Top 50 Maria Shriver Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “We’ve witnessed history in the making.”

— Maria Shriver

2. “Take off your armor; dare to be vulnerable, dare to unwrap yourself, and dare yourself to be yourself.”

— Maria Shriver

3. “Pausing allows you to take a beat to take a breath in your life. As everybody else is rushing around like a lunatic out there, I dare you to do the opposite.”

— Maria Shriver

4. “When the world is so complicated, the simple gift of friendship is within all of our hands.”

— Maria Shriver

5. “May today there be peace within May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith May you use those gifts that you have received and pass on the love that has been given to you May you be content knowing that you are a child of God Let this presence settle into your bones and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise, and love It is there for each and every one of us. – Saint Teresa of Avila.”

— Maria Shriver

6. “I stand on the shoulders of women who marched before me.”

— Maria Shriver

7. “My definition of success? Being the kind of woman that I would want to have as a friend.”

— Maria Shriver

8. “If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough.” – Oprah Winfrey.”

— Maria Shriver

9. “Part of what Special Olympics is trying to do is break down stereotypes that still exist for people. There is still a lot of fear.”

— Maria Shriver

10. “We all obsess about what we are doing and accomplishing. What if we let it go and simply made the way we live our lives our accomplishment?”

— Maria Shriver

11. “People think, ‘Oh my goodness! I have to do something really big.’ You don’t. Do what you love. There’s a great quote from a poet I use all the time: ‘Instead of asking what the world needs, ask yourself what you love,’ because what the world needs is more people doing what they love.”

— Maria Shriver

12. “Perfectionism doesn’t make you feel perfect. It makes you feel inadequate.”

— Maria Shriver

13. “It takes time to get to the top, and that’s good – because by the time you get there, you’ll have learned what you need to know in order to stay there.”

— Maria Shriver

14. “I myself am still learning how to be me and that’s OK. It can take a really long time to become the person you really want to be. Be who you are. It’s the greatest gift we can give to ourselves, our community and our world.”

— Maria Shriver

15. “Don’t wait until you are perfect to change the world.”

— Maria Shriver

16. “Never think that someone else knows what’s best for you. Trust your way and don’t ask for so much advice. Learn how to be quiet and still enough to hear your own voice. It’s up to you: Your voice will either be silenced or will get to roar.”

— Maria Shriver

17. “Having children-the responsibility of rearing good, kind, ethical, responsible human beings-is the biggest job anyone can embark on. You have to take a leap of faith and ask lots of people for their help and guidance.”

— Maria Shriver

18. “Investing in women, helping women to achieve their dreams, sending young girls to college. Trying to train young girls to be leaders. Sponsoring the Minerva Awards. All of these programs didn’t exist before that help women day in and day out.”

— Maria Shriver

19. “I was raised by a formidable woman. She always pushed me to be competitive in a man’s world. That’s maybe one of the attractions to journalism in the beginning. It was a male profession, and I was comfortable in that.”

— Maria Shriver

20. “In this day and age it’s really stupid to be stupid about financial matters. It doesn’t do you any good to make money if you don’t know what to do with it other than spend it.”

— Maria Shriver

21. “I was happy being a journalist. I didn’t realize losing my job, my identity went with it.”

— Maria Shriver

22. “As Steve Jobs pointed out, life can either be limiting, safe, and secure or it can be wide open, creative, and sometimes scary.”

— Maria Shriver

23. “I liked that Larry King didn’t know who Minerva was.”

— Maria Shriver

24. “I’ve learned that asking ourselves not just what we want to be, but who we want to be is important at every stage of our lives, not just when we’re starting out in the world. That’s because in a way, we’re starting out fresh in the world every single day.”

— Maria Shriver

25. “God puts mentors in your path. They may not look like you, sound like you, or be what you expect. But they always know more that you.”

— Maria Shriver

26. “I think everybody has tragedy in their life. Everybody has hurdles in their life. Everybody has tough things to overcome. My kids say to me, ‘This isn’t fair.’ I said, ‘Life isn’t fair.’ Everybody has their issues. It’s how you handle your issues that distinguishes you.”

— Maria Shriver

27. “Having kids – the responsibility of rearing good, kind, ethical, responsible human beings – is the biggest job anyone can embark on.”

— Maria Shriver

28. “Whether that’s speaking up in your job or asking for a promotion or saying, ‘I think I can do that.’ Using your voice in ways that might initially scare you. That can be being an architect of change.”

— Maria Shriver

29. “I’m only asking you to stop every so often and turn off your mobile device, put down the Angry Birds and the Words with Friends and take a moment. Stop to look up and look around. Pause and check in with yourself – and spend a moment there.”

— Maria Shriver

30. “Our mothers give us so many gifts. They give us the precious gift of life, of course, but they also leave treasured lessons that can guide us along our journeys even when they are no longer with us.”

— Maria Shriver

31. “I don’t believe in gutter politics. I don’t believe in gutter journalism.”

— Maria Shriver

32. “Prayer is talking to God. Meditation is letting God talk to you.” – Yogi Bhajan.”

— Maria Shriver

33. “So many people don’t know who’s on the State Seal and they don’t know, not just in California but the United States of America, things they look at every day and they say, ‘Wow! I didn’t know that.’”

— Maria Shriver

34. “I don’t think you have to go out and become Secretary of State or be Bono but I think it’s to let people know that whatever they do in their life that that’s good.”

— Maria Shriver

35. “I like to make jokes; I consider myself a funny person. I just think making jokes about people who are in a situation beyond their control is not funny to them or their families.”

— Maria Shriver

36. “Make time in your life to listen to your own voice. Do not let it get drowned out by others. Your voice is yours and yours alone. Stay in touch with it and use it.”

— Maria Shriver

37. “You know those goals you’ve set for yourself, those dreams you’ve been waiting for the perfect time to live out? It’s time!”

— Maria Shriver

38. “I think that public service is tough on a family – no ifs, ands, buts about it. I have my own personal wishes, but they’re not always front and center.”

— Maria Shriver

39. “But I’ve learned that living in either the past or the future keeps me up in my head, out of reality, robbing me of the present.”

— Maria Shriver

40. “It takes courage to care. It takes passion to stand up for someone or something you believe in and care about.”

— Maria Shriver

41. “I like cookies, any cookie you put in front of me – animal cookies, sugar cookies, anything crunchy.”

— Maria Shriver

42. “The Shriver Report presents an accurate and detailed portrait of American women and families at this transformational moment in our history.”

— Maria Shriver

43. “I thought I had to show people that I would get in early, stay late or even all night, work on holidays. I didn’t want to be the rich kid who was along for a free ride.”

— Maria Shriver

44. “What we heard loud and clear is that the Battle Between the Sexes is over. It was a draw. Now we’re engaged in Negotiation Between the Sexes.”

— Maria Shriver

45. “We need this city to actually live up to its name-The City of Angels. We need to spread our wings. We need to show that we are more than red carpets, we are more than Hollywood, that we are a city ourselves of open arms. We are a city of generosity and compassion.”

— Maria Shriver

46. “I’m trying to get away from roles. I used to identify myself strictly in terms of my role, but when your roles fall away, part of you falls with them.”

— Maria Shriver

47. “Forgiveness is letting go of the need to feel like a victim. Work on it. You’ll lighten your load – the load of negativity you carry around.”

— Maria Shriver

48. “Poetry can startle you, awaken you, make you fall in love, take your breath away. When those words sink in, you’ll never look at your life or your journey the same way again.”

— Maria Shriver

49. “So, if you’re feeling down, confused, or shaken, read the Prayer of Saint Francis. If you’re feeling elated, vindicated, or boastful, read the Prayer of Saint Francis. It’s withstood the test of time, because it works.”

— Maria Shriver

50. “I see bright kids trapped in public schools that are just warehousing them. As an educator this makes me scared. As Secretary of State, this makes me terrified.”

— Maria Shriver