kinda got to embrace expectations, but it's not something I pay attention to.

Coaching in the NBA is not easy. It's like a nervous breakdown with a paycheck.

Many people do think it's naive to improvise in front of paying customers. I'm not saying one way is better than another.

When you put an album out, you can't do any material from the album if people are paying to see you.

Grownups, as a rule, should always be ready to pay for their own meals - or else ready to graciously accept their date's insistence on paying. The point is, one doesn't sit there batting one's eyelashes, fully expecting someone else to claim the bill.

I feel like every conversation with my father is like an M. Night Shyamalan movie; 90 minutes of build-up to no payoff.

Don't argue that you can't find a job that pays enough to support yourself. You can. You just can't find a job that will support you in the style to which you have been accustomed.

No one pays me to be nice.