Susan Butcher
Dog musher; four-time winner of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race
But whenever you do find something — maybe it’s not as passionate for you as dog mushing has been for me — but the fact that you have any interest, that is what you should go with.
Recorded
Academy of Achievement interview, 29 June 1991
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Mellody Hobson
Co-chief executive and president of Ariel Investments
I'd say be just like you. I once had someone tell me that I don't remind them of anyone that they ever met. And I took that as a huge compliment, which meant I was original. And so I would suggest to her that she speak her truth with her life, with her own sense of purpose and pursue her dreams.
Recorded
Farai Chideya, News & Notes, Leading Ladies series, NPR, 22 March 2007
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Rahul Dravid
India Test and one-day international cricketer, 1996–2012; later India head coach
I know it is utterly fanciful to expect professional cricketers to play the game like amateurs; but the trick, I believe, is taking the spirit of the amateur - of discovery, of learning, of pure joy, of playing by the rules - into our profession. Taking it to practice or play, even when there's an epidemic of white-line fever breaking out all over the field.
Recorded
Bradman Oration, Anzac Hall, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, ESPNcricinfo, 14 December 2011
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All over the world, girls are raised to be make themselves likeable, to twist themselves into shapes that suit other people. Please do not twist yourself into shapes to please. Don’t do it. If someone likes that version of you, that version of you that is false and holds back, then they actually just like that twisted shape, and not you.
Recorded
Wellesley College 137th Commencement, 29 May 2015
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Megan Rapinoe
United States international footballer, 2006–2023
Even more simply, you can ask yourself this question: "Do I truly care about equality for all people in this country?" If the answer is yes, then demand to be a better, more educated, more empathetic version of yourself. And demand the same of every single person you know.
Recorded
First-person essay, The Players' Tribune, 6 October 2016
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Only the disciplined ones are free in life. If you are undisciplined, you are a slave to your moods. You are a slave to your passions.
Recorded
Address at the Oxford Union Society, November 2017, Outside, 10 February 2018
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Abby Wambach
United States international footballer, 2001–2015
I stayed on the path out of fear, not of being eaten by a wolf, but of being cut, being benched, losing my paycheck. If I could go back and tell my younger self one thing it would be this: "Abby, you were never Little Red Riding Hood; you were always the wolf."
Recorded
Barnard College commencement address, Radio City Music Hall, New York, Speakola, 16 May 2018
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I think fear and fear of the unknown and perceived failure is what holds people back. For me, I am more scared of complacency than having something not work out. I'd rather take a leap of faith and fall than stand on the edge forever.
Recorded
CNBC Make It interview, conducted 2019, 11 February 2021
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