“You see, years ago I was just an ordinary bee minding my own business, smelling flowers all day, and occasionally picking up part-time work in people's bonnets. Then one day I realized that I'd never amount to anything without an education and, being naturally adept at spelling, I decided that—” PeopleYearsMy OwnFlowerAmountOne DayOrdinaryYears AgoDecidedI RealizedBeesOwn BusinessSpellingPart TimeAdeptBonnetsMinding My Own Business Book:The phantom tollbooth Source: The phantom tollbooth
“Once I started reinventing for myself what being an artist was - not going into a studio, but making things on my own terms in response to being out in the world - I started to really enjoy it... I realized that everything else for me was hell.” WorldArtistEnjoyTermMy OwnHellResponseStudiosI RealizedRenewalBeing An ArtistReinventing Author:Cornelia Parker
“I took a lot time to do the first album, and I was really happy about that album. I co-wrote the songs and it was a learning process. When I was working on that album I realized, for the first time, that I could write my own songs.” WritingFirstsSongProcessMy OwnFirst TimeAlbumsI RealizedLearning ProcessReally Happy Author:Tove Styrke
“I realized that a large part of my life from then on was going to be spent in finding mistakes in my own programs.” My OwnMistakeFindingsProgramI RealizedProgrammingProgrammersComputer ProgrammingProgramming LanguagesComputer LanguageComputer ProgrammersFunny ComputerProgramming FunnyDebuggingCoders Author:Maurice Wilkes
“I realized that if you're trying to reach an audience, being as subjective as possible and really trying to write from something genuine is the way to go. Really it's mostly from my own process, my own experience.” IfsWayWritingTryingProcessMy OwnAudienceI RealizedGenuineSubjective Author:Christopher Nolan
“I think it was when I ran into Kerouac and Burroughs - when I was 17 - that I realized I was talking through an empty skull... I wasn't thinking my own thoughts or saying my own thoughts.” ThinkingLiteratureMy OwnTalkingEmptyI RealizedRanSkullsBurroughs Author:Allen Ginsberg
“Pretty early on in making the first movie I realized that this is what I wanted to do. I felt like by that time I just found my niche, like this is what I was supposed to be doing. So I completely submerged myself into the world of watching movies, making my own movies, buying video cameras and lights. When I wasn't making a movie, I was making my own movies. When I wasn't making movies, I was watching movies. I was going back and studying film and looking back at guys that were perceived as great guys that I can identify with. It just became my life.” WorldFirstsI CanLightWantedFilmGuyFoundFeltMy OwnStudyCamerasI RealizedVideoSupposed To BeBuyingLooking BackNicheSubmergedMovie MakingGreat GuyVideo Cameras Author:Mark Wahlberg
“I'd been an actor my whole life, since I was a kid. And then, I quit for awhile and went to university. When I wanted to start acting again, I couldn't get a job, and that was really depressing. So, I realized, at that time, that I have to take responsibility for my own creativity.” WholeKidsWantedJobsActorsMy OwnActingResponsibilityCreativityUniversityI RealizedWhole LifeQuittingDepressingTaking ResponsibilityI QuitReally Depressing Author:Joseph Gordon-Levitt
“Through books and photographs, I saw a world that was not my own - and I realized that there was another world. That's why I'm concerned about education, because it helps our children see other worlds.” WorldChildrenBookHelpingMy OwnSawsConcernedOur ChildrenPhotographI RealizedOther WorldsAnother World Author:Bette Midler
“When my father died in my arms it had such a profound affect on me that at that very moment when my dad passed I realized that I needed to face my own fears.” MomentsFacesFatherMy OwnArmsNeededDadDiedProfoundMy DadI RealizedFather DiedMy Father Died Author:Criss Angel
“I understood, not with my intellect but with my whole being, that no theories of the rationality of existence or of progress could justify such an act; I realized that even if all the people in the world from the day of creation found this to be necessary according to whatever theory, I knew that it was not necessary and that it was wrong. Therefore, my judgments must be based-on what is right and necessary and not on what people say and do; I must judge not according to progress but according to my own heart.” PeopleIfsWorldHeartWholeFoundMy OwnExistenceProgressCreationJudgingTheoryJudgmentUnderstoodIntellectI RealizedJustifyRationality Author:Leo Tolstoy
“As a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut. And my own passion was that I wanted to be a film director. I realized that being an astronaut was not going to be an option, so I said, "Well, I'm going to be a director and do films in space."” WellsSaidKidsWantedFilmPassionMy OwnSpaceDirectorsI RealizedAstronautFilm Directors Author:Alfonso Cuaron
“I became a vegetarian out of compassion for animals and to live as healthy as possible. I realized soon after that I was truly concerned with nonviolent consumption and my own health, a vegan diet was the best decision.” My OwnDecisionAnimalCompassionHealthyConcernedI RealizedDietsVegetarianVeganConsumptionVegetarianismAnimal CompassionVegan Diet Author:Davey Havok
“My role as the chair of the fashion department at Parsons put me face to face with all the big designers, retailers, and editors. Since I was moving in these new circles regularly, I realized I needed to do something about my own personal style. It was really Diane von Furstenberg who gave me the nudge.” BigsFacesMovingMy OwnRolesFashionStyleNeededI RealizedCirclesDesignerDepartmentChairsEditorsFace To FaceMoving InPersonal StyleNudgeRetailers Author:Tim Gunn
“I've always known that I've wanted to write, but I always saw myself doing that in the context of something other than film, so it was a really beautiful and kind of perfect moment in my life when I realized that I could combine this idea of wanting to write and tell my own stories with the environment I had grown up in and knew well - that I could make film as opposed to writing being a departure from what I knew.” WritingWellsKindIdeasMomentsStoriesWantedBeautifulFilmMy OwnPerfectKnownEnvironmentSawsI RealizedDepartureReally BeautifulPerfect Moments Author:Sarah Polley
“I realized that it's my own fault that people take advantage of me. I should be around people who cherish my talents, my health, my time. I'm not a pawn for anyone's future business. I'm an artist. I deserve better than to be loyal to people who only believe in me because I make money.” PeopleShouldBelieveArtistMy OwnTalentDeserveAdvantageFaultsI RealizedMaking MoneyMy TimeCherishLoyalBelieve In MePawnsDeserve BetterFuture Business Author:Lady Gaga
“I started as a GED instructor, I created my own GED program, and I realized that a lot of young people that don’t do well academically. It’s not that they don’t have the competency to do it or the skill set to do it; it’s just that they weren’t motivated to learn. They weren’t interested in school, so I started just talking to students and just really going in on them like, “Yo, this is life or death.”” PeopleSchoolYoungMy OwnTalkingStudentsSkillsProgramI RealizedMotivatedInstructorsLife Or DeathCompetenciesGed Author:Eric Thomas
“What I realized with Funny or Die is that I could take it into my own hands. On a much smaller scale, I think these videos are an accurate representation of who I am. As weird as they may be, I'm at least proud of them, and it showed that I do have a slightly different voice. I can't tell you how often people bring up these videos in interviews, and I'm so happy to talk about them because we created them from the ground up.” PeopleThinkingMayI CanDifferentHandsDiesVoiceMy OwnProudI RealizedScalesWho I AmVideoInterviewsAccurateRepresentationDifferent VoicesFunny Or Die Author:Dave Franco
“I initially wanted to tell 'Oscillate Wildly' story because it wasn't one I had heard or seen before. The invisibility piece resonated most. Somewhere over the past couple of years I realized that I've essentially been making movies for my teenage self who struggled with isolation and my own brand of invisibility living in rural Ohio.” YearsSelfStoriesWantedPastMy OwnPiecesHeardCoupleI RealizedBrandsIsolationTeenageOver The PastOhioInvisibility Author:Travis Mathews