Mary McDonnell Quotes
It's phenomenally important to me that, if I'm going to be spending years on a project, I need to be interested in the whole thing. I'm not there to be on my own. And if I'm going to be with these people, I'd best be interested in their work.

Quotes to Explore
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I started auditioning but at times would feel depressed, as I would get shortlisted but never received the final call. Only when the commercials were released would I come to know that I was not selected.
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Simplicity is an acquired taste. Mankind, left free, instinctively complicates life.
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I don't think nostalgia has to be negative.
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The FHA literally drew up the redlining map and then basically distributed - I'm sorry, the Home Owners' Loan Corporation actually did it, and then distributed to banks who used that as policy to determine how they would lend and who they would lend to. The racism in the system was pervasive and total.
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Progress, real progress, makes me cry harder than anything. When the world itself grows.
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I'm very proud to be a woman - you're part of a tribe. Automatically, you feel connected to another woman when you meet them. That's really special.
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You've just got to sing, do some kind of singing every day. Early mornings and cold weather can mess with that. I drink special teas with cayenne pepper, but I think you're psyching yourself out, really.
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I'd always put on little shows at home, but when I was 11, I did a community event in Woodford, where anyone could go. You had three days of vocal training and performed your song at the end. I sang 'I Say a Little Prayer.' It's a tough song to sing but they gave me the confidence to go for it and belt it out.
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Victorious living does not mean freedom from temptation, nor does it mean freedom from mistakes.
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You can tell the difference between songs that were created in a garage and songs that were created in the studio.
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Anytime I'm involved with anything that's well-received, it's a surprise to me.
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I am obsessed with the whole Victoriana thing, the whole Jack the Ripper London era, the grayness of it, the haunted feeling of it, all ancient and bloody.
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My heart is mysteriously alive in the world of sounds - a totally different dimension from the daily life.
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At the end of the day, you can't have a vision; you have to have a hope. This is where the miracle comes in.
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I'm a big 'American Idol' watcher, and sometimes I like to watch 'America's Got Talent.' Those are big, corny admissions, but sometimes it's so fun to see those kids really sing their hearts out.
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I took all my wax studies and threw them in the fire... that's the way it is when something unpleasant happens to me. I take my hammer and I squash a figure.
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A lot of people I make music with are really talented and it doesn't stop at one instrument.
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Between Prince and my dad's fusion-jazz records, I didn't have a choice in being funky.
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My dad only ever talked about two things: bicycles and Mercedes.
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I was obsessed with the idea of going to college. And I took many years off after that, so I sort of missed the weird, crazy transition that was what making movies was in the nineties to what's happening now.
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Even if you can't afford to travel the world, you can take your children to the museum, zoo or local park. And don't be afraid to take them to grown-up spots. Eating out in a restaurant teaches children how to be quiet and polite and gives them the pleasure of knowing you trust them to behave.
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I realized that the world did not exist for my benefit. It followed that the ratio of pleasant and unpleasant things around me would not change. It wasn't up to me. It was clear that the best thing to do was to adopt a sort of muddled cheerfulness.
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Television is the same as the telephone, and the same as the World Wide Web for that matter. People who become obsessed by the peculiarities of these communications media have simply failed to adjust to the shock of the old. People who bleat on about the 'artistic' potential of television qua television are equally deluded.
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It's phenomenally important to me that, if I'm going to be spending years on a project, I need to be interested in the whole thing. I'm not there to be on my own. And if I'm going to be with these people, I'd best be interested in their work.