Top 121 Quotes & Sayings by Tig Notaro - Page 2

The hardest lesson to learn always is to just have faith in that you will always have something to say or a story to tell. I have faith that I'll be able to continue to tell stories, write and tell stories. You just need to keep going at it.

Even losing my mother, I wanted my mother. That's who you want instinctually when you're having a hard time.

It's a weird place to be in because my dreams in life have surpassed what I could have ever imagined. I just hope I can continue to write stand-up, but I would say my big dream is to build an amazing family. It's so boring and cheesy, but that's my focus.

It's important that when you do standup, you do small places like coffee shops and also big places like colleges. It helps you find the little nuances in your set that don't work, and you can shave off the excess.

My favorite thing to wear from about first to third grade was a blue t-shirt with an iron-on monkey and the caption 'Here Comes Trouble.'

Stephanie and I got married publicly on the beach, in front of friends and family, and the local police shut down the highway for us to cross the street back to my cousin's house. Cars backed up for miles, and everybody in town cheered.

I never really consider myself an awkward person, but once I got into stand-up, I kept hearing that word. The only thing I can trace it back to is that my mom had a similar sensibility. She always made people uncomfortable.

There's definitely been moments in my life, even recently, where I've taken chances or spoken up about something where I don't know how it's gonna go, but it is true, or it is my truth. That's kind of that trusting life.

I just absolutely adore Denver and the Boulder area. Having lived there several times, it feels like home to me.

I don't personally feel like I've dealt with any sort of discrimination or sexism. I'm not doubting that there might have been that going on and I just didn't read it that way.

If someone doesn't want me working their club, they're not going to hear from me again. I'm not going to fight or complain about it. I'd rather go someplace else.

In the past, I played in bands, worked at coffee shops, babysat, and worked as a production assistant.

I feel like I am the most hopeful person you could possibly meet.

It's not that I hate all of my material - I think it was good. I liked it. I just don't ever want to hear it.

People have responded to my stories so well. They come up after a show and say things like, 'Your album really helped me,' or 'I have stage four cancer. I'm terminally ill.' Somebody told me it gave them the courage to die.

I'm going to sound like an egomaniac, but I'm proud of so many things. I feel proud of my book, 'I'm Just A Person,' proud of my HBO special. I'm proud of a lot of things.

I try not to look at my old stuff or my new stuff, really. I'm not a fan.

Luckily, I don't think that I'm too famous. I can still live my life pretty comfortably. Fame has never really ever appealed to me. I think it's easy to see that it's not a great thing to have.

The funny response to 'One Mississippi' continues to be that people don't know what is true and what's fiction.

Maybe almost 20 years ago, I was like, 'God, I need to be more direct.' And I found times that I could practice it when it was maybe not my family or friends or co-workers. It's a quality that's rarely disliked.

I definitely still like writing one-liners, but I also think that I've changed a lot in that I've allowed myself freedom to grow.

I can't waste more time worrying unless something surfaces that should legitimately cause fear.

I've never tweeted. 'Funny or Die' started my Twitter account for me, and so I don't even have the password or anything like that. They started it, then they handed it off to other comics.

I've toured around the world. I've worked with men, women. I feel like I've been unusually lucky to have supportive friends around me, and I feel tremendously supportive about my peers. I can't wait to brag about how funny my friends are.

I've had an ongoing fantasy about being interviewed on, like, a '60 Minutes'-type show about this really inspiring woman that can do anything with a fake leg. And then the camera pans out, and I'm just holding a mannequin leg.

I was talking and playing pranks and skipping school, failing pretty much every class I took.

The ideal length of time for sex to last is the entire relationship, breaking only for snacks.

I'm the luckiest unlucky person.

As soon as I say I'm from Texas people say, "Oh, I'm sure the school was horrible" and they picture me wearing some barrel and suspenders and people are bucktoothed and ignoring me. But that's not the case. I just had zero interest. I wanted to finish my research in the woods or play guitar or go have a cigarette.

Everybody, male or female, needs to possess qualities that they expect others to uphold. Being aware of yourself and your actions allows you to assess your shortcomings in an honest way.

I really wanted to, but I just didn't understand how people became comedians. I kind of thought it was something you were born into. And so I wanted to be a veterinarian or an architect. I wanted to be in a band, and for some reason I could understand how you could be in a band because I had guitars and all my friends played music. Comedy was a secret want, but it wasn't anything I pursued.

I didn't just want to be the one who was always looking around at the weird family members. I wanted to make my mistakes.

I can't imagine just dusting my pants off and going about my life like, "Phew! I sure made it through a tough spot, now where am I headed?" I feel more of an obligation to be helpful.

I'm now a pretty good mix of my mother and my stepfather because I'm in general pretty mellow. I'm not hyper-emotional. But there's also this side of me - my mother was an artist and very funny and a dancer and very wild and into fashion. My stepfather traveled a lot, and I kind of took on a role of parenting my mother a lot of times, because she was pretty hard to handle. A bit of a pistol.

I talk about airplanes and things like that while my scars are on clear view.

When I announced I had cancer on stage, it was my brain leaping to that insane moment of, "There's no way I could start a show saying, 'Hi, I have cancer!'" And also for me to have these scars, and then think, "Oh my gosh, what if I did stand-up and not even acknowledge that my shirt was off, or that I have scars.

When I couldn't get ahold of cigarettes, I'd roll coffee grounds into typing paper and smoke that and then vomit.

In movies, you just see somebody close their eyes, and you go on to the next scene.

In chaotic situations, I feel like I can take a breath and look around and assess the situation and see the big picture. Going through the traumatic time that I did in my life, that's also given me even more of a breather in life to just be like, "I know everything's going to be fine. Even if this is the worst show in the world, no matter what happens, everything's going to be fine." It's an accumulation of things.

There's something a lot more self-conscious feeling when there's cameras coming in for close-ups. It makes you very aware.

My age makes all my wrinkles and gray hair make sense.

When anything huge happens to me, I always think, this isn't my moment, this is a moment.

I didn't know whether I'd be attractive to anybody.

Everything's happened to me. Nothing can happen to me now.

I didn't know what my fate was as far as being alive.

I was really into music. I started playing guitar also when I was nine. I wanted to be in the Beatles, even though John Lennon died the year I got a guitar and the Beatles broke up before I was born.

I'm always going to do whatever I think is funniest. If something's dark, I'll do it. If it's a sock puppet, if it's a stool, I'll do it.

I can't believe I'm breathing and happy and thriving.

I always wonder, aside from even my name, what if my parents never split up? What if my mother never died? It swirls in my head all the time.

I didn't have an interest in school at all and was getting in trouble all the time.

I think every person and place is interesting, and there's an interesting story behind every door.

I start crying when certain things come up, certain memories, certain feelings, and it's intense. But I think it's good for me - and therapeutic.

I love drama - I would say more than I even love comedy - but I like in One Mississippi that I can go from a very moving moment to a Willy Wonka tube up my ass. I like the silliness as much as I like drama.

It's not the child's responsibility to teach the parent who they are. It's the parent's responsibility to learn who the child is.

I think my brain just has a natural way of going to what would be the most insane thing, the least likely option.

When I got sick, it threw everything off course.

In standup, you don't have anything near you except a microphone.

I worked at restaurants and coffee shops and babysitting and just whatever I could do to make money.

I hold back parts of my life and experiences... I don't want to share anything just for the sake of sharing and exposing myself, but if something feels right and I feel inspired by the situations or moment I'll definitely share it. There are so many stories and experiences I have not shared, and I don't feel compelled to.

I am just at tragedy right now.