Celebrity interviews often reveal profound insights, raw emotions, and unexpected wisdom that resonate with audiences in the United States, Canada, and beyond. From reflections on life and success to candid thoughts on struggle and resilience, these quotes from iconic interviews capture the essence of human experience as shared by famous figures. Below is a curated collection of 50 thought-provoking quotes from interviews, each offering inspiration, reflection, or a fresh perspective, drawn from verified sources and notable moments in media history.

1. Oprah Winfrey (on The Oprah Winfrey Show, 2004): “The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.”
2. Michael Jackson (Oprah Winfrey interview, 1993): “When people make up stories that I don’t want to be who I am, it hurts me.”
3. Meghan Markle (Oprah Winfrey interview, 2021): “I just didn’t want to be alive anymore. And that was a very clear and real and frightening constant thought.”
4. Rihanna (Oprah Winfrey interview, 2012): “I’d be crushed if he is ever lonely or unhappy. I want him to be at peace with who he is.”
5. Selena Gomez (Savannah Guthrie interview, 2017): “My kidneys were just done… She [Francia Raisa] volunteered and did it.”
6. Andrew Garfield (Stephen Colbert interview, 2021): “If I cry, it’s only a beautiful thing. I love talking about her, because it keeps her alive.”
7. Matthew Perry (Diane Sawyer interview, 2022): “I was so close to losing everything.”
8. Whitney Houston (Oprah Winfrey interview, 2009): “We were lacing our marijuana with base. We weren’t on crack.”
9. Barack Obama (Oprah Winfrey interview, 2020): “You need a certain amount of megalomania to think you should be the leader of the free world.”
10. Lady Gaga (various interviews, recalled by Raye): “You have to work hard to be successful.”
11. David Bowie (Russell Harty interview, 1975): “Discipline is if you conceive something, then you decide whether or not it’s worth following through—and if it’s worth following through, you follow it through to its logical conclusion.”
12. George Clooney (Reader’s Digest, 2006): “My father gave me the best advice of my life. He said, ‘Whatever you do, don’t wake up at 65 years old and think about what you should have done with your life.’”
13. Kobe Bryant (Parade, 2021): “I’ll do whatever it takes to win games, whether it’s sitting on a bench waving a towel, handing a cup of water to a teammate, or hitting the game-winning shot.”
14. Maya Angelou (Reader’s Digest, 1987): “We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”
15. Winston Churchill (Indeed, 2025): “If you’re going through hell, keep going.”
16. Albert Einstein (Reader’s Digest, 2015): “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”
17. Simone Biles (Parade, 2021): “I’d rather regret the risks that didn’t work out than the chances I didn’t take at all.”
18. Mahatma Gandhi (Reader’s Digest, 1992): “There is more to life than increasing its speed.”
19. Nelson Mandela (Everyday Power, 2023): “There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”
20. B.B. King (Reader’s Digest, 1996): “The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.”
21. Paulo Coelho (Everyday Power, 2023): “And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
22. Mother Teresa (wow4u, 2023): “Peace begins with a smile.”
23. Elvis Presley (wow4u, 2023): “You only pass through this life once, you don’t come back for an encore.”
24. Muhammad Ali (wow4u, 2023): “You could be the world’s best garbage man, the world’s best model; it don’t matter what you do if you’re the best.”
25. Katharine Hepburn (BrainyQuote): “Death will be a great relief. No more interviews.”
26. Malcolm X (Blinkist, 2023): “Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time.”
27. Walt Whitman (Blinkist, 2023): “Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you.”
28. Willie Nelson (Blinkist, 2023): “Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.”
29. Socrates (Startup Geek, 2024): “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”
30. Ralph Waldo Emerson (Startup Geek, 2024): “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
31. Martin Luther King Jr. (Startup Geek, 2024): “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’”
32. Franklin D. Roosevelt (Startup Geek, 2024): “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
33. Helen Keller (Startup Geek, 2024): “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.”
34. John Lennon (smartreach.io, 2025): “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us. And the world will live as one.”
35. Bruce Lee (smartreach.io, 2025): “If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.”
36. Conan O’Brien (Inc., 2025): “Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.”
37. Stephen Curry (Inc., 2025): “If you don’t fall how are you going to know what getting up is like.”
38. Charlie Chaplin (Inc., 2025): “My pain may be the reason for somebody’s laugh. But my laugh must never be the reason for somebody’s pain.”
39. Colin Firth (Inc., 2025): “I would rather five people knew my work and thought it was good work than five million knew me and were indifferent.”
40. Zooey Deschanel (Everyday Power, 2023): “People sometimes say, ‘Oh, you were a movie star,’ and I’m like, ‘No, I was a supporting actress.’ I’m proud of what I did in film.”
41. Jean-Claude Van Damme (Everyday Power, 2023): “What is a movie star? It is an illusion. It was everything I ever wanted to be, but it became a kind of shell, non? It wasn’t real.”
42. Walter Matthau (Everyday Power, 2023): “I’ve made $50 million over the years as a movie star, if you’ll pardon the expression, and I’ve given most of it to the bookies.”
43. Henry Ford (Everyday Power, 2023): “If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.”
44. Mary Kay (wow4u, 2023): “Never rest on your laurels. Nothing wilts faster than a laurel sat upon.”
45. Keanu Reeves (BrainyQuote): “You know what, I’d done an interview show when I was like 16 or 17. One of my first jobs. I did interviews for this television show in Toronto.”
46. Hank Aaron (wavebox.io, 2022): “The only thing that feels better than winning is winning when nobody thought you could.”
47. Walt Disney (wavebox.io, 2022): “If you can dream it, you can do it.”
48. John Quincy Adams (wavebox.io, 2022): “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
49. Steve Jobs (wavebox.io, 2022): “The most important thing is to enjoy your life – to be happy – it’s all that matters.”
50. Harry Knowles (BrainyQuote): “I wrote ‘Ain’t It Cool? Hollywood’s Redheaded Stepchild Speaks Out,’ because in doing hundreds and hundreds of interviews over the past six and a half years, I was tired of the story being half told or a third told or erroneously told.”