Turned Down Quotes

• After being Turned Down by numerous Publishers, he had decided to write for Posterity.

  George Ade

  Writing, Belief, Publishers

  Fables in Slang (1900) p. 158

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• You can prepare all you want, but if you never roll the dice you'll never be successful.

  Shia LaBeouf

  Successful, Yale, Want

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• I was turned down by every record label in L.A. Perseverance is three quarters of the game. Talent's only a quarter. Being able to withstand the word 'no' over and over can build you a pretty tough skin. I knew if I just kept at it, at the very least I'd get better at my craft.

  Sheryl Crow

  Perseverance, Games, Skins

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• I wanted to play roles which offered new ways of viewing black women and black people in general- and I have done that. And I have always, whether I needed to pay the rent or not, I've always turned down roles which I thought were stereotypical. And so when I look at my body of work in that respect, I am really happy. Because I feel my work does say something positive and that was what I always set out to do.

  Naomie Harris

  Play, People, Black

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• A couple of guys won Academy Awards for the things that I turned down. Today, after coming to terms with everything, after being in therapy for a long time-there are areas where I will compromise.

  Mickey Rourke

  Couple, Awards, Long

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• I've turned down projects based on raunchiness before.

  John Ratzenberger

  Projects

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• I've never been turned down for a role because I'm gay. I'm a character actor, and that's probably why. I don't find Hollywood, in my own experience, to be homophobic. ... But I do think the straight folks will continue to play the straight roles.

  Jane Lynch

  Character, Gay, Thinking

  "Jane Lynch: Studios Won’t Cast Gay Leading Actors". www.huffingtonpost.com. January 13, 2011.

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• Personally, I have already turned down the Downing St thermostat by 1 degree

  Tony Blair

  Degrees, Global Warming, Downing

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• ...if we all turned down the thermostat in our house by just one degree, we would save over £650 million worth of energy and nearly nine million tonnes of carbon emissions every year. That would be the equivalent of taking three million cars off our roads...we can bring about a Green Consumer Revolution in this country to improve our lives, enrich our economy and protect our environment.

  David Cameron

  Country, Years, Carbon Emissions

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• I called it ignose, not knowing which carbohydrate it was. This name was turned down by my editor. 'God-nose' was not more successful, so in the end 'hexuronic acid' was agreed upon. To-day the substance is called 'ascorbic acid' and I will use this name.

  Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

  Success, Knowledge, Science

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• In Hollywood a girl's virtue is much less important than her hairdo. You're judged by how you look, not by what you are. Hollywood's a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for kiss, and fifty cents for your soul. I know, because I turned down the first offer often enough and held out for the fifty.

  Marilyn Monroe

  Girl, Kissing, Soul

  Marilyn Monroe (2006). “My Story”, p.53, Taylor Trade Publishing

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• And I hear nothing because it's like the volume button has been turned down on our lives and nobody has anything to say anymore." "I want to be an adjective again. But I am a noun.

  Melina Marchetta

  Buttons, Adjectives, Nouns

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• It just took the right time. I was fully confident that I was going to see Sam Phillips and to record for him that when I called him, I thought, I'm going to get on Sun Records. So I called him and he turned me down flat. Then two weeks later, I got turned down again. He told me over the phone that he couldn't sell gospel music so - as it was independent, not a lot of money.

  Johnny Cash

  Independent, Phones, Two

  Source: wrvo.org

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• How long could we do this before you started bitching?" Simon said as we turned down another street of apartment buildings. "What?" "We've been walking for two days now, and you haven't complained once. It's damned annoying, you know." I looked at him. "If you don't complain, then I can't complain. Not without sounding like a whiny little snot.

  Kelley Armstrong

  Two, Long, Complaining

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• I don't want anything. I don't want a job. I don't want to be respectable. I don't want prizes. I turned down the National Institute of Arts and Letters when I was elected to it in 1976 on the grounds that I already belonged to the Diners Club.

  Gore Vidal

  Art, Jobs, Diners

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• Please don't think that I am one of those squishy types who can't handle reality. I have plenty of real-world things to deal with all the time. I have deadlines, meetings, I answer the phone, I get turned down, I wait in lines and am forced to pass for normal all the time.

  Henry Rollins

  Real, Thinking, Phones

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• I often wonder how different the world would be if Hitler had not been turned down when he applied to art school.

  George Carlin

  Art, School, Different

  George Carlin (1998). “Brain Droppings”, Hyperion

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• The founders of Snapchat last year turned down a $3 billion offer from Facebook and a $4 billion offer from Google. It was a surprising show of integrity from the guys who invented the app that lets you look at pictures of boobs for five seconds.

  Cecily Strong

  Integrity, Technology, Years

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• I turned down Short Circuit 2 too and I now wish I hadn't. Sequels are a lot of fun and you get to hang out with all your friends.

  Steve Guttenberg

  Fun, Wish, Short Circuit

  "Steve Guttenberg to Return in Police Academy 8 and Three Men and a Bride" by B. Alan Orange, movieweb.com.

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• Everything I got comes from Elijah Mohammed. He taught me who I was, he made me proud, he made me fearless, he made me love my own, I’ve turned down millions to keep from selling out my people, the beautiful name Mohammed Ali. And white people cannot destroy me like they have other big ministers of his in the past by telling us oh, you speak good, you should be the leader.White people make me thinkin' that I'm smart, and as soon as I leave Elijah you can get me. But as long as I stay with the Honorable Elijah Mohammed I'm safe.

  Muhammad Ali

  Beautiful, Smart, Past

  Source: thefederalist.com

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• There are certain things that cut right to the bone, but as an actor you have to because you get turned down for things all the time. I have a friend who was told he didn't get a job because he was too hairy. I've never heard anything that bad, but you have to get used to that sort of thing.

  Max Irons

  Jobs, Cutting, Actors

  "Max irons assumes his throne". Interview with Emma Brown, www.interviewmagazine.com. October 15, 2013.

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• The thing I love about live performance the most, is that the doors are closed, the lights are turned down, and the audience has to be reverential to what's happening onstage.

  Cate Blanchett

  Light, Doors, Things I Love

  Interview Magazine Interview, www.interviewmagazine.com. November 23, 2008.

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• It may or may not sound pretentious. But I`ve turned down, consciously and specifically, many jobs I knew would have been a pretty surefire way to go about making a lot of money, being recognized and gaining power in the industry.

  Val Kilmer

  Jobs, Sound, May

  "Biography / Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• I feel like I turned down a lot of things that I wish I hadn't. But you never know when you're younger. I don't have regrets about certain things I turned down. Those films would have required things of me that would have been challenging, and they ended up being really good movies. But I was never a careerist, I never thought in those terms. I'd be like, "Oh, I'm tired. I don't want to work."

  Jennifer Jason Leigh

  Regret, Tired, Being Real

  Interview with Michael Martin, www.interviewmagazine.com. November 3, 2015.

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• I know that I will always regret it later in life if I had turned down the chance to play at another great club like Real Madrid...

  David Beckham

  Regret, Real, Later In Life

  "Thanks all round at parting of ways" by David Harbord, www.theguardian.com. June 17, 2003.

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