Amy Poehler

The streets and woods around my house were a perfect setting for fake mischief. I would spend all afternoon pretending I had run away and had to live on my own. I would bring Toll House cookies and a sweatshirt and try to make a fire. I would sneak out side my house at dusk with a pair binoculars and search the streets for murderers. I created scenarios in my head that I always managed to escape from kidnap fantasies where I would wriggle free from the ropes.

I really do believe that anything in life – any obstacle or challenge – can be made better with humor.

You know, as a comedian your body has to be – I need to think of a better term than ‘up for grabs’ – but you kind of use whatever you have to get the laugh. And if you’re worrying about how you look… Vanity is the death of comedy.

If you can find a way to be truly ambivalent about what people think about you as an artist you’re completely freed up because you just end up doing things that turn you on creatively, and then as a person you really try and drown the noise.

Women talk about stuff on the way to the valet that it takes men 10 years to admit to each other. The depth at which women talk to and about each other is invaluable to me. With your really, really close good friends you do that fast.

It takes years to find your voice and seize your real estate.

We become what we think about most of the time, and that’s the strangest secret.

Wisdom is your perspective on life, your sense of balance, your understanding of how the various parts and principles apply and relate to each other. It embraces judgment, discernment, comprehension. It is a gestalt or oneness, and integrated wholeness.

Last but not least, I would say you should have big dreams, full dreams, not half dreams. You know, it’s very simple. You can’t put a large box in a small box. Well, you cannot put a full life in a small dream box.

I’m a great believer in anything that makes you 1 percent better. So I try everything. Freudian. Jungian. Est. Life Spring. Course in Miracles. Twelve Steps. I have pain from time to time. I have joy from time to time.

Aim for the highest

Remember that failure is an event, not a person.

When somebody challenges you, fight back. Be brutal, be tough.

Fact: If standard of living is your number one objective, quality of life almost never improves. But if quality of life is your number one objective, standard of living invariably improves.

Be grateful for what you have and stop complaining – it bores everybody else, does you no good, and doesn’t solve any problems.

The greatest source of happiness is the ability to be grateful at all times.

Athletic skills are acquired over a long period of time and after countless hours of practice.

Each problem that I solved became a rule which served afterwards to solve other problems.

When you stop chasing the wrong things you give the right things a chance to catch you.

Brainpower is the ultimate leverage.

Success is…knowing your purpose in life, growing to reach your maximum potential, and sowing seeds that benefit others.