Oprah Winfrey Quotes

Oprah Winfrey offers warm, inspiring reflections on growth, mindset and identity, ideal for readers seeking personal motivation.

68 quotes

1. It felt like a new day.

2. I understand why people think we're gay. There isn't a definition in our culture for this kind of bond between women. So I get why people have to label it - how can you be this close without it being sexual?

3. What I learned at a very early age was that I was responsible for my life. And as I became more spiritually conscious, I learned that we all are responsible for ourselves, that you create your own reality by the way you think and therefore act. You cannot blame apartheid, your parents, your circumstances, because you are not your circumstances. You are your possibilities. If you know that, you can do anything.

4. What other people label or might try to call failure, I have learned is just God's way of pointing you in a new direction.

5. Always continue the climb. It is possible for you to do whatever you choose, if you first get to know who you are and are willing to work with a power that is greater than ourselves to do it.

6. As you become more clear about who you really are, you'll be better able to decide what is best for you- the first time around.

7. Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough.

8. 'Become the change you want to see'- those are words I live by.

9. Don't live your life to please other people.

10. Everyone wants to ride with you in the limo, but what you need is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.

11. I am a woman in process. I'm just trying like everybody else. I try to take every conflict, every experience, and learn from it. Life is never dull.

12. I believe that every single event in life happens in an opportunity to choose love over fear.

13. I believe that everyone is the keeper of a dream- and by tuning into one another's secret hopes, we can become better friends, better partners, better parents, and better lovers.

14. I define joy as a sustained sense of well-being and internal peace- a connection to what matters.

15. I don't believe in failure. It is not failure if you enjoyed the process.

16. I don't think of myself as a poor deprived ghetto girl who made good. I think of myself as somebody who from an early age knew I was responsible for myself, and I had to make good.

17. I know for sure that what we dwell on is who we become.

18. I trust that everything happens for a reason, even when we're not wise enough to see it.

19. I was raised to believe that excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism. And that's how I operate my life.

20. I'm black, I don't feel burdened by it and I don't think it's a huge responsibility. It's part of who I am. It does not define me.

21. If you come to fame not understanding who you are, it will define who you are.

22. It isn't until you come to a spiritual understanding of who you are- not necessarily a religious feeling, but deep down, the spirit within- that you can begin to take control.

23. Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.

24. My philosophy is that not only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.

25. Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not.

26. The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you're willing to work.

27. The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.

28. The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.

29. Though I am grateful for the blessings of wealth, it hasn't changed who I am. My feet are still on the ground. I'm just wearing better shoes.

30. Turn your wounds into wisdom.

31. Understand that the right to choose your own path is a sacred privilege. Use it. Dwell in possiblity.

32. Unless you choose to do great things with it, it makes no difference how much you are rewarded, or how much power you have.

33. We are each responsible for our own life- no other person is or even can be.

34. We can't become what we need to be by remaining what we are.

35. What I know for sure is that what you give comes back to you.

36. What we're all striving for is authenticity, a spirit-to-spirit connection.

37. Whatever you fear most has no power- it is your fear that has the power.

38. Where there is no struggle, there is no strength.

39. With every experience, you alone are painting your own canvas, thought by thought, choice by choice.

40. You are what you are by what you believe!

41. You can have it all you just can't have it all at one time.

42. More than a great star, you are a 20th century political figure. Your good works have touched all of us. - Phil Donahue after Oprah won the Lifetime Achievement Award

43. My va-jay-jay is painin'!

44. She actually is somebody who has the ability to move mountains and change minds.

45. Oprah is different. Oprah has an army out there that really listens. She's one of the great marketing machines in history.

46. So far, I don't see anything negative on this woman. I think she's a real icon. She's much more complex and complicated than just a talk show host. Maya Angelou has said she sees her as a true missionary. Everybody has a different take on Oprah.

47. She's -- her great strength, if anybody watches the show -- and I think everybody does in Iowa; it's the number one show in Iowa -- she's instructive. She's empowering. Every time you watch an Oprah broadcast, at the end of it, you know more than you started and you feel stronger. That's her strength.

48. You have to admire Oprah Winfrey. She is the most powerful woman in the country and comes from a very humble background. The woman has succeeded on talent and energy.

49. Walk through life eager and open to self-improvemen t and that which is going to best help you evolve, because that's really why we're here - to evolve as human beings.

50. I dont want anyone who doesnt want me..!!

51. You dont have a man, you need spaghetti.

52. Walk through life eager and open to self-improvemen t and that which is going to best help you evolve, because that's really why were here: to evolve as human beings.

53. When your life is on course with it’s purpose, you are your most powerful.

54. You don't have a man, you need spaghetti.

55. For everyone of us that succeeds, it's because there's somebody there to show you the way out.

56. I don't want anyone who doesn't want me.

57. “When your life is on course with its purpose, you are your most powerful”

58. “for everyone of us that succeeds, its because there's somebody there to show you the way out”

59. Keep a grateful journal. Every night, list five things that you are grateful for. What it will begin to do is change our perspective of your day and your life.

60. I want every day to be a fresh start on expanding what is possible.

61. We often block our own blessings because we don't feel inherently good enough or smart enough or pretty enough or worthy enough... You're worthy because you are born and because you are here. Your being here, your being alive makes worthiness your birthright. You alone are enough.

62. One if the hardest things in life to learn are which bridges to cross and which bridges to burn.

63. You really can change. Your reality is based on the way you think.

64. I had no idea that being your authentic self could make me as rich as I've become. If I had, I'd have done it a lot earlier.

65. Everybody has a story. And there's something to be learned from every experience.

66. Everybody has a calling. And your real job in life is to figure out as soon as possible what that is, who you were meant to be, and to begin to honor that in the best way possible for yourself.

67. I would say that during the time that I was 14 and pregnant - I didn't even know what pregnancy was when I got pregnant - I was trying to do everything I could to harm myself. I said to God, "God, if you want me to die, then you're going to have to kill me".

68. To kick things off, [television show host Andy Cohen] asked the last time Winfrey had smoked marijuana. 'Uh ... 1982,' Winfrey replied. 'Let's hang out after the show,' Cohen joked. 'Okay,' Winfrey laughed. 'I hear it's gotten better.'