Top 120 Lauren Graham Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “In my experience, there’s no secret to accomplishing almost any goal worth pursuing.”

— Lauren Graham

52. “The parts for women, you’re either like the quietly suffering wife or the wild girl.”

— Lauren Graham

53. “Once again, I’ve been thwarted by the massive difference between my vision of the successful me and the me I’m currently stuck with.”

— Lauren Graham

54. “But the next generation, like this baby in the airport, will never know what life is like without a device. This raises a couple of questions: What does the future hold for this baby? And can she beat me at Candy Crush?”

— Lauren Graham

55. “Some people think my father was a spy, because of working for that government agency in Vietnam, but he can’t find his car keys, much less keep a national secret.”

— Lauren Graham

56. “The Chosen Butts became an instant club of sorts. We tried our best to be professional and not act overly excited, but it was clear we were bonded because of our excellent butts I mean acting ability.”

— Lauren Graham

57. “Because here’s the thing: I was fine on my own, and so are you. But it can be hard when you feel ready for Happy Couplehood and you seem to have missed the train. As my friend Oliver Platt used to say to me about hopes and dreams I’d share with him: “It’s coming, just not on your time frame.” I find this a helpful reminder in any number of ways: not only when you’re hoping to meet someone, but also when you’re waiting for a better job or for some relief during a bleak time.”

— Lauren Graham

58. “I take the no-doughnut pledge, and then I break it.”

— Lauren Graham

59. “I’ve made out more this season on a family-friendly show than ever in my actual life.”

— Lauren Graham

60. “Treat everyday like you’re starring in it.”

— Lauren Graham

61. “I would like to be part of a family, however that looks. Family is really important to me.”

— Lauren Graham

62. “The lens feels like another person in the room, a person who never speaks or smiles, who only stares without blinking, never looking away.”

— Lauren Graham

63. “None of my characters have really had jobs.”

— Lauren Graham

64. “I guess what I’m saying is, let’s keep lifting each other up. It’s not lost on me that two of the biggest opportunities I’ve had to break into the next level were given to me by successful women in positions of power. If I’m ever in that position and you ask me, “Who?” I’ll do my best to say, “You” too. But in order to get there, you may have to break down the walls of whatever it is that’s holding you back first. Ignore the doubt – it’s not your friend – and just keep going, keep going, keep going.”

— Lauren Graham

65. “These days I have to be extra nice in stores. It never fails that whenever I look as bad as I can possibly look or I am sort of cranky because the store is out of something, that is precisely the time when someone one will recognize me and say: ‘I really like your show.’”

— Lauren Graham

66. “Eventually I learned that, in the beginning at least, it was better for me to be finished than to try to be perfect. I had to get out of my own way.”

— Lauren Graham

67. “I’m nice, and I show up on time.”

— Lauren Graham

68. “It’s what can happen when you make the decision to let go of criticism and worry and fear.”

— Lauren Graham

69. “It’s an accomplishment to do something well, but maybe even a bigger one to do something well when you’d really rather not be doing it at all.”

— Lauren Graham

70. “I have to introduce the part of me that feels like a winner to the part of me convinced I’m a loser, and see if they can’t agree to exist somewhere closer to the middle.”

— Lauren Graham

71. “I just don’t know that a TV show demands a movie ending.”

— Lauren Graham

72. “Well, it’s more of a sane life to be part of an ensemble! I find that the work can be more specific too and I have to really make sure I know where I am in the story because I’m not in every scene.”

— Lauren Graham

73. “I must not seek approval from absolutely everyone, or anyone really.”

— Lauren Graham

74. “Actors should ACT. Not sell perfume, or write cookbooks.”

— Lauren Graham

75. “While I very much wanted to be in a relationship, I didn’t want to be in the wrong one.”

— Lauren Graham

76. “I think what my hope is is that the only downside of having a steady job on television is, I think for all actors, there’s a piece, there’s some adrenaline, and part of the love of the job is not knowing what’s coming next, and the variety.”

— Lauren Graham

77. “Sometimes the idea of doing something is the most fun part, and after you go through with it, you feel deflated because you realize you’re back to looking for the next thrill.”

— Lauren Graham

78. “I didn’t grow up identifying with beauty. I grew up thinking I could be smart and funny – those are the things I got feedback on.”

— Lauren Graham

79. “Because who wants to Fast Forward anyway? You might miss some of the good parts.”

— Lauren Graham

80. “Satisfaction is not found in the big achievements. It’s not in winning. Starring has nothing to do with how big your part is – it’s a state of mind.”

— Lauren Graham

81. “Today, I would pick the person who made me feel warm, rather than the one who left me cold.”

— Lauren Graham

82. “The best you can hope for is a great collaborator.”

— Lauren Graham

83. “Because here’s the thing: I was fine on my own, and so are you.”

— Lauren Graham

84. “I still find that, in general, having a plan is, well, a good plan. But when my carefully laid plan laughed at me, rather than clutch at it too tightly I just made a new one, even if it was one that didn’t immediately make sense. In blindly trying a different path, I accidentally found one that worked better. So don’t let your plan have the last laugh, but laugh last when your plan laughs, and when your plan has the last laugh, laugh back, laughing!”

— Lauren Graham

85. “Keep finding the JOY in what you’re doing, especially when the joy is not finding you.”

— Lauren Graham

86. “Starring has nothing to do with how big your part is – it’s a state of mind.”

— Lauren Graham

87. “I’ve dated people who I thought were going to be a big deal in my life, and I’ve also spent long periods by myself.”

— Lauren Graham

88. “As my friend Oliver Platt used to say to me about hopes and dreams I’d share with him: ‘It’s coming, just not on your time frame.”

— Lauren Graham

89. “All TV shows are basically part of the same storyline.”

— Lauren Graham

90. “Just keep filling up the pages.”

— Lauren Graham

91. “Every bit of advice below was actually given to me by a fancy person, or someone who knows a fancy person and the methods they use to stay fancy.”

— Lauren Graham

92. “If I had a normal job and had been moving up, I’d be management level now.”

— Lauren Graham

93. “I’d pay more just to hear proper English and have everyone keep their clothes on.”

— Lauren Graham

94. “You want the story to end when it’s supposed to and not be squeezed for somebody’s financial gain.”

— Lauren Graham

95. “In this book, I will also see into the future and report my findings to you and to select heads of state. These findings will be lies, as I cannot actually see into the future, but who can stop me saying whatever I want here? It’s my book! I’m drunk with power!”

— Lauren Graham

96. “Of all the lists I’ve made of goals, and all the visions I’ve had, it never before occurred to me that I could be this specific, that I could aspire to a goal actually measurable in inches. I wonder if this is how successful people do it. I wonder if the difference between success and failure could more accurately be described in the waist sizes for jeans.”

— Lauren Graham

97. “Good news! My accountant has just informed me that by imparting all these Top-Secret Hollywood Secrets to you, I’ve now saved you at least one zillion American dollars!”

— Lauren Graham

98. “Most of the streets in Manhattan go in just one direction. Some of the larger crosstown streets and some of the major north – south avenues have two-way traffic, but in general, the odd-numbered streets go west, toward the Hudson River, and the “evens go east,” as Jane, the native New Yorker, taught me.”

— Lauren Graham

99. “I love TV. I think I’d do a half-hour single-camera comedy.”

— Lauren Graham

100. “I think living in a beautiful space is important, since actors are artists after all, and we’re therefore more acutely affected by everything around us. Poorly chosen objects are distractions, obstacles we put in the way when we’re afraid of telling the truth.”

— Lauren Graham