Marlee Quotes

What parent has it easy? I just never make the difficulty of it an obstacle. I just do it. ~ Marlee Matlin

Looking back now, thinking about that moment in the lights, with my heart pounding, Oscar in my hand, all I can say is I am grateful and humbled - still to this day. Next to marrying my husband and the birth of my children, it is one of the best days ever. ~ Marlee Matlin

I can't wait for him to visit me again. He's just so handsome, don't you think?" she asked.
I paused. "Yeah, he's cute."
"Come on, America! You have to have noticed those eyes and his voice..."
"Except when he laughs!" Just remembering Maxon's laugh had me grinning. It was cute but awkward. He pushed his breaths out, and then made a jagged noise when he inhaled, almost like another laugh in itself.
"Yes, okay, he does have a funny laugh, but it's cute."
"Sure, if you like the lovable sound of an asthma attack in your ear every time you tell a joke."
Marlee lost it and doubled over in laughter.
"All right, all right," she said, coming up for air. "You have to think there's something attractive about him."
I opened my mouth and shut it two or three times. I was tempted to take another jab at Maxon, but I didn't want Marlee to see him in a negative light. So I thought about it.
What was attractive about Maxon?
"Well, when he lets his guard down, he's okay. Like when he just talks without checking his words or you catch him just looking at something like...like he's really looking for the beauty in it."
Marlee smiled, and I knew she'd seen that in him, too.
"And I like that he seems genuinely involved when he's there, you know? Like even though he's got a country to run and a thousand things to do, it's like he forgets it all when he's with you. He just dedicates himself to what's right in front of him. I like that.
Kiera Cass

Every one of us is different in some way, but for those of us who are more different, we have to put more effort into convincing the less different that we can do the same thing they can, just differently. ~ Marlee Matlin

I'm a proud person who happens to be deaf. I don't want to change it. I don't want to wake up and suddenly say, 'Oh my God, I can hear.' That's not my dream. It's not my dream. I've been raised deaf. I'm used to the way I am. I don't want to change it. Why would I ever want to change? Because I'm used to this, I'm happy. ~ Marlee Matlin

I am writing my second novel for children for Simon and Schuster. ~ Marlee Matlin

As a kid, during the school year, my head was often buried in a textbook or Judy Blume book; the words and pictures were the perfect, barrier-free environment for me. ~ Marlee Matlin

Ha!" she exclaims as the music shifts. "Wait until tonight." "Marlee! ~ Kiera Cass

I love your hair!" Marlee gushed. "I wish I'd been born with red hair. It makes you look so alive. I hear that people with red hair have bed tempers. Is that true?
Despite my rotten day, Marlee's manner was so vivacious that my smile grew wider. "I don't think so. I mean, I can have a bad temper at times, but my sister is a redhead, and she's as sweet as can be. ~ Kiera Cass

When it comes down to it, it's about who you know, and who's a fan. It's about whether you're the right age, whether you're hot or not, whether the studio is into you or not. ~ Marlee Matlin

Freedom feels scary, feels too big and every time I think about what I might do I stop being able to think about anything. ~ Marlee Jane Ward

I live my life like everyone else; everyone has their own obstacles. Mine is deafness. ~ Marlee Matlin

We had a dog, Apples. He was 13 years old, toothless, blind and had the worst breath this side of Jabba the Hut. But he was the sweetest dog, and I cried and cried when he died. ~ Marlee Matlin

How many deaf people do you know in real life? Unless they live in a cave, or are 14, which seems to be true for most people in this business, what could I possibly tell them that they don't already know? ~ Marlee Matlin

I have a great husband, great parents and in-laws, and I have help with a nanny. It's not easy, but there are others who do it every day and don't have a high-profile job as I do. ~ Marlee Matlin

Maybe my way of communicating through sign made me more in tune with my body and how it moved. Who knows? I just know when I saw a stage for the first time, I wanted to be on it. ~ Marlee Matlin

America, is there lipstick on my teeth?" Zoe asked. I turned to my left and found her smiling maniacally, exposing all her pearly whites.
"No, you're good," I answered, seeing out of the corner of my eye that Marlee was nodding in confirmation.
"Thanks. How is he so calm?" Zoe asked, pointing over at Maxon, who was talking to a member of the crew. She then bent down and put her head between her legs and started doing controlled breathing.
Marlee and I looked at each other, eyes wide with amusement, and tried not to laugh. It was hard if we looked at Zoe, so we surveyed the room and chatted about what others were wearing. There were several girls in seductive reds and lively greens, but no one else in blue. Olivia had gone so far as to wear orange. I'd admit that I didn't know that much about fashion, but Marlee and I both agreed that someone should have intervened on her behalf. The color made her skin look kind of green.
Two minutes before the cameras turned on, we realized it wasn't the dress making her look green. Olivia vomited into the closest trash can very loudly and collapsed on the floor. Silvia swooped in, and a fuss was made to wipe the sweat off her and get her into a seat. She was placed in the back row with a small receptacle at her feet, just in case.
Bariel was in the seat in front of her. I couldn't hear what she muttered to the poor girl from where I was, but it looked like Bariel was prepared to injure Olivia should she have another ~ Kiera Cass

Watch me when people say deaf and dumb, or deaf mute, and I give them a look like you might get if you called Denzel Washington the wrong name. ~ Marlee Matlin

I listen to Billy Joel. He is fabulous. I saw him with Elton John when they toured together, it was so great. ~ Marlee Matlin

Humor comes in all forms, and everyone has their cup of tea about what makes them laugh. But the day we censor humor is a sad one for sure. ~ Marlee Matlin

I hope that through my example, such as my role on 'The West Wing,' I can help change attitudes on deafness and prove we can really do everything ... except hear. ~ Marlee Matlin

During a visit to California, when a friend of my grandmother's told my parents that I must be deaf because I was not responding to sounds, my father was absolutely convinced that I was simply being stubborn. ~ Marlee Matlin

Silence is the last thing the world will ever hear from me. ~ Marlee Matlin

I'm not really deaf; I just faked it to win the Oscar KIDDING. ~ Marlee Matlin

I'm gonna be unemployed when people read this. Ha. ~ Marlee Matlin

I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, and in spite of what most people might have expected from a young girl growing up deaf, life for me was like one long episode of 'The Brady Bunch.' Despite whatever barriers were in my way, I imagined myself as Marcia Brady skating down the street saying 'hi' to everyone, whether they knew me or not. ~ Marlee Matlin

I hope I inspire people who hear. Hearing people have the ability to remove barriers that prevent deaf people from achieving their dreams. ~ Marlee Matlin

I've got lots and lots and lots to tell you." He sounded excited. "I have friends. Ben's a wolf and Tally brought Noor to play, too. I'm going to marry Noor one day. And Ben's gonna mate with Marlee even if she is bigger than he is. ~ Nalini Singh

Im in my mid-30s, Ive won an Oscar, I have four children. You figure out if my deafness has adversely affected my life. ~ Marlee Matlin

It seems we're always in transition and that it's more about trends than it is about what's meaningful. ~ Marlee Matlin

I know what it's like to be growing up, called 'deaf and mute' and 'deaf and dumb.' They're words that are very degrading and demeaning to people who are deaf and hard of hearing. It's almost ... it's almost libelous, if you want to say that. ~ Marlee Matlin

I was the youngest and only girl in a family of two older brothers. ~ Marlee Matlin

I have made the choices that work best for me. I know I cannot please everyone, and that's fine. ~ Marlee Matlin

I've been around since I was 19, I won the Oscar when I was 21, I've had a couple of TV series. I've continued to work despite the predictions of some naysayers. ~ Marlee Matlin

By the time I was a teenager, my desire to be daring and taste everything got me in trouble. Too often, I was in the company of kids my parents would call 'wild.' ~ Marlee Matlin

Differences are scarier now. The dollar isn't so guaranteed if you don't follow what they see as the norm. But I don't moan about it. I just keep working. ~ Marlee Matlin

I got a good handshake. A lot of executives tell me I have the best handshake in Hollywood. ~ Marlee Matlin

I did my first series lead back in 1991 on a show called 'Reasonable Doubts' and have done many shows with other actors who are deaf. But 'Switched at Birth' is the first TV show where there is more than one actor who is deaf or hard of hearing and who are series regulars. ~ Marlee Matlin

When I was young I knew I was deaf. I couldn't accept it. ~ Marlee Matlin

The best feeling in the world is when you child just comes up to you and lays their head in your lap, for no other reason but just because. ~ Marlee Matlin

When I was 13, I told Henry Winkler I wanted to act. He said, Do it and don't let anyone stand in your way. His validation just made it all the more true. I haven't stopped thanking him since. ~ Marlee Matlin

Google, as usual, is one step ahead of everyone and provided the means where all videos on YouTube can be automatically captioned through voice-recognition technology without having to be told that it's the responsible thing to do. ~ Marlee Matlin

At some point we have to stop and say, There's Marlee, not, There's the deaf actress. ~ Marlee Matlin

It was my father who instilled the 'never say no' attitude I carry around with me today, and who instilled in me a sense of wonder, always taking us on adventures in the car, never telling us the destination. ~ Marlee Matlin

Marlee was fourteen. A dangerous age, although, let's face it, Jackson thought, every age was a dangerous age for a woman. ~ Kate Atkinson

I am grateful for each and every food bank that helps families in need. Now, more than ever, hunger is a crisis in America, and yet it is not spoken enough and people have yet to give enough to help those in need. Local food banks help fill this need but they need our help, our support, and most importantly, our dollars. No one should ever go hungry. ~ Marlee Matlin

Living modestly in a suburban neighborhood while trying to support four children through private school is not extravagant or living large. ~ Marlee Matlin

It was ability that mattered, not disability, which is a word I'm not crazy about using. ~ Marlee Matlin

The only thing I can't do is hear. I can drive, I have a life with four kids, I work on TV, I do movies, so the deafness question, is it that they want to know because, what? Not sure. ~ Marlee Matlin

Why are people so interested in other people's relationships? It's like stealing. ~ Marlee Matlin

I can hear you and I can watch your mouth move, and then I put together the sounds and the visual image, and I can understand the words as I integrate the two signals. ~ Marlee Matlin

After Marlee was born they rented videos and fell asleep in front of them. Now, like so much else in Jackson's world, videos were obsolete. ~ Kate Atkinson

I would love to do a talk show. Naturally, I would love to do more films. I'd love to be able to see casting directors more willing to put in a character who happens to be deaf. I'm not talking about doing deaf storylines, but putting in deaf characters. I'd love to be able to do Broadway. ~ Marlee Matlin

If I were offered a cochlear implant today, I would prefer not to have one. But that's not a statement about hearing aids or cochlear implants. It's about who you are. ~ Marlee Matlin

You can do anything if you set your mind to it. Look out for kids, help them dream and be inspired. We teach calculus in schools, but I believe the most important formula is courage plus dreams equals success. ~ Marlee Matlin

Sometimes here the hurt and the good feelings get all mixed up, Sometimes they become the same thing. And sometimes you gotta feel your way out of the pain in your brain. There are lots of ways to do it. ~ Marlee Jane Ward

I'm doing this for Toby and Marlee, not you." The defiant words were directed at Hawke.
The alpha gave her a mock-salute. "Heaven forbid you do anything because I asked you to. ~ Nalini Singh

In the deaf community, there are different types of people who have different philosophies. Some believe that they should only sign. Some believe they should only speak. Some people say you should use cued speech. Some say you should use cochlear implants. Some say you shouldn't sign. Some people say you should sign. ~ Marlee Matlin

I want roles without anger and feistiness. I want to show weakness and sadness, some love, some happiness. ~ Marlee Matlin

There is nothing better than being a parent. It is the most challenging job one could ever ask for. I love being a mom and I love being a friend to my children as well. ~ Marlee Matlin

Marlee [Matlin] is who she is and just happens to use an interpreter. I'm not a teacher. I'm not a helper. I'm just Jack, the interpreter guy. ~ Jack Jason

Give it enough time and it will be my whole world. I've been here before, Not here, but here enough. ~ Marlee Jane Ward

There are many deaf people who couldn't imagine living in a marriage without someone who doesn't speak their language. For me, I believe that hearing or deaf is fine as long as both parties are willing to communicate in each other's language. But if there's no communication, then the marriage, I believe, will be difficult if not doomed. ~ Marlee Matlin

Marlee, what are you doing? Get under a tent before you burn your skin."
She gave me a polite smile. "I'm happy here."
"No, really," I said, putting a hand around her arm. "You'll look like my hair. ~ Kiera Cass

GEORGE AND MARLEE UP IN A TREE! K-I-S-S-I-N-G! We stopped. There was a kid over there, standing by a hackberry bush. I'd never seen him before, not at Mary Day or anywhere else. He wasn't but four and a half feet tall, and stocky. He had on gray shorts that went down all the way to his knees, and a green sweater with orange stripes. It was rounded out up top with little boy-tits and a poochy belly underneath. He had a beanie on his head, the stupid kind with a plastic propeller. His ~ Stephen King

I've always wanted to write a book relating my experiences growing up as a deaf child in Chicago. Contrary to what people might think, it wasn't all about hearing aids and speech classes or frustrations. ~ Marlee Matlin

Marlee has said a million times, "Wouldn't it be funny if there was a camera trained on the two of us?" because we get involved in some very interesting situations. We'll be on a plane and she gets handed a Braille menu because they think she is blind, or producers that turn to the director of a show she's on and say, "Marlee Matlin is great, but is she going to be deaf for the whole show?" She used to freak people out with the speaker phone in her car by having me sign what they were saying on the speaker phone and then she would speak herself. ~ Jack Jason

We aren't handicapped in any way except by what other people think. Focus on people's abilities. I can't be on 'American Idol,' but there's all kinds of stuff I can do. ~ Marlee Matlin

I learned a long time ago from when I did 'Seinfeld' never to take anything seriously, and to be part of the joke is the best way to show what a good sport I was. ~ Marlee Matlin

At the end of the day, it's about the best interests of the children. ~ Marlee Matlin

I'm particularly proud of my work with the Starkey Hearing Foundation for whom I raised a million dollars in one day on 'Celebrity Apprentice.' They do great work around the world helping deaf children in developing countries get proper attention and free hearing aids. ~ Marlee Matlin

I have always resisted putting limitations on myself, both professionally and personally. ~ Marlee Matlin

The Earth does not belong to us: we belong to the Earth. ~ Marlee Matlin