Memorable quotes and notes I jotted from Natalie Portman’s Commencement Speech:
- Prizes serve as false idols everywhere. Power, prestige, wealth, fame.
- Achievement is wonderful when you know why you’re doing it, and when you don’t know, it can be a terrible trap.
- Don’t describe the way the light hits the flower, but rather the shadow that the flower casts.
- In reference to a sushi restaurant in Tokyo, ‘Do one thing well & beautifully. And it’s not about the quantity, it’s about taking pleasure in the perfection and beauty of the task at hand’.
- When you face hardship and critics, persist in what you’re doing. Those initial reactions could be false predictors of your work’s legacy. Instead, find meaning in the experience of what you’re doing & connecting with individuals.
- Own your meaning by knowing why it is you do what you do, not letting it be determined by others.
- Sometimes you have to be ignorant of your weaknesses and limitations, so you can have confidence to do the things you’re afraid of. Dive into your own obliviousness and be more confident than you should be. It can be a good thing if it makes you try things you never might have tried. Your inexperience is an asset and will allow you to think in original, unconventional ways. As we get older, we become more realistic and less imaginative. Compose freely while your mind is not as cluttered. Set your own path and do things your own way. Each time you set out to do something new, your inexperience can either lead you down a path where you will confirm to someone else’s values, or you can forge your own path. If your reasons are your own, your path, even if it is a strange and clumsy path, will be wholly yours. And you will control the rewards of what you do by making your internal life fulfilling.
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