Maria Shriver Quotes

Perfectionism doesn't make you feel perfect. It makes you feel inadequate.

Make time in your life to listen to your own voice.

Do not let it get drowned out by others. Your voice is yours and yours alone. Stay in touch with it and use it.

Pausing allows you to take a beat to take a breath in your life.

As everybody else is rushing around like a lunatic out there, I dare you to do the opposite.

My definition of success? Being the kind of woman that I would want to have as a friend.

Our mothers give us so many gifts. They give us the precious gift of life, of course, but they also leave treasured lessons that can guide us along our journeys even when they are no longer with us.

Art is fundamental, unique to each of us.

..Even in difficult economic times - especially in difficult economic times, the arts are essential.

It takes time to get to the top, and that's good - because by the time you get there, you'll have learned what you need to know in order to stay there.

Don't wait until you are perfect to change the world.

I myself am still learning how to be me and that's OK.

It can take a really long time to become the person you really want to be. Be who you are. It's the greatest gift we can give to ourselves, our community and our world.

I think everybody has tragedy in their life.

Everybody has hurdles in their life. Everybody has tough things to overcome. My kids say to me, 'This isn't fair.' I said, 'Life isn't fair.' Everybody has their issues. It's how you handle your issues that distinguishes you.

I liked that Larry King didn't know who Minerva was.

The love and laughter are what you need most in your life.

They'll fill out all the potholes in the road.

Investing in women, helping women to achieve their dreams, sending young girls to college. Trying to train young girls to be leaders. Sponsoring the Minerva Awards. All of these programs didn't exist before that help women day in and day out.

Motherhood: 24/7 on the frontlines of humanity. Are you man enough to try it?

I've learned that asking ourselves not just what we want to be, but who we want to be is important at every stage of our lives, not just when we're starting out in the world. That's because in a way, we're starting out fresh in the world every single day.

I lost myself in the process and I realized how much I had identified myself with Maria Shriver, newswoman. When that was gone, I had to really sit back and go, 'Well, actually, who am I today?

Comparing how you feel on the inside (bad) to the way someone else looks on the outside (great) is a losing proposition. It's an impossible standard.

I like cookies, any cookie you put in front of me - animal cookies, sugar cookies, anything crunchy.

I don't believe in gutter politics. I don't believe in gutter journalism.

Whether that's speaking up in your job or asking for a promotion or saying, 'I think I can do that.' Using your voice in ways that might initially scare you. That can be being an architect of change.

I think that public service is tough on a family - no ifs, ands, buts about it.

I have my own personal wishes, but they're not always front and center.

We need this city to actually live up to its name-The City of Angels.

We need to spread our wings. We need to show that we are more than red carpets, we are more than Hollywood, that we are a city ourselves of open arms. We are a city of generosity and compassion.

People think, 'Oh my goodness! I have to do something really big.

' You don't. Do what you love. There's a great quote from a poet I use all the time: 'Instead of asking what the world needs, ask yourself what you love,' because what the world needs is more people doing what they love.

Creating the Minerva Awards. I really have enjoyed that. I have to say that I moaned and groaned about this job but the way I have it now, I enjoy everything about it... I enjoy giving people service opportunities.

Don't think of him as a Republican. Think of him as the man I love, and if that doesn't work, think of him as the man who can crush you.

What we heard loud and clear is that the Battle Between the Sexes is over.

It was a draw. Now we're engaged in Negotiation Between the Sexes.

Having children-the responsibility of rearing good, kind, ethical, responsible human beings-is the biggest job anyone can embark on. You have to take a leap of faith and ask lots of people for their help and guidance.

No matter who you are, what you've accomplished, what your financial situation is - when you're dealing with a parent with Alzheimer's, you yourself feel helpless. The parent can't work, can't live alone, and is totally dependent, like a toddler. As the disease unfolds, you don't know what to expect.

God puts mentors in your path. They may not look like you, sound like you, or be what you expect. But they always know more that you.

Take off your armor; dare to be vulnerable, dare to unwrap yourself, and dare yourself to be yourself.

Poetry can startle you, awaken you, make you fall in love, take your breath away. When those words sink in, you'll never look at your life or your journey the same way again.

I like to make jokes; I consider myself a funny person. I just think making jokes about people who are in a situation beyond their control is not funny to them or their families.

So many people don't know who's on the State Seal and they don't know, not just in California but the United States of America, things they look at every day and they say, 'Wow! I didn't know that.'

I don't think you have to go out and become Secretary of State or be Bono but I think it's to let people know that whatever they do in their life that that's good.

I see bright kids trapped in public schools that are just warehousing them.

As an educator this makes me scared. As Secretary of State, this makes me terrified.

I'm only asking you to stop every so often and turn off your mobile device, put down the Angry Birds and the Words with Friends and take a moment. Stop to look up and look around. Pause and check in with yourself - and spend a moment there.

Women somehow get portrayed as one type.

You're either a feminist or you're not. You're a working woman or you're not. I'm raising two girls, and I say to them, 'I need you to be strong and soft. You can be smart and beautiful... You can be all of these things.'

We've witnessed history in the making.

The most important thing we can tell young people is not to be an imitation of somebody else. That their life is special. They are the creator of their life and their way and find something that they enjoy doing that doesn't even feel like work. It feels like a passion. And then just by doing that and bringing that to the world, they become architects of change.

I thought I had to show people that I would get in early, stay late or even all night, work on holidays. I didn't want to be the rich kid who was along for a free ride.

I stand on the shoulders of women who marched before me.

In this day and age it's really stupid to be stupid about financial matters.

It doesn't do you any good to make money if you don't know what to do with it other than spend it.

The Shriver Report presents an accurate and detailed portrait of American women and families at this transformational moment in our history.

you are the leader you've been looking for

You know those goals you've set for yourself, those dreams you've been waiting for the perfect time to live out? It's time!

When the world is so complicated, the simple gift of friendship is within all of our hands.

I was happy being a journalist. I didn't realize losing my job, my identity went with it.

I like meeting people and I like being able to help.

We all obsess about what we are doing and accomplishing.

What if we let it go and simply made the way we live our lives our accomplishment?