I started out to be a person on the street, just like everybody else. I didn't start out to be a singer. But I got sort of swept up in this singing thing, and after I got involved in it it got really important to me if I was good or not.
Interpretation
Janis Joplin reflects on her unexpected journey to stardom and the importance of self-improvement.
In this quote, Janis Joplin shares her humble beginnings and how her passion for singing evolved from a casual interest into a significant part of her identity. It illustrates the idea that success can often come unexpectedly and how one's dedication to mastery can become a central pursuit in life.
In practice
In a motivational speech to students about pursuing their dreams and passions.
I gotta go on doin' it the way I see it...I got no choice but to take it like I see it. I'm here to have a party while I'm on this earth...I'm gettin' it now, today. I don't even know where I'm gonna be twenty years from now, so I'm just gonna keep on rockin', cause if I start saving up bits and pieces of me...man, there ain't gonna be nothing left for Janis.
When I sing, I feel like when you're first in love. It's more than sex. It's that point two people can get to they call love, when you really touch someone for the first time, but it's gigantic, multiplied by the whole audience. I feel chills.
Like most girls I'm always really self-conscious about do I look fat, if my legs are short, if I'm weird shaped, but when I go on stage, man, it never occurs to me. I think I look beautiful.
I won't quit to become someone's old lady.
Audiences like their blues singers to be miserable.
You can feel all things at once, so why not wear all things at once?
The reason I was successful in launching my first book with bloggers is this: I assumed that I should spend as much time on a blogger with a million-person readership as I would pitching an editor of a publication with a million person subscription-base.
Discount the obvious, bet on the unexpected
My head's not in the clouds, but I think I've gotten too much credit for being an astute businessman.
We don't get paid for activity, just for being right. As to how long we'll wait, we'll wait indefinitely.
When you're in championships, it's never about what you do. It's always about what other people do.
A man attains greatness by his merits, not simply by occupying an exalted seat. Can we call a crow an eagle (garuda) simply because he sits on the top of a tall building.
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