It's never too late - never too late to start over, never too late to be happy.
Jane Fonda
I have a confidence about my life that comes from standing tall on my own two feet.
You don't learn from successes; you don't learn from awards; you don't learn from celebrity; you only learn from wounds and scars and mistakes and failures. And that's the truth.
Instead of drifting along like a leaf in a river, understand who you are and how you come across to people and what kind of an impact you have on the people around you and the community around you and the world, so that when you go out, you can feel you have made a positive difference.
Feminism is not just about women; it's about letting all people lead fuller lives.
To be a revolutionary you have to be a human being. You have to care about people who have no power.
We're not meant to be perfect. It took me a long time to learn that.
If adolescent pregnancy prevention is to become a priority, then our strategy, as advocates, must contain two key elements: civic engagement and education.
If we as a nation are to break the cycle of poverty, crime and the growing underclass of young people ill equipped to be productive citizens, we need to not only implement effective programs to prevent teen pregnancy, but we must also help those who have already given birth so that they become effective, nurturing, bonding parents.
We cannot always control our thoughts, but we can control our words, and repetition impresses the subconscious, and we are then master of the situation.
A man has every season while a woman only has the right to spring.
It's about time we make the well-being of our young people more important than ideology and politics. As a country, we benefit from investing in their future by investing in teen pregnancy prevention.
If the career you have chosen has some unexpected inconvenience, console yourself by reflecting that no career is without them.
I don't want my wrinkles taken away - I don't want to look like everyone else.
The people who did you wrong or who didn't quite know how to show up, you forgive them. And forgiving them allows you to forgive yourself too.
The capacity of young people to persevere, even under the most adverse conditions, never ceases to amaze me.
We're still living with the old paradigm of age as an arch. That's the old metaphor: You're born, you peak at midlife and decline into decrepitude.
Children born to teens have less supportive and stimulating environments, poorer health, lower cognitive development, and worse educational outcomes. Children of teen mothers are at increased risk of being in foster care and becoming teen parents themselves, thereby repeating the cycle.
But the whole point of liberation is that you get out. Restructure your life. Act by yourself.
I see many more men who are feminist, or at least who have learned about life in the context of feminism.
I'm vain. My arms are thin, but I'm vain about loose flesh. And so I'm careful that what I wear will show off my best parts, which are my waist and my butt.
Some people are surprised that the Republicans are waging a war on women, or that they voted against equal pay for women. I'm not surprised at all. In some ways, it may be a good thing. They're defending the patriarchy, which is a wounded beast! And wounded beasts are always dangerous.
When you can't remember why you're hurt, that's when you're healed.
I always had a penchant for falling in love. Every time I found myself without a mate, I fell into a state of low-sizzling panic.
While not impossible, it is especially challenging for teenage parents to develop bonds with their children. A high percent of them were themselves children of teenage parents and have never experienced appropriate parenting.
The bond between a parent and child is the primary bond, the foundation for the rest of the child's life. The presence or absence of this bond determines much about the child's resiliency and what kind of adult they will grow up to be.
My mother killed herself when I was 12. I won't complete that relationship. But I can try to understand her.
I remember saying goodbye to my father the night he left to join the Navy. He didn't have to. He was older than other servicemen and had a family to support but he wanted to be a part of the fight against fascism, not just make movies about it. I admired this about him.
A good many dramatic situations begin with screaming.
I think the Internet and technology in general has changed everything. We can see it overseas even more with the Arab Spring and so forth.
I know how gratifying it is not only to work in film but to be acknowledged by peers; producing '9 to 5' was an opportunity that I valued precisely because it's so rarely in the hands of women.
The only thing I have never known is true intimacy with a man. I absolutely wanted to discover that before dying.
I was a chameleon, the woman men wanted me to be.
As I started getting older, I realized, 'I'm so happy!' I didn't expect this! I wasn't happy when I was young.
We can no longer waste time and money. Every day, more than 2,000 girls in America, age 15-19, give birth - in the wealthiest, most educated nation in the world! Neither you nor I should accept this statistic.
One part of wisdom is knowing what you don't need anymore and letting it go.
I'm an assistant storyteller. It's like being a waiter or a gas-station attendant, but I'm waiting on six million people a week, if I'm lucky.
Seek women mentors. If you're a businesswoman, look at the TEDx conferences. There's a lot of businesswomen that speak on there. I find them extremely inspiring.
I have people in my life who will say, 'Honey, you're trying too hard.' I like being saucy, but I'm 73 and a half. I'm still trying to find my way between matronly and coltishness.
I feel like my honesty gives people the freedom to talk about things they wouldn't otherwise.
I am able to talk about my life in a way that helps other women - and men, but mostly women - understand their own life. I feel real proud of that. And then the fact that my children are okay. You know, you're only as happy as your least happy child. So if your kids aren't okay, you're not good.
I was always a courageous woman, capable of confronting governments but not men.
If you're ever in a situation where you're not getting served or you can't get what you need, just cry.
I feel like when I was an adolescent, and felt so unworthy of love and so empty, I moved outside of myself.
All my life I had believed that unless I was perfect I would not be loved.
I've been accused of being too flexible, too willing to mold myself to men, and that's something I'm constantly working on.
I was in my mid-40s. I was a bulimic, and I realized if I continue with this addiction of mine, I will not be able to continue doing my life. The older you get the more damage it does; it takes longer to recover from a binge. And it was very hard.
Our young people are assets to be cultivated and nurtured; let's begin treating them that way.
Think about it: Reducing crime and poverty and ensuring that we have an educated, stable work force has a direct effect on you and me and the future of our country.
Emotionality is really easy for me. My father always said that Fondas can cry at a good steak.
