“When I was 11 years old and I was on a road trip with my family. I turned to my dad and said, "Do you believe in Adam and Eve?" And he said he didn't think so. I remember that felt like a slap in the face, because if my parents questioned Adam and Eve, then they potentially questioned everything within Catholicism. Eventually that idea led to my feeling liberated, but at that time it was very scary.” IfsThinkingYearsBelieveSaidIdeasFeelingsRememberFacesFeltParentDadMy FamilyMy DadScaryCatholicismAdamLiberatedSlapAdam And EveRoad TripSlap In The Face Author:Alanis Morissette
“I have a family and you know very well the time that that takes. That's good time. I have a couple hobbies. I'm a runner and play tennis. In the summer my family and I uproot ourselves and go live in Maine for the summer. We have a house on a very tiny island in Maine. Which is really my spiritual center. We've been going there for ten years, and it has no ferry service, no bridges, no telephone service. It's really isolated.” KnowsYearsWellsPlaySpiritualHouseCoupleTenSummerMy FamilyTinyBridgesIslandsTennisGood TimesIsolatedHobbiesRunnersTelephonesMaineFerry Author:Alan Lightman
“My family spent many years sleeping side by side in the same room. It's important for me to not separate myself from them or to say that I've suffered more than they have because I'm gay. We all suffered from the same political rejection, and from poverty. When you're starving with eleven other people in the same room, you become connected to them forever. We were all hungry at the same time.” PeopleYearsImportantPoliticalSidesSleepRoomsPovertyForeverGayMy FamilyConnectedHungryRejectionStarvingEleven Author:Abdellah Taia
“I have excellent relationships with Jewish organizations and participate every year in a Hanukkah celebration with my family. There haven't been any anti-Semitic tendencies in my team for a long time.” YearsLongTeamHavensLong TimeMy FamilyOrganizationTendenciesExcellentCelebrationAnti SemiticHanukkah Author:Viktor Yushchenko
“I don't think my grandmother would ever be convinced, but my family was convinced that I was convinced, and actually, they came around. My mother ended up going to fundraisers in Chicago that were raising money to send to the students in the South and actually, over years, she went to an elevated train bus station one day at 6:00 a.m. to hand out leaflets protesting the war.” ThinkingYearsWarHandsMotherStudentsOne DayMy FamilyTrainSouthConvincedGrandmotherStationsChicagoBusMy GrandmotherFundraiserRaising Money Author:Diane Nash
“I remember reading 'The Grapes of Wrath' in high school in 1983. My family had immigrated to the U.S. three years before, and I had spent the better part of the first two years learning English. John Steinbeck's book was the first book I read in English where I had an 'Aha!' moment, namely in the famed turtle chapter.” YearsFirstsTwoBookMomentsSchoolRememberThreeReadingHigh SchoolMy FamilyTwo YearsThree YearsChaptersWrathGrapesTurtlesLearning EnglishAha Moment Author:Khaled Hosseini
“I live in a high rise with my family part of the year in New York and I don't know three quarters of the people in the building. We live in the same square-footage and I wouldn't know who they were.” PeopleKnowsYearsThreeNew YorkBuildingMy FamilySquaresQuarters Author:Dan Aykroyd
“My family moved to Israel when I was eight until I was 10, and then we came back, and my parents split up. I was suddenly in a single-parent home and on scholarship. Fifth grade was such a hard year for me.” YearsHardHomeParentMy FamilyMovedIsraelEightGradesSplitsFifthScholarshipSingle ParentFifth GradeParents Home Author:Natasha Lyonne
“One of the best years of my life was the very last one of my career. Playing for Rangers was my dream and it meant everything to my family.” YearsDreamLastsCareersMy FamilyRangersBest Year Author:Andy Gray
“I'd lived in LA for two years and I said to my agent that I wouldn't do any more network TV, because my family and I had just made the decision to live in England. It would be a whole year in LA shooting network TV.” YearsMadeSaidTwoWholeWould BeDecisionTvsMy FamilyEnglandAgentsShootingTwo YearsWhole Year Author:Damian Lewis
“I was somebody who was 14 years old and who got an opportunity to do a job where I could make money, and, most important, to go to school and to help my family financially. And luckily I was successful in my job, thank God. And there were a lot of people my age who didn't have that freedom I had and I'm grateful.” PeopleYearsImportantHelpingAgeSchoolJobsOpportunitySuccessfulMy FamilyGratefulMaking MoneyThank God Author:Gisele Bundchen
“After 14 years in boxing, the best decision I could have made was to take the last year off. My mind was not in boxing, but since I got here with Freddie, everything is working perfectly again. Boxing is all I know. Boxing is my life. Through boxing, I raised my family and I work to provide the best future for them. They are the reason I love boxing.” KnowsYearsMindMadeReasonLastsDecisionMy FamilyRaisedBoxingLast Year Author:Miguel Cotto
“No adult in my family would ever tell me anything about who my father was. I knew from an older cousin - only four years older than I am - everything, or what little I could discover about him.” YearsLittlesFatherFourAdultsMy FamilyFour YearsCousinMy CousinLittle Cousin Author:John Irving
“Technically, I'm a knight. My family goes back a thousand years in the Naples area. We're a titled, noble people.” PeopleYearsThousandAreasMy FamilyNobleThousand YearsKnightsNaples Author:Paul Sorvino
“I remember when I read Walter, for example, six years ago now, I said, "This is the role for me." I said that to my family. There was something there that I knew was absolutely right, and that was just based on the character. That's when gut instinct comes into play. I know there are certain things I won't do.” KnowsYearsSaidPlayCharacterRememberCertainRolesExampleSixYears AgoMy FamilyInstinctGutsRemember WhenGut Instinct Author:John Noble
“I'm enjoying my years, I'm enjoying my life, I'm enjoying my family. I'm just happy - a happy person.” YearsPersonsEnjoyMy FamilyHappy PersonEnjoying My Life Author:Sharon Stone
“It's a challenge, for sure. My family is not seeing me at all, for probably the next six months, and they haven't seen me for the last year. I'm really blessed with a lot of great partners, including my writing staff. Being able to rely on the people around me has really helped out.” PeopleWritingYearsAbleLastsNextChallengesSeeingHavensMonthsSixMy FamilyBlessedIncludingPartnersRelyLast YearStaffSix Months Author:Veena Sud
“My family is very musical, I was surrounded by it. And from four years old I was the one that asked my mother could I take piano lessons.” YearsMotherFourLessonsMy FamilyMusicalPianoFour YearsPiano Lesson Author:John Legend
“Yeah, but before anything, I think in 6 years somehow I've grown up to have a beautiful home, 2 beautiful stepchildren, a beautiful husband, my family is healthy and happy. I'm financially ok and I do what I love for a living. That's what I think, and I think god, how did I get so lucky.” ThinkingYearsHomeBeautifulHealthyLuckyHusbandMy FamilyYeahSo LuckyHealthy And HappyStepchildStepchildren Author:Angelina Jolie
“My feeling is that, and I've been writing about my family over the years, although it might make them feel uncomfortable, people generally like to be written about. If I've written a song about the family, they enjoy being mentioned in the songs. Nobody's confronted me and said 'don't write any songs about me.” PeopleIfsFeelsWritingYearsSaidFeelingsMightSongEnjoyWrittenMy FamilyUncomfortableBeing Me Author:Loudon Wainwright III
“The only struggle came from me wanting more for my family and feeling like if they had one less individual to take care of - if my mom only had her and my sister and my grandmother and my aunt to take care of, couldn't she do the things she was doing for me for herself? That's the reason I took myself away from my family. I left home when I was 13 years old to assume the responsibilities of being a man.” IfsMenYearsReasonFeelingsHomeCareIndividualLeftResponsibilityStruggleMomMy FamilyAssumingMy MomTake CareGrandmotherMy SisterMy GrandmotherAuntWanting More Author:Petey Pablo
“My faith in God is everything at this point. Also, my family and friends that I've had around me pretty much my whole life and my boyfriend, we've been together for eight years. I try to keep people around me who've been around me, who've seen me struggle. They know how dedicated I am and how hard I've worked. They know me - not the Jennifer from American Idol and Dreamgirls, but the real Jennifer.” PeopleKnowsTryingYearsRealHardWholeTogetherKnow HowStruggleMy FamilyEightWhole LifeDedicatedIdolsFaith In GodKnow MeFamily And FriendsMy BoyfriendJenniferAmerican Idol Author:Jennifer Hudson
“If there's one thing that differentiates me from the rest of my family it's the rock element. I hung out with friends who like punk rock a lot. Not getting a big record deal, and having a hard time for years, it means you have to prove yourself and scratch your way up from nothing.” IfsWayYearsMeanHardBigsDealsRecordsOne ThingRocksProveElementsMy FamilyHard TimesPunkHungScratchesPunk RockDifferentiateProving YourselfHaving A Hard Time Author:Martha Wainwright
“On Thanksgiving I will stop to give thanks that my family is safe and healthy, especially because I realize that, following the tragedies of this year, it is all too real a possibility that they might not have been.” GivingYearsHas BeensRealMightKidsRealizingFamilyPossibilityHealthySafeMy FamilyTragedyFollowingThanksThanksgivingBaby BoyInspirational ThanksgivingThankful ThanksgivingThanksgiving ThankfulFamily ThanksgivingThanksgiving And FamilyThanksgiving FamilyChristian ThanksgivingToo Real Author:Bobby Jindal
“All I'd ever heard my entire life in my family was, "Nobody wanted you, and we took you in." When you get that into your head at a tender age, you really feel like you are an unlovable human being, and then you behave like one. That's exactly what I had done. It took me many years to deal with my own violence and find my own niche.” FeelsYearsHumansDoneAgeWantedMy OwnHuman BeingsDealsViolenceHeardLike YouMy FamilyBehaveNicheUnlovable Author:Sam Hamill
“For my family and Howard's partner, who is like family, for 10 years we were in a state of shock. It takes time to appreciate fully what was going on then. That's connected because post-9/11 New York is so completely different from the way it was and the counterculture movement going on before then was so remarkable; I think people are appreciating it a lot more now.” PeopleThinkingWayYearsDifferentStatesNew YorkMovementAppreciateMy FamilyConnectedPartnersPostsShockRemarkableTake TimeIt Takes TimeLike FamilyCounterculture Author:Aaron Brookner
“I think my family's watched me over the years in my career, in my pursuit of my career, and they've seen the challenges and the struggles that come with being an actor, with being a writer and a director, and the challenges of morphing my career in from just being an actor into a writer/director.” ThinkingYearsActorsChallengesCareersStruggleDirectorsMy FamilyPursuitJust BeingMorphing Author:Ricky Schroder
“By the time I was seventeen, I was on my way to Hollywood and didn't look back. My family is supportive now, but like any adult guardian of a seventeen-year-old daughter, they were not thrilled with my plan to run off to the LA to make it as an actress. Even a somewhat functioning parent would think that was a bad, bad idea. Lucky for me, I didn't listen to them.” ThinkingWayYearsLooksIdeasRunningParentPlansLuckyDaughterAdultsMy FamilyHollywoodActressesMy WaySupportiveGuardianBad IdeasSeventeenSeventeen Years Old Author:Amber Heard
“They look at me and say how come you're winning? You came back from the dead three years ago, and you're already killing it. I mean I came back from the dead. Thanks to my family and thanks to Kevin Zinger and my brother Evidence and Rocko, especially my blood family and the guys in Swollen Members. I wouldn't even be here today if it wasn't for those people.” PeopleIfsYearsLooksMeanTodayGuyThreeWinningBloodBrotherMembersEvidenceYears AgoMy FamilyKillingThanksMy BrotherThree YearsLook At MeKevinSwollenKilling It Author:Shane Bunting
“I was born in St. Louis and lived in Pittsburgh for a bit, before my family moved to Nigeria, where they're from. We lived there for three or four years and came back to the States when I was about ten. I realised that I'd gone from place to place not fitting in. The thing that helped me fit in when moving around and not having a ton of friends was that I could make art. That was the through-line.” YearsArtStatesMovingThreeBitsBornLinesGoneFourFitTenMy FamilyMovedFour YearsRealisedFittingNigeriaPittsburghNot Fitting Author:Babatunde Adebimpe
“The idea that I had anything to do with speaking about Islam or about the Muslim world was just absurd to my family. ... I hadn't been to the mosque in like 10 years.” WorldYearsIdeasMy FamilyIslamAbsurdMosquesMuslim World Author:Aasif Mandvi
“In some ways for many years I was off the hook.When my niece was born after that their attention was focused on that and she did that. You know, that was in our family that's what she did. I went off and chased this dream and this career that very other few people in our, you know, in my family, but even culturally were doing.” PeopleKnowsWayYearsDreamBornAttentionCareersMy FamilyFocusedOur FamilyHookNieceMy Niece Author:Aasif Mandvi
“Love is my family and friends. That close-knit circle that sticks by you through the years and through it all.” YearsLove IsMy FamilySticksCirclesFamily And FriendsThrough The Years Author:Allen Evangelista
“I love sports. I play golf now, which is relatively new for me. I only took it up about five years ago. I also like playing piano, and I love being with my family and friends.” YearsPlaySportsLove IsFiveYears AgoMy FamilyGolfPianoFive YearsFamily And FriendsPlaying Piano Author:Condoleezza Rice
“My family didn't go to church. Once when I slept over at the house of a friend, her parents brought me to Sunday school with her. I was given this little pamphlet of tiny poems about the natural world, about butterflies and sunsets. My 7-year-old self was so astounded by how these few words were creating pictures and feelings in me.” WorldYearsLittlesSelfFeelingsSchoolHouseGivenParentNaturalChurchCreatingMy FamilyTinySunsetSundayButterflyNatural WorldFew WordsSunday SchoolOld SelfAstounded Author:Cheryl Strayed
“For many years I hoped to have an exhibition in China, because of my family connection.” YearsMy FamilyConnectionsChinaExhibitionsFamily Connections Author:Michael Craig-Martin
“Put yourself in the position of a person, sort of an ordinary American, "I'm a hard-working, god-fearing Christian. I take care of my family, I go to church, I, you know, do everything 'right'. And I'm getting shafted. For the last thirty years, my income has stagnated, my working hours are going up, my benefits are going down. My wife has to work two [jobs] to, you know, put food on the table. The children, God, there's no care for the children, the schools are rotten, and so on. What did I do wrong? I did everything you're supposed to do, but something's going wrong to me.” KnowsYearsChildrenPersonsTwoHardCareSchoolChristianJobsLastsHoursChurchWifePositionHard WorkBenefitsOrdinaryMy FamilyTablesTake CareMy WifeIncomeThirtyRottenThirty YearsTwo JobsWhat Did I Do Wrong Author:Noam Chomsky
“I love Pittsburgh. Most of my family still lives there and I try to get back a couple of times a year.” TryingYearsStillsCoupleMy FamilyGet BackStill LifePittsburgh Author:Anthony Jeselnik
“Many of my family members are teachers in the arts, and I picked up the camera years ago, in high school.” YearsArtSchoolTeacherMembersHigh SchoolYears AgoMy FamilyCamerasFamily Members Author:Steven Sebring
“My family immigrated from Korea when I was four years old, and when I started school, I didn't speak English. I remember that other kids would blame everything bad that happened in kindergarten on me - I spent a lot of time "in the corner" because I literally didn't have the words to explain that it wasn't me!” YearsKidsSchoolRememberSpeakFourHappenedMy FamilyBlameCornersFour YearsKoreaKindergartenSpeak English Author:Jane Park
“The first Polaroid ever took of someone in my family was my son when he was about four years old.” YearsFirstsFourSonMy FamilyMy SonFour YearsPolaroids Author:Errol Morris
“I recall that I had a terrible struggle finding anything antireligious in the school libraries.But many years later my family moved into a house where a woman had left a box of books containing 20 volumes on the history of the Inquisition. I found out there was a word for people like me: "heretic." I was kind of delighted to find I had an identity.” PeopleYearsKindBookSchoolFoundHouseLeftStruggleIdentityTerribleFindingsMy FamilyMovedLibraryBoxesLike MeRecallsVolumeDelightedHereticContainingInquisitionSchool Library Author:Madalyn Murray O'Hair
“I sang in the choir for years, even though my family belonged to another church.” LifeYearsFunnyChurchFamilyHumorousMy FamilyWittyChoirChurch ChoirSinging In Church Author:Paul Lynde
“My rule is, whatever you were calling me four years ago is what you should be calling me now, because I don't like it when my family or close friends call me Nicki Minaj. To me I'm not Nicki Minaj when I'm with them.” ShouldYearsFourCallingYears AgoMy FamilyCall MeFour YearsClose Friends Author:Nicki Minaj
“All my favorite stars, my family and my friends are here. I'm having the happiest birthday that an 18-year-old girl could ever have.” YearsGirlStarsMy FriendsMy FamilyMy FavoriteBirthday Author:Brandy Norwood
“My family has spent 400 years farming on the banks of the Rio Grande. We know the value of hard work, love of the community, love for water and land.” KnowsYearsHardValuesWaterCommunityLandHard WorkMy FamilyFarmingRioWork LoveValue Of Hard Work Author:Ken Salazar
“My family moved a lot as a kid. We started in Colorado, where I lived for five years. We moved to Chicago for two years, to San Francisco for one year, Connecticut for seven, Oregon for a couple years, and then I went to school.” YearsTwoKidsSchoolFiveCoupleMy FamilyMovedSevenFive YearsTwo YearsChicagoSan FranciscoColoradoOregonConnecticut Author:Gus Van Sant
“From very early on in my childhood - four, five years old - I felt alien to the human race. I felt very comfortable with thinking I was from another planet, because I felt disconnected - I was very tall and skinny, and I didn't look like anybody else, I didn't even look like any member of my family.” ThinkingYearsHumansLooksFeltRaceFiveFourChildhoodPlanetsMembersComfortableMy FamilyAliensHuman RaceFive YearsTallSkinnyDisconnectedFive Year Olds Author:Patti Smith
“I don't just want to focus on soccer, soccer, soccer. You're going to look back 20 years from now and of course you're going to remember the games. But I'm going to remember seeing my family in the stands.” WantYearsLooksRememberCoursesGamesFocusSeeingMy FamilySoccer Author:Hope Solo
“I was born in Patterson, New Jersey, and raised pretty much all around the country. My family tended to move from place to place following economic prospects and jobs and looking for new opportunities, so we changed schools, colleges, grade schools, high schools every 6 months to a year - depending on the breaks.” YearsCountrySchoolJobsMovingOpportunityBornBreakEconomicChangedCollegeMonthsHigh SchoolMy FamilyRaisedFollowingGradesJerseyNew JerseyProspectsNew OpportunityGrades In School Author:J. Michael Straczynski