Sophia Amoruso

There are secret opportunities hidden inside every failure.

You combine hard work, creativity, and self-determination, and things start to happen.

The starting point of all achievement is desire.

What distinguishes us from one another is our dreams, and what we do to make them come about.

Be there for your kids. Later, when you need them, they’ll be there for you.

We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already. We have the power to imagine better.

Talent is formed in solitude, character in the bustle of the world.

Those who lose visualize the penalties of failure. Those who win visualize the rewards of success.

When I’m working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I think only how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.

Accountability breeds response-ability.

I’m a great believer in anything that makes you 1 percent better. So I try everything. Freudian. Jungian. Est. Life Spring. Course in Miracles. Twelve Steps. I have pain from time to time. I have joy from time to time.

There were no role models, there were no other people I knew who were dealing with the same issues that I was dealing with. I had no idea if this was a stage I was going through or not. But I go to the draft board in Brooklyn and I fill out the form and there was a question that said ‘Do you have homosexual tendencies?’ and I check yes. But where-ever I was on line I’d see people I went to high school with and I was afraid of anyone knowing this about me so I kept on falling back into line and falling back into line. If you said you had homosexual tendencies they sent you to a psychiatrist. He said ‘I see here you’ve checked the box?’ And I said ‘yup’. He said ‘So do you think you’d have a problem serving in the armed forces?’ I said well you know ‘So many men.’ And I was out of the service.

What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.

I read the paper every day and the Bible every day; that way I know what both sides are up to.

If my mind can conceive it, if my heart can believe it, then I can achieve it.

The most important investment you can make is in yourself.

I am convinced after more than 50 years in the field of motivation that anyone who wants to learn to look at life and/or their circumstances in a positive light can do so.