Amy Poehler

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.

I remember Tina Fey wrote a play about Catherine the Great f**king a horse and I thought, ‘That lady is hot stuff, I wanna know her.’

Sometimes Tina Fey is like a very talented bungee-jumping expert. All it takes Tina to softly say, ‘We can do this, right?’ and I suddenly feel like I can jump off a bridge.

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

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 think I always feel like if everything went to shit, I would just teach improv at a theatre.

It was incredible because it was forced humility. Previously, I would’ve looked at humility as more of a negative thing.

Sooner or later, those who win are those who think they can.

You are what you think about all day long.

Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment.

Formulate and stamp indelibly on your mind a mental picture of yourself as succeeding. Hold this picture tenaciously and never permit it to fade. Your mind will seek to develop this picture!

There is no need to be afraid of having faults, because knowing we have them can help us to improve.

It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.

Only when you combine sound intellect with emotional discipline do you get rational behavior.

What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

If you are not willing to risk the usual you will have to settle for the ordinary.

Don’t let mistakes and disappointments of the past control and direct your future.

Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.

Yes, it’s absolutely true that anything worth doing is worth doing poorly – until you can learn to do it well.

I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific.