Ellen Degeneres
- New Orleans
My mother is going to call me as soon as she hears something, ... I literally watched CNN and sobbed all night long, and Wednesday I cried again. Now I'm not crying.
Ellen Degeneres
But I do believe that's when you do your soul-searching. I think when you have these trials that life gives you, it is an opportunity to find out who you are. Not just who you are when everything's great, but who are you when everything is taken away from you and you have nothing.
Ellen Degeneres
I knew if I came out there was a possibility I would lose my career. But I didn't do it for my career, I did it for me to live my truth. I thought, "I don't want to live and have any shame whatsoever." I should be proud of who I am, and I don't care if people approve or not. It is who I am.
Ellen Degeneres
- Tulane Commencement Speech, 2009
When I was younger, I thought success was something different. I thought, "When I grow up, I want to be famous. I want to be a star. I want to be in movies. When I grow up I want to see the world, drive nice cars. I want to have groupies." But my idea of success is different today. For me, the most important thing in your life is to live your life with integrity and not to give into peer pressure, to try to be something that you're not. To live your life as an honest and compassionate person.
Ellen Degeneres
For me, it's that I contributed... That I'm on this planet doing some good and making people happy. That's to me the most important thing, that my hour of television is positive and upbeat and an antidote for all the negative stuff going on in life.
