Oprah Winfrey Quotes

We have collected and put his best Oprah Winfrey Quotes in the following categories. Enjoy reading these insights and feel free to share this page on your social media to inspire others.

May these Oprah Winfrey quotes on life, love, success, and many more inspire you to never give up and keep working towards your goals. Who knows—success could be just around the corner.

Oprah Winfrey (born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, broadcast from Chicago, which was the highest-rated television program of its kind in history and ran in national syndication for 25 years, from 1986 to 2011. Dubbed the “Queen of All Media,” she was the richest African American of the 20th century was once the world’s only Black billionaire and the greatest Black philanthropist in U.S. history. 

Oprah Winfrey Quotes

Anything you can imagine, you can create. – Oprah Winfrey

As you become clearer about who you really are, you’ll be better able to decide what is best for you – the first time around. – Oprah Winfrey

Balance lives in the present. The surest way to lose your footing is to focus on what dreadful things might happen. – Oprah Winfrey

Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. – Oprah Winfrey

Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure. – Oprah Winfrey

Challenges are gifts that force us to search for a new center of gravity. Don’t fight them. Just find a new way to stand. – Oprah Winfrey

Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life, because you become what you believe. – Oprah Winfrey

Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. This is your moment. Own it. – Oprah Winfrey

Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. – Oprah Winfrey

Do what you have to do until you can do what you want to do. – Oprah Winfrey

Dogs are my favorite role models. I want to work like a dog, doing what I was born to do with joy and purpose. I want to play like a dog, with total, jolly abandon. I want to love like a dog, with unabashed devotion and complete lack of concern about what people do for a living, how much money they have, or how much they weigh. The fact that we still live with dogs, even when we don’t have to herd or hunt our dinner, gives me hope for humans and canines alike. – Oprah Winfrey

Don’t let people talk you into what they think is you. – Oprah Winfrey

Don’t settle for a relationship that won’t let you be yourself. – Oprah Winfrey

Education is the key to unlocking the world, a passport to freedom. – Oprah Winfrey

Even if you flippin’ fries at McDonald’s, if you are excellent, everybody wants to be in your line. – Oprah Winfrey

Every day, you’re only as good as your last show. – Oprah Winfrey

Every stumble is not a fall, and every fall does not mean failure. – Oprah Winfrey

Every time you suppress some part of yourself or allow others to play you small, you are in essence ignoring the owner’s manual your creator gave you and destroying your design. – Oprah Winfrey

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. – Oprah Winfrey

Everybody has a story. And there is something to be learned from every experience. – Oprah Winfrey

Everyone wants to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down. – Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey Quotes

Failure is a great teacher. If you’re open to it every mistake has a lesson to offer. – Oprah Winfrey

Follow your feelings. If it feels right, move forward. If it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. – Oprah Winfrey

Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different. – Oprah Winfrey

Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different, it’s accepting the past for what it was, and using this moment and this time to help yourself move forward. – Oprah Winfrey

I always feel that until you take your last breath, you’re always growing. – Oprah Winfrey

I am grateful for the blessings of wealth, but it hasn’t changed who I am. My feet are still on the ground. I’m just wearing better shoes. – Oprah Winfrey

I believe that one of life’s greatest risks is never daring to risk. – Oprah Winfrey

I don’t believe in failure. It is not failure if you enjoyed the process. – Oprah Winfrey

I don’t want anyone who doesn’t want me. – Oprah Winfrey

I feel that luck is preparation meeting opportunity. – Oprah Winfrey

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. – Oprah Winfrey

I have a lot of things to prove to myself. One is that I can live my life fearlessly. – Oprah Winfrey

I trust that everything happens for a reason, even if we are not wise enough to see it. – Oprah Winfrey

I want to love like a dog, with unabashed devotion and complete lack of concern about what people do for a living, how much money they have, or how much they weigh. – Oprah Winfrey

If a man wants you, nothing can keep him away. If he doesn’t want you, nothing can make him stay. – Oprah Winfrey

If friends disappoint you over and over, that’s in large part your own fault. – Oprah Winfrey

If you are sitting around waiting on somebody to save you, to fix you, to even help you, you are wasting your time because only you have the power to take responsibility to move your life forward. – Oprah Winfrey

If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough. – Oprah Winfrey

If you do the work that you love, and the work fulfills you, the rest will come. – Oprah Winfrey

If you don’t heal the wounds of your childhood, you bleed into the future. – Oprah Winfrey

If you neglect to recharge a battery, it dies. And if you run full speed ahead without stopping for water, you lose momentum to finish the race. – Oprah Winfrey

If you want to accomplish the goals of your life, you have to begin with the spirit. – Oprah Winfrey

If you want to feel good, you have to go out and do some good. – Oprah Winfrey

If you’re constantly pushing yourself higher, higher, the law of averages – not to mention the myth of Icarus – predicts that you will at some point fall. And when you do, I want you to know this, remember this: There is no such thing as failure. – Oprah Winfrey

It makes no difference how many peaks you reach if there was no pleasure in the climb. – Oprah Winfrey

Knowing your deepest intention can be your guiding force in the creation of a better life. – Oprah Winfrey

Learn from every mistake, because every experience, encounter, and particularly your mistakes are there to teach you and force you into being more of who you are. – Oprah Winfrey

Learn from every mistake, because every experience, particularly your mistakes, are there to teach you and force you into being more who you are. – Oprah Winfrey

Live your life in truth. Don’t pretend to be someone you’re not. – Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey Quotes

Meditate. Breathe consciously. Listen. Pay attention. Treasure every moment. Make the connection. – Oprah Winfrey

Money is worth nothing if it can’t buy you the opportunity to love more. – Oprah Winfrey

No experience is ever wasted. Everything has meaning. – Oprah Winfrey

Nobody’s journey is seamless or smooth. We all stumble. We all have setbacks. It’s just life’s way of saying ‘Time to change course.’ – Oprah Winfrey

Once someone has shown a tendency to be self-centered, you need to recognize that and take care of yourself; people aren’t going to change simply because you want them to. – Oprah Winfrey

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

Only make decisions that support your self-image, self-esteem, and self-worth. – Oprah Winfrey

Over the years, I’ve interviewed thousands of people, most of them women, and I would say that the root of every dysfunction I’ve ever encountered, every problem, has been some sense of a lacking of self-value or of self-worth. – Oprah Winfrey

Purpose is the thread that connects the dots to everything you do that leads you to an extraordinary life. – Oprah Winfrey

Self-esteem comes from being able to define the world in your own terms and refusing to abide by the judgments of others. – Oprah Winfrey

Some women have a weakness for shoes…I can go barefoot if necessary. I have a weakness for books. – Oprah Winfrey

Surround yourself only with people who are going to take you higher. – Oprah Winfrey

The best thing about dreams is that fleeting moment, when you are between asleep and awake, when you don’t know the difference between reality and fantasy, when for just that one moment you feel with your entire soul that the dream is reality, and it really happened. – Oprah Winfrey

The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal is, you can get there if you are willing to work. – Oprah Winfrey

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. – Oprah Winfrey

The big secret in life is there is no secret. Whatever your goal. You can get there if you’re willing to work. – Oprah Winfrey

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

The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude. – Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey Quotes

The miracle of your existence calls for celebration every day. – Oprah Winfrey

The next time you look into the mirror, try to let go of the story line that says you’re too fat or too sallow, too ashy or too old, your eyes are too small or your nose too big; just look into the mirror and see your face. – Oprah Winfrey

The only courage you will need is the courage to live the life you are meant to. – Oprah Winfrey

The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. – Oprah Winfrey

The reason I’ve been able to be so financially successful is my focus has never, ever for one minute been money. – Oprah Winfrey

The single greatest thing you can do to change your life today would be to start being grateful for what you have right now. – Oprah Winfrey

The thing you fear most has no power. Your fear of it is what has the power. Facing the truth really will set you free. – Oprah Winfrey

There is no greater gift you can give or receive than to honor your calling. It’s why you were born. And how you become most truly alive. – Oprah Winfrey

There is nothing more influential than your thoughts. – Oprah Winfrey

Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness. – Oprah Winfrey

This is a call to arms. A call to be gentle, to be forgiving, to be generous with yourself. – Oprah Winfrey

True forgiveness is when you can say, ‘Thank you for that experience’. – Oprah Winfrey

Turn your wounds into wisdom. – Oprah Winfrey

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

Use your life to serve the world, and you will find that is also serves you. – Oprah Winfrey

We are each responsible for our own life – no other person is or even can be. – Oprah Winfrey

We can’t become what we need to be by remaining what we are. – Oprah Winfrey

What God intended for you goes far beyond anything you can imagine. – Oprah Winfrey

What I know is, is that if you do work that you love, and the work fulfils you, the rest will come. – Oprah Winfrey

What material success does is provide you with the ability to concentrate on other things that really matter. And that is being able to make a difference, not only in your own life, but in other people’s lives. – Oprah Winfrey

Whatever has happened to you in your past has no power over this present moment, because life is now. – Oprah Winfrey

When the criticism drops away, what you will see then is just you, without judgment, and that is the first step toward transforming your experience of the world. – Oprah Winfrey

When you have done everything that you can do, surrender. Give yourself up the power and energy that is greater than yourself. – Oprah Winfrey

When you live with an open heart, unexpected, joyful things happen. – Oprah Winfrey

When you undervalue what you do, the world will undervalue who you are. – Oprah Winfrey

Where there is no struggle, there is no strength. – Oprah Winfrey

With age comes the understanding and appreciation of your most important asset, your health. – Oprah Winfrey

Worrying is wasted time. Use the same energy for doing something about whatever worries you. – Oprah Winfrey

You alone are enough. – Oprah Winfrey

You are responsible for the energy that you create for yourself, and you’re responsible for the energy that you bring to others. – Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey Quotes

You are responsible for your life. You can’t keep blaming somebody else for your dysfunction. Life is really about moving on. – Oprah Winfrey

You are responsible for your life… so, don’t wait for somebody else to fix you, to save you or complete you. Jerry McGuire was just a movie. No one completes you. – Oprah Winfrey

You are where you are in life because of what you believe is possible for yourself. – Oprah Winfrey

You are who you are at this moment because of everything that’s ever happened to you, everything that you carried forward for yourself. – Oprah Winfrey

You become what you believe, not what you think or what you want. – Oprah Winfrey

You can either see yourself as a wave in the ocean or you can see yourself as the ocean. – Oprah Winfrey

You can have it all. Just not all at once. – Oprah Winfrey

You can’t keep all of them. You can’t make everyone happy. – Oprah Winfrey

You can’t keep blaming somebody else for your dysfunction. Life is really about moving on. – Oprah Winfrey

You cannot hate other people without hating your self. – Oprah Winfrey

You define your own life. Don’t let other people write your script. – Oprah Winfrey

You don’t become what you want, you become what you believe. – Oprah Winfrey

You get in life what you have the courage to ask for. – Oprah Winfrey

You get to know who you really are in a crisis. – Oprah Winfrey

You have to find what sparks a light in you so that you in your own way can illuminate the world. – Oprah Winfrey

You know you reached a high level of integrity when you don’t even care if people know or not. You just do it. – Oprah Winfrey

You look at yourself and you accept yourself for who you are, and once you accept yourself for who you are you become a better person. – Oprah Winfrey

You will survive anything if you live your life from the point of view of truth. – Oprah Winfrey

Your journey begins with a choice to get up, step out and live fully. – Oprah Winfrey

Your true passion should feel like breathing; it’s that natural. – Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey Quotes

Choice

Be more splendid, more extraordinary. Use every moment to fill yourself up. – Oprah Winfrey

Follow your instincts. That’s where true wisdom manifests itself. – Oprah Winfrey

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

I believe that uncertainty is really my spirit’s way of whispering, I’m in flux. I can’t decide for you. Something is off-balance here. – Oprah Winfrey

I believe the choice to be excellent begins with aligning your thoughts and words with the intention to require more from yourself. – Oprah Winfrey

It’s much easier for me to make major life, multi-million dollar decisions, than it is to decide on a carpet for my front porch. That’s the truth. – Oprah Winfrey

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. – Oprah Winfrey

Understand that the right to choose your own path is a sacred privilege. Use it. Dwell in possibility. – Oprah Winfrey

With every experience, you alone are painting your own canvas, thought by thought, choice by choice. – Oprah Winfrey

Dreams, Destiny and Purpose

Before you agree to do anything that might add even the smallest amount of stress to your life, ask yourself: What is my truest intention? Give yourself time to let a yes resound within you. When it’s right, I guarantee that your entire body will feel it. – Oprah Winfrey

Excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism. – Oprah Winfrey

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. – Oprah Winfrey

I knew there was a way out. I knew there was another kind of life because I had read about it. I knew there were other places, and there was another way of being. – Oprah Winfrey

I know for sure that what we dwell on is who we become. – Oprah Winfrey

I trust that everything happens for a reason, even when we’re not wise enough to see it. – Oprah Winfrey

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. – Oprah Winfrey

Often we don’t even realize who we’re meant to be because we’re so busy trying to live out someone else’s ideas. But other people and their opinions hold no power in defining our destiny. – Oprah Winfrey

The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams. – Oprah Winfrey

The key to realizing a dream is to focus not on success but on significance — and then even the small steps and little victories along your path will take on greater meaning. – Oprah Winfrey

Use what you have to run toward your best – that’s how I now live my life. – Oprah Winfrey

You can have it all. You just can’t have it all at once. – Oprah Winfrey

Empowerment

Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure. – Oprah Winfrey

Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life, because you become what you believe. – Oprah Winfrey

Even people who believe they deserve to be happy and have nice things often don’t feel worthy once they have them. – Oprah Winfrey

I don’t want anyone who doesn’t want me. – Oprah Winfrey

I have a lot of things to prove to myself. One is that I can live my life fearlessly. – Oprah Winfrey

It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from. The ability to triumph begins with you – always. – Oprah Winfrey

My idea of heaven is a great big baked potato and someone to share it with. – Oprah Winfrey

Think like a queen. A queen if not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness. – Oprah Winfrey

With every experience, you alone are painting your own canvas, thought by thought, choice by choice. – Oprah Winfrey

You know you are on the road to success if you would do your job and not be paid for it. – Oprah Winfrey

Fear and Failure

Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. This is your moment. Own it. – Oprah Winfrey

Every one of us gets through the tough times because somebody is there, standing in the gap to close it for us. – Oprah Winfrey

I believe that one of life’s greatest risks is never daring to risk. – Oprah Winfrey

I don’t believe in failure. It is not failure if you enjoyed the process. – Oprah Winfrey

I don’t believe in failure. It’s not failure if you enjoy the process. – Oprah Winfrey

I have a lot of things to prove to myself. One is that I can live my life fearlessly. – Oprah Winfrey

It is confidence in our bodies, minds and spirits that allows us to keep looking for new adventures, new directions to grow in, and new lessons to learn – which is what life is all about. – Oprah Winfrey

So go ahead. Fall down. The world looks different from the ground. – Oprah Winfrey

The thing you fear most has no power. Your fear of it is what has the power. Facing the truth really will set you free. – Oprah Winfrey

Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another steppingstone to greatness. – Oprah Winfrey

When people show you who they are … believe them! – Oprah Winfrey

You can take from every experience what it has to offer you. And you cannot be defeated if you just keep taking one breath followed by another. – Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey Quotes

Giving and Gratitude

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. – Oprah Winfrey

I don’t think you ever stop giving. I really don’t. I think it’s an on-going process. And it’s not just about being able to write a check. It’s being able to touch somebody’s life. – Oprah Winfrey

I finally realized that being grateful to my body was key to giving more love to myself. – Oprah Winfrey

Living in the moment brings you a sense of reverence for all of life’s blessings. – Oprah Winfrey

The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate. – Oprah Winfrey

What I know for sure is that what you give comes back to you. – Oprah Winfrey

Growth

Challenges are gifts that force us to search for a new center of gravity. Don’t fight them. Just find a different way to stand. – Oprah Winfrey

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. – Oprah Winfrey

Getting my lifelong weight struggle under control has come from a process of treating myself as well as I treat others in every way.

The whole point of being alive is to evolve into the complete person you were intended to be. – Oprah Winfrey

You are built not to shrink down to less but to blossom into more. – Oprah Winfrey

Identity and Individuality

All these years I’ve been feeling like I was growing into myself. Finally, I feel grown. – Oprah Winfrey

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 – Oprah Winfrey

Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother. – Oprah Winfrey

I always knew I was destined for greatness. – Oprah Winfrey

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. – Oprah Winfrey

I still have my feet on the ground, I just wear better shoes. – Oprah Winfrey

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. – Oprah Winfrey

If you come to fame not understanding who you are, it will define who you are. – Oprah Winfrey

In every aspect of our lives, we are always asking ourselves, How am I of value? What is my worth? Yet I believe that worthiness is our birthright.

Let your light shine. Shine within you so that it can shine on someone else. Let your light shine. – Oprah Winfrey

Partake of some of life’s sweet pleasures. And yes, get comfortable with yourself. – Oprah Winfrey

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. – Oprah Winfrey

What we’re all striving for is authenticity, a spirit-to-spirit connection. – Oprah Winfrey

Love and Life

Love somebody. Just one person. And then spread that to two. And as many as you can. You’ll see the difference it makes. – Oprah Winfrey

It all boils down to one thing…it is your ‘relationship’ to the source, and that relationship to that which we call God, or don’t call God, or don’t even know…is God. – Oprah Winfrey

It is ALL that really matters…when you surrender, and stop resisting, and stop trying to change that which you cannot change, but be in the moment, be fully open to the blessings you have already received, and those that are yet to come to you, and stand in that space of gratitude, and honor, and claim that for yourself, and look at where you are, and how far you have come, and what you’ve gotten, and what you’ve accomplished, and who you are. – Oprah Winfrey

When you can claim ‘that’, and see that, the literal vibration of your life will change. The vibration of your life will change – Oprah Winfrey

I was once afraid of people saying, Who does she think she is? Now I have the courage to stand and say, This is who I am. – Oprah Winfrey

Books were my pass to personal freedom. I learned to read at age three, and there discovered was a whole world to conquer that went beyond our farm in Mississippi. – Oprah Winfrey

You’ve got to follow your passion. You’ve got to figure out what it is you love–who you really are. And have the courage to do that. I believe that the only courage anybody ever needs is the courage to follow your own dreams. – Oprah Winfrey

Beginning when we are girls, most of us are taught to deflect praise. We apologize for our accomplishments. We try to level the field with our family and friends by downplaying our brilliance. We settle for the passenger’s seat when we long to drive. That’s why so many of us have been willing to hide our light as adults. Instead of being filled with all the passion and purpose that enable us to offer our best to the world, we empty ourselves in an effort to silence our critics. The truth is that the naysayers in your life can never be fully satisfied. Whether you hide or shine, they’ll always feel threatened because they don’t believe they are enough. So stop paying attention to them. Every time you suppress some part of yourself or allow others to play you small, you are ignoring the owner’s manual your Creator gave you. What I know for sure is this: You are built not to shrink down to less but to blossom into more. To be more splendid. To be more extraordinary. To use every moment to fill yourself up. – Oprah WinfreyWhat I Know For Sure

I would like to thank the people who’ve brought me those dark moments, when I felt most wounded, betrayed. You have been my greatest teachers. – Oprah Winfrey

Wherever you are in your journey, I hope you, too, will keep encountering challenges. It is a blessing to be able to survive them, to be able to keep putting one foot in front of the other—to be in a position to make the climb up life’s mountain, knowing that the summit still lies ahead. And every experience is a valuable teacher. – Oprah Winfrey

Forgiveness is letting go of the hope that the past can be changed. – Oprah Winfrey

The greatest lesson of life is that you are responsible for your life. – Oprah Winfrey

When you make loving others the story of your life, there’s never a final chapter, because the legacy continues. You lend your light to one person, and he or she shines it on another and another and another.And I know for sure that in the final analysis of our lives- when the to-do lists are no more, when the frenzy is finished, when our e-mail inboxes are empty- the only thing that will have any lasting value is whether we’ve loved others and whether they’ve loved us. – Oprah Winfrey

When the talk about my troubles was loudest, I did the thing I’ve always spoken of most . I got still and listened for the answer to What is this here to teach me? The answer, first and foremost? Lay your ego down. Step out of your ego so you can recognize the truth. As soon as I did that, I was able to see the role I had played in creating my circumstances, without blaming other people. And — bingo! — I realized that all the noise about my struggle was a reflection of my personal angst and fear. – Oprah Winfrey

Opportunity and Possibility

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right. – Oprah Winfrey

Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment. – Oprah Winfrey

Every day brings a chance for you to draw in a breath, kick off your shoes, and dance. – Oprah Winfrey

Every time you state what you want or believe, you’re the first to hear it. It’s a message to both you and others about what you think is possible. Don’t put a ceiling on yourself. – Oprah Winfrey

If you want your life to be more rewarding, you have to change the way you think. – Oprah Winfrey

When I look into the future, it’s so bright it burns my eyes. – Oprah Winfrey

Passion and Energy

Energy is the essence of life. Every day you decide how you’re going to use it by knowing what you want and what it takes to reach that goal, and by maintaining focus. – Oprah Winfrey

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

If you neglect to recharge a battery, it dies. And if you run full speed ahead without stopping for water, you lose momentum to finish the race. – Oprah Winfrey

Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you. – Oprah Winfrey

Relationships

I think that when you invite people to your home, you invite them to yourself. – Oprah Winfrey

Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down. – Oprah Winfrey

My idea of heaven is a great big baked potato and someone to share it with. – Oprah Winfrey

Surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you higher. – Oprah Winfrey

When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. – Oprah Winfrey

Self Esteem, and Self Love

Love yourself and all the world to love you too! – Oprah Winfrey

Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different. – Oprah Winfrey

I’ve come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that’s as unique as a fingerprint – and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you. ― Oprah Winfrey

If a man wants you, nothing can keep him away. If he doesn’t want you, nothing can make him stay. ― Oprah Winfrey

It makes no difference how many peaks you reach if there was no pleasure in the climb. – Oprah Winfrey

One of the hardest things in life to learn are which bridges to cross and which bridges to burn. ― Oprah Winfrey

Only make decisions that support your self-image, self-esteem, and self-worth. – Oprah Winfrey

Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.― Oprah Winfrey

Self-esteem comes from being able to define the world in your own terms and refusing to abide by the judgments of others. ― Oprah Winfrey

Turn your wounds into wisdom. ― Oprah Winfrey

When you undervalue what you do, the world will undervalue who you are. ― Oprah Winfrey

You are where you are in life because of what you believe is possible for yourself. – Oprah Winfrey

You can have it all. Just not all at once. ― Oprah Winfrey

You don’t become what you want, you become what you believe. ― Oprah Winfrey

Success

Don’t worry about being successful, but work toward being significant and the success will naturally follow. – Oprah Winfrey

The key to realizing a dream is to focus not on success but significance. – Oprah Winfrey

What I know for sure is that if you want success, you can’t make success your goal. The key is not to worry about being successful, but to instead work toward being significant, and the success will naturally follow. – Oprah Winfrey

You know you are on the road to success if you would do your job, and not be paid for it. – Oprah Winfrey

For every one of us that succeeds, it’s because there’s somebody there to show you the way out. – Oprah Winfrey

I feel that luck is preparation meeting opportunity. – Oprah Winfrey

If you want to accomplish the goals of your life, you have to begin with the spirit. – Oprah Winfrey

I’ve learned that you can’t have everything and do everything at the same time. – Oprah Winfrey

Mr. Right is coming, but he’s in Africa and he’s walking. – Oprah Winfrey

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. – Oprah Winfrey

There’s no easy way out. If there were, I would have bought it. And believe me, it would be one of my favorite things! – Oprah Winfrey

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

What material success does is provide you with the ability to concentrate on other things that really matter. And that is being able to make a difference, not only in your own life, but in other people’s lives. – Oprah Winfrey

Your calling isn’t something that somebody can tell you about. It’s what you feel. It is the thing that gives you juice. The thing that you are supposed to do. And nobody can tell you what that is. You know it inside yourself. – Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey Quotes

Quote From Wikiquote

  • I’ve been stopped cold from eating another burger!
    • Reacting to guest Howard Lyman’s belief that American cattle are at risk for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (“mad cow disease”), “Dangerous Food”, The Oprah Winfrey Show (11 April 1996)
  • My reaction is that free speech not only lives, it rocks!
    • On being acquitted of violating Texas’ food libel laws in Texas Beef Group v. Winfrey over her “Dangerous Food” episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show (11 April 1996), as quoted in “Oprah: ‘Free speech rocks’ ” in CNN (26 February 1998)
  • I will continue to use my voice. I believed from the beginning that [the lawsuit] was an attempt to muzzle my voice, and I come from a people who have struggled and died in order to have a voice in this country. And I refused to be muzzled.
    • “Oprah: ‘Free speech rocks’ ” in CNN (26 February 1998)
  • I’m still off hamburgers.
    • “Oprah: ‘Free speech rocks’ ” in CNN (26 February 1998)
  • I never think about what I want. It’s about what you want to give to other people.
    • As quoted in The Money Adventure (1998) by Egbert Sukop, p. 128
  • It felt like a new day.
    • After Barack Obama’s 2004 speech at the Democratic convention, as quoted in “Man of the Moment” at Oprah.com (19 January 2005)
  • 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?
    • About her friend Gayle King, in “Oprah: Gayle and I Are Not Gay” in People (16 July 2006)
  • 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.
    • O Magazine (January 2007), pages 160 & 217
  • I think that, uh, you know, I’m really happy that the message, or at least some of the message of The Secret is reaching mass consciousness in a way that people realize that they can begin to, uh, positively affect their lives. That’s why when I was on the show and said “I’ve lived this way my whole life”, and people who watched our show for years know that I’ve been talking about how you take responsibility for your life and the choices that you make. Empower your life. And so, when I say that, you know, um, that’s how I live my life, the message of The Secret, that’s what I mean. I also believe, that, uh, medical healing or healing comes in lots of forms. You know that adage about the guy being lost and God sent him a boat and God sent him — then he gets to heaven and says “Why didn’t you help me?” And God’s, “I sent you the boat, fool!” So, that’s the way I look at medical healing.
    • To Kim Tinkham, who wrote Oprah that she watched her show about The Secret, was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer, and decided to heal herself instead of a mastectomy and chemotherapy that four doctors told her she urgently needed, on The Oprah Winfrey Show (March 2007) · YouTube video
  • 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.
    • Oprah’s commencement speech at Howard University (12 May 2007)
  • You want motivation? You still don’t understand what our children are up against? Let me read you something that was posted on our message boards from someone who claims to be a member of a known pedophile network. He said this: he doesn’t forgive, he does not forget, his group has over nine thousand penises and they’re all raping children. So, I want you to know: they’re organized, and they have systematic ways of hurting children and they use the internet to do it. These are the predators that are molesting and raping our children. They’re trading the photos and videos online, and I want to stress again: this is not about politics, it’s about giving the dedicated men and women of law enforcement who are trying to catch these predators the resources they need.
    • 2008, in Oprah Winfrey Show
  • All the energy that you spend, trying to hurt somebody else, that energy will turn around and slap you in the face. The same thing is true, Love, what I know is that the energy that put out everyday with the best of intentions that it would reach you where you really live in heart of yourself has come back to me from all of you in full force. So that what we’ve learnt on this show; You are responsible for your life and when you get that, everything changes, my friends. So don’t wait for somebody else to fix you, to save you or complete you…
    • Oprah Winfrey Show Finale” in CBS (25 May 2011)
  • People often ask me: “What is the secret to the success of the show?” “How it lasted 25 years?” I none jokingly say: “My team and Jesus”, because nothing but the Hand of God has made this possible for me. For all of you who get railed up when I mentioned God and you wanna know which God am I talking about, I am talking about the same one you talk about, I am talking about the Alpha and Omega, the Omniscience, the Unprecedented, the Ultimate Consciousness, the Source, the Force, the all of everything that is, The One and Only G-O-D, that’s what I am talking about…
    • Oprah Winfrey Show Finale” in CBS (25 May 2011)
  • Well, I don’t call you an atheist then. I think if you believe in the awe and the wonder and the mystery, then that is what God is. That is what God is, not the bearded guy in the sky.
    • Super Soul Sunday, OWN, 13 October 2013, quoted in David Niose (15 October 2013), “Why Oprah’s Anti-Atheist Bias Hurts So Much”, Psychology Today
    • in response to endurance swimmer Diana Nyad saying she can “weep with the beauty of this universe and be moved by all of humanity”.
  • I feel like my soul is aching for the country. … There’s not a day that goes by where I’m not putting on my shoes, or brushing my teeth, where I just think about the ordinariness of, people who just went to a concert, or the ordinariness of the day from people from 9/11, who were just doing an ordinary thing, and then you never get home. … So, I would say that these days of crisis and tragedy are to remind us all to be present in the ordinariness of our lives, that actually turns out to be extraordinary, when the person you love doesn’t come home at night.
    I pay attention to things, you know? … This is to make us all more awakened about our own life, and the fact that it shows up this way is a horror. But, as I heard someone say, seeing people coming together, helping each other — whether it’s this crisis we’re in or what we saw weeks ago in, in Houston, in Florida, and now in Puerto Rico — it shows the humanity of us all. So, it’s an opportunity to show the best of ourselves, when the worst shows up.

    • Interview on Entertainment Tonight, as quoted in “Oprah Winfrey Offers Words of Wisdom in Wake of Deadly Las Vegas Shooting”, KTVB (2 October 2017)
  • I would say, we can’t allow ourselves to be frightened into not living our lives, and I think that we have to keep going and we have to keep going with the faith that thing will get better … And things will get better when we make them better.
    • Interview on Entertainment Tonight, as quoted in “Oprah Winfrey Offers Words of Wisdom in Wake of Deadly Las Vegas Shooting”, KTVB (2 October 2017)

CNN interview

  • I know where my lane is, and I know how to stay in my lane. My lane is evolving the consciousness of people.
  • The thing that I do best is “Be Here. Be Now”.

Quotes about Winfrey

  • She actually is somebody who has the ability to move mountains and change minds.
    • CNN correspondent Dana Bash, as quoted in “On Reliable Sources, Cullum claimed questions about where Obama’s “religion lies, where his loyalty lies” could “backfire on Oprah””, Media Matters for America, 3 December 2007, retrieved on 2011-02-23
  • Oprah is different. Oprah has an army out there that really listens. She’s one of the great marketing machines in history.
    • Howard Davidowitz, in “Obama and the ‘Oprah Effect’: can she sway voters?” at The Christian Science Monitor (10 December 2007)
  • 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.
    • Kitty Kelly, in From ‘Jackie Oh!’ to Oprah: Tell-All Queen Expands Her Empire The Washington Post (14 December 2006)
  • 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.
    • Chris Matthews, as quoted in Matthews described Obama as “almost Third World in his sort of presentation” at Media Matters (3 December 2007)
  • 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.
    • Bill O’Reilly, After repeated whining, O’Reilly — who won’t have “loathsome” “secular-progressives” on his show — to appear on Oprah at Media Matters (24 October 2006)
  • I am grateful for the contribution Oprah Winfrey has made to our country in regard to reading.

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