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.Collection: Courage
What parent has it easy? I just never make the difficulty of it an obstacle. I just do it.Collection: Parenting
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.Collection: Marriage
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.Collection: Movies
The handicap of deafness is not in the ear; it is in the mind.Collection: Inspirational
I'm not broke. Like everybody else, I owe money.Collection: Money
When I learned to sign and speak at the same time, the whole world opened up to me. That's the beauty of encouraging kids who are deaf to use whatever it takes to communicate.Collection: Beauty
At some point we have to stop and say, There's Marlee, not, There's the deaf actress.Collection: Equality
I want roles without anger and feistiness. I want to show weakness and sadness, some love, some happiness.Collection: Anger
I hope I inspire people who hear. Hearing people have the ability to remove barriers that prevent deaf people from achieving their dreams.Collection: Hope
I personally have dealt with any adversity in my life with humor. That's why I told America to 'Read my hips!' on 'Dancing With the Stars' or was happy to play along with Jason Alexander and Jerry Seinfeld in the great restaurant scene on 'Seinfeld.'Collection: Humor
Silence is the last thing the world will ever hear from me.Collection: Inspirational
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.Collection: Sad
I'm the only one in my family who is deaf, and there are still conversations that go around me that I miss out on. And I ask what's going on, and I have to ask to be included. But I'm not going to be sad about it. I don't live in sad isolation. It's just a situation I'm used to.Collection: Sad
YouTube is akin to having my own network.Collection: Technology
I have made the choices that work best for me. I know I cannot please everyone, and that's fine.Collection: Best
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.Collection: Attitude
My parents were the ones who gave me the independence, who gave me the spark to do anything that you set your mind to, as all parents should do for their kids.Collection: Independence
I'm different, and my manner invites questions. I'm never afraid to answer.Collection: Fear
Everybody's got a job to do, and I do mine as best I can.Collection: Best
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.
I live my life like everyone else; everyone has their own obstacles. Mine is deafness.
I like to say that the greatest handicap of deafness does not lie in the ear, it lies in the mind. 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.
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.
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.
I find the mantle of, she works hard for the money, or, she's overcome so many obstacles a bit overused.
It was ability that mattered, not disability, which is a word I'm not crazy about using.
I guess not being able to hear just made me adventurous and daring. And in most cases, that didn't make my parents very happy with me.
What the Bleep Do We Know was not written with a deaf person in mind, but when they met me, it clicked with them to have me in it. But that happens with a lot of actors in Hollywood, not just with me.
When you're up for an award at the Oscars, try as you might, it's hard to concentrate on the show.
I was the youngest and only girl in a family of two older brothers.
It seems we're always in transition and that it's more about trends than it is about what's meaningful.
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.
Hollywood embraced me in the late '80s because there was a good project I was in and it was different. Nowadays, it's about corporate mentality, box office, youth.
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?
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.
I got a good handshake. A lot of executives tell me I have the best handshake in Hollywood.
I learned to speak first, and then to sign. I have never really known what it was like to hear, so I can't compare hearing aids to normal hearing.
I listen to Billy Joel. He is fabulous. I saw him with Elton John when they toured together, it was so great.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The hearing aids are very helpful for speech reading. Without the hearing aids, my voice becomes very loud, and I cannot control the quality of my voice.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 as they can... just differently.