Quotes About Expectations

Our parents set the moral tone of the family. They expected more of some of us and less of others, but never less than they thought we were capable of.

Every time an article is written about me or any of my contemporaries who's had the fortune and discipline to look good at a certain age, I am struck by the tone of astonishment, and the certainty that something is being done secretively to beat the devil.

Once I hit 25, people started asking me about marriage and kids all the time. I remember hitting 35 and some would ask the same questions with a strange tone, as if my life was somehow over because I hadn't yet settled into their version of happiness.

Female athletes are supposed to be toned down. You're always supposed to talk about the team and never stand out.

When I first came to India from Sri Lanka, people were surprised to see my toned arms. I had come right after the Miss Universe pageant.

Parents don't reveal how often they have bitten their tongue, fought back the tears, or been too tired to take off their clothes after a day of childcare. The parent loves, but they do not expect the favour to be returned in any significant way.

I don't enjoy public performances and being up on a stage. I don't enjoy the glamour. Like tonight, I am up on stage and my feet hurt.

People want gimmicks. They have to lose 10 pounds by 8:30 tonight.

Stage fright is not a thing about 'Am I any good?' It's about 'Am I gonna be good tonight?' It's a right-now thing. It helps me. If I went out there thinkin', 'Eh, we'll go slaughter 'em,' I'm positive something would go seriously wrong.

Americans are so direct. They'd ask me, 'What's your five-year plan? Do you have a five-year plan?' I don't know what I'm having for my tea tonight let alone a five-year plan.

I guess I could sit around and say, 'Gee, I wish I were playing at the Capital Centre tonight instead of Hammerjacks,' but it doesn't happen.

I thought my second record was good, but it didn't have that smash hit we did on the first one that somehow found its way onto tons of formats of radio stations.

I sleep till one, and I'm always surprised when someone in blue rinse on a talk show says, 'You're a genius, Mr. Newley, you do so many things.' Tony Newley never realized his potential, did the things he should have done.

It's really hard to go into a creative process and not think, 'I might or might not get nominated for a Tony.'

While my friends were outside practising to be Tony Hawk or Michael Jordan, I was inside playing Mozart, increasingly disillusioned and bored.

I think one of the reasons all the comics I worked with dropped off the log so early, and a lot of them did - Tony Hancock, Frankie, Sid James, it's dreadful really - was the stress. You can only be as good or better than the last show, and there's the permanent aggro of hoping you get the right writers and the right material.

People ask me, 'Is there pressure to win a Tony for your next one?' I've got three on my mantelpiece; I'm good. If that's the end of the story, I'm fine.

I did 'Pines,' and everybody wanted me to be the bad boy. Then I did Tony in 'Brooklyn,' and everybody wanted me to be the sweet kid. So I just want to keep everybody on their toes. Basically, that was the thought process.

I went to West Brom, and I couldn't do what I wanted to do, and Tony Pulis was a very physically-demanding manager, and I couldn't get around the pitch like he wanted, so I moved on.

If a top four job came along, I don't think people will look at Tony Pulis to do that.

I don't think we can go into important local elections next year... with Tony Blair as leader and expect to keep many of the councillors we've got now.

I'm always disappointed when people don't live up to their potential. I know that a number of people look down on themselves and consequently on everybody who looks like them. But that, too, can change.

When I was younger, I wanted to marry early, like at 23. Year by year, I found things I wanted to do, and the thought of marriage disappeared. But I don't want to marry too late. Around 31?

I'm single, and I think that by the time I met someone - if I were ever to meet the right person, which I don't think I will, because I am too fussy - my biological clock means that it will be too late.