Best quotes by Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist
Oprah Gail Winfrey (born January 29, 1954) is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, broadcast from Chicago, which was the highest-rated television program of its kind in history and ran in national syndication for 25 years, from 1986 to 2011.[better source needed] Dubbed the "Queen of All Media," she was the richest African-American of the 20th century, was once the world's only black billionaire, and the greatest black philanthropist in U.S. history. By 2007, she was sometimes ranked as the most influential woman in the world.
Winfrey was born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a single teenage mother and later raised in inner-city Milwaukee. She has stated that she was molested during her childhood and early teenage years and became pregnant at 14; her son was born prematurely and died in infancy. Winfrey was then sent to live with the man she calls her father, Vernon Winfrey, a barber in Nashville, Tennessee, and landed a job in radio while still in high school. By 19, she was a co-anchor for the local evening news. Winfrey's often emotional, extemporaneous delivery eventually led to her transfer to the daytime talk show arena, and after boosting a third-rated local Chicago talk show to first place, she launched her own production company.
By the mid-1990s, Winfrey had reinvented her show with a focus on literature, self-improvement, mindfulness, and spirituality. Though she has been criticized for unleashing a confession culture, promoting controversial self-help ideas, and having an emotion-centered approach, she has also been praised for overcoming adversity to become a benefactor to others. Winfrey had also emerged as a political force in the 2008 presidential race, with her endorsement of Barack Obama estimated to have been worth about one million votes during the 2008 Democratic primaries. In 2013, Winfrey was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama and received honorary doctorate degrees from Duke and Harvard. In 2008, she formed her own network, the Oprah Winfrey Network.
Credited with creating a more intimate, confessional form of media communication, Winfrey popularized and revolutionized the tabloid talk show genre pioneered by Phil Donahue. In 1994, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. Winfrey has won many accolades throughout her career which includes 18 Daytime Emmy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Chairman's Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, including the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award, a Tony Award, a Peabody Award and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, awarded by the Academy Awards and two additional Academy Award nominations. Winfey was elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021.
Oprah Winfrey quotes by category:
PassionWhen you're passionate about your work, it feels like you would do it even if no one were paying you.
PassionLet passion drive your profession.
MotivationLifePassionTune out the naysayers, tune into your own courage, and take a bold step toward the passion-filled life you really want.
MoneyPassionFollow your passion. Do what you love, and the money will follow. Most people don't believe it, but it's true.
PassionForget about the fast lane. If you really want to fly, just harness your power to your passion
Be yourselfLifeLovePassionEvery day, passion speaks to us through our feelings. That's why when you allow yourself to become anesthetized by what others think, you literally block yourself from living the life you were called to live. I promise you that if you make a choice that doesn't please your mate, your friends, your mother, or whoever, the world will not fall apart. The people who truly love you want you to love yourself.
PassionHave the courage to follow your passion - and if you don't know what it is, realize that one reason for your existence on earth is to find it.
PassionPassion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.
SuccessMotivationPassionIgnoring your passion is like dying a slow death...Passion whispers to you through your feelings, beckoning you toward your highest good. Pay attention to what makes you feel energized, connected, stimulated- what gives you your juice. Do what you love, give it back in the form of service, and you will do more than succeed. You will triumph.
MotivationPassionFollow your passion. It will lead you to your purpose.
Be yourselfDreamsPassionYou've got to follow your passion. You've got to figure out what it is you love--who you really are. And have the courage to do that. I believe that the only courage anybody ever needs is the courage to follow your own dreams.
New YorkNew York traffic can drive you crazy.
HappinessI am guided by the vision of what I believe this show can be. Originally our goal was to uplift, enlighten, encourage and entertain through the medium of television. Now, our mission statement for The Oprah Winfrey Show is to use television to transform people's lives, to make viewers see themselves differently and to bring happiness and a sense of fulfillment into every home.
SuccessHappinessYou will find true success and happiness if you have only one goal, there really is only one, and that is this: to fulfill the highest most truthful expression of yourself as a human being. You want to max out your humanity by using your energy to lift yourself up, your family and the people around you. Theologian Howard Thurman said it best. He said, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
HappinessPeopleMost people when they're walking are thinking about where they have to go and what they have to do. But that removes us from happiness.
HappinessThe way to choose happiness is to follow what is right and real and the truth for you.
HappinessMaking other people happy is what brings me happiness. I have a blessed life, and I have always shared my life's gifts with others. I will continue to use my voice and my life as a catalyst for encouraging people to help make a difference in the lives of others.
MotivationHappinessLifeLive life and take chances. Believe that everything happens for a reason and don't regret. Love to the fullest and you will find true happiness in life. Realize that things go wrong and people change, but things do go on. Sometimes things weren't meant to be. What is supposed to happen will work its way out.
HappinessHappiness is there for the taking - and the making.
HappinessWhen people say they are looking for happiness, I ask, What are you giving to the world?
HappinessDreamsThe way to choose happiness is to follow what is right and real and the truth for you. You can never be happy living someone else's dream. Live your own. And you will for sure know the meaning of happiness.
IdeaMindYou must feed your mind with reading material, thoughts, and ideas that open you to new possibilities.
ConfidenceIt is confidence in our bodies, minds and spirits that allows us to keep looking for new adventures.
DreamsMindEven the wildest dreams have to start somewhere. Allow yourself the time and space to let your mind wander and your imagination fly.
MotivationIf you allow yourself to breathe into the depth, wonder, beauty, craziness, and strife everything that represents the fullness of your life you can live fearlessly. Because you come to realize that if you just keep breathing, you cannot be conquered
MotivationWomanDare to be different. Be a pioneer. Be a leader. Be the kind of woman who in the face of adversity will continue to embrace life and walk fearlessly toward the challenge.
LifeFearI believe everyday your life speaks to you - through every experience, through the people you meet, and even through pain, fear and self-doubt.
FearCourage is feeling the fear and doing it anyway.
AgeTimeFearTime isn't the enemy. Fear of change is. Accept that nothing lasts forever and you'll start to appreciate the advantages of whatever age you are now.
FreedomFearThe thing you fear most has no power. Your fear of it is what has the power. Facing the truth really will set you free.
LifeFearMindWhatever you fear most has no power - it is your fear that has the power. The thing itself cannot touch you. But if you allow your fear to seep into your mind and overtake your thoughts, it will rob you of your life.
MotivationLifeFearYou can either waltz boldly onto the stage of life and live the way you know your spirit is nudging you to, or you can sit quietly by the wall, receding into the shadows of fear and self doubt.
FearWhatever you fear most has no power--it is your fear that has the power.
FearWhenever I'm faced with a difficult decision, I ask myself, 'What would I do if I weren't afraid of making a mistake? Feeling rejected? looking foolish? Or being alone?' I know for sure that when you remove the fear, the answer that you've been searching for comes into focus and as you walk into your fear, you should know for sure that your deepest struggle can, if you're willing and open, produce your greatest strength.
FearI choose to rise up out of that storm and see that in moments of desperation, fear, and helplessness, each of us can be a rainbow of hope, doing what we can to extend ourselves in kindness and grace to one another. And I know for sure that there is no them - there's only us.
ArtYour work speaks for you. Your art defines you.
ArtI see all art as a complement to telling people's stories. I'm in the storytelling business. I believe that the humanity that all of us share is the stories of our lives, and everybody has a story. Your story is as important as the next person's story.
I try to live in the moment and let that moment carry me to the next great place.
One of the things that I encourage for anybody who is interested in their own charity or philanthropy is to start from where you are and what has mattered to you.
So, The Color Purple changed my life. It changed everything about my life because, in that moment of praying and letting go, I really understood the principle of surrender. The principle of surrender is that, after you have done all that you can do, and you've done your best and given it your all, you then have to release it to whatever you call God, or don't call God.
Can I just tell you the truth? I get asked to do a lot of stuff. And all of the years that people have asked me to do things for the film festival, I couldn't. And so this year, I thought, "Oh, my god, I don't have a day job. If somebody ask me to do something, I'm going to do it."
What you want to do is to get to the point where you only do what matters to you. The real goal in life is to become more of who you are, so that you can make the choices that really satisfy who you are and what you want to do.
For me to live in a world that is not inclusive of other people who are not Christian would be the opposite of Christianity.
The only way to end war is communication between people.
I love what the church offers to us as a culture - black people in particular. We would be nowhere without the black church.
To be mundane and poor is the curse of life!
Back then, a few doilies and napkins were all that a lot of women had. In the little house where I grew up, the pillowcases my grandmother embroidered were the only things of beauty.
The divine is in all things.
That's what leads to a reinvention of yourself - being fully present and in the moment.
When you focus on what you have, your ABUNDANCE increases. I started with my breath. Noticing being alive is a good start!
When ordinary people decide to do extraordinary things they transform their lives and the lives of others around them.
Failures can be God's little whispers (or) a full earthquake in our lives because we didn't listen to the whispers
If things go wrong and you hit a dead end-as you will-it's just life's way of saying it's time to change course
How can you say you're trying to spiritually evolve, without even a thought about what happens to the animals whose lives are sacrificed in the name of gluttony?
To play down mothering as small is to crack the very foundation on which greatness stands.
The older I get, the more centered I become and the more I think I really know about myself. What I know is that what other people do doesn't really have any effect on me.
The whole point of being alive is to evolve into the complete person you were intended to be. I believe you can only do this when you stop long enough to hear the whisper you might have drowned out, that small voice compelling you toward the kind of work you'd be willing to do even if you weren't paid. Once you tune out the noise of your life and hear that call, you face the biggest challenge of all: to find the courage to seek out your big dream, regardless of what anyone else says or thinks.
I truly believe that a woman can have anything she wants - if she's willing to do the hard work it takes to get it.
The life you want is waiting to rise up to meet you ... Will you accept it? Do you feel worthy enough to accept it?
Take five minutes to center yourself in the morning...Set your intention every day.
It is your life and it is worth risking everything to make it yours.
You only have power in your energy field ... so the only way to live the life you want is in your energy field ... and your greatest power is love.
Have a similar outlook as a monarch. A ruler is not reluctant to come up short. Disappointment is an alternate steppingstone to significance.
What you're thinking, what you're saying, what you're doing, is having an impact on you and the people around you
Your life's work is to find your life's work-and then to exercise the discipline, tenacity, and hard work it takes to pursue it
I try to take every conflict, every experience, and learn from it
For everyone of us that succeeds, it's because there's somebody there to show you the way out.
I've always believed free will is a birthright. God even allows us to choose whether to be led by the divine order
All trials force the question, Who are you really? And you must trust yourself to answer
Your gut is your inner compass.