Pivotal Quotes:

I have the "thing" worked out - the trick or the surprise or the pivotal fact. Then I just start somewhere and let the story work itself out.

- Lee Child

source: Interview with Claire E. White for "The Internet Writing Journal", www.writerswrite.com. August 2001.

topic: Stories, Facts, Surprise, Pivotal

Getting sober was one of the three pivotal events in my life, along with becoming an actor and having a child. Of the three, finding my sobriety was the hardest thing.

- Gary Oldman

topic: Inspirational, Children, Recovery, Pivotal, Addicts In Recovery

Hawaii has always been a very pivotal role in the Pacific. It is in the Pacific. It is a part of the United States that is an island that is right here.

- Dan Quayle

source: Press comment in Hawaii, April 25, 1989.

topic: Funny, Islands, Usa, Pivotal

So in the sense that we were all dealing with that freer approach, yes, it was certainly one of the first contacts, perhaps the first contact, when Peter came that summer. So it's a very pivotal moment that is documented there.

- Evan Parker

topic: Summer, Pivotal Moments, Firsts, Pivotal, First Contact

I have a high regard for Native languages and the pivotal role they have played in our nation's history

- Rick Renzi

topic: Roles, Language, Native, Native Language, Pivotal

King's Quest IV was a much bigger hit than I, II, or III. I do feel that King's Quest IV was a pivotal game in bringing in more female players.

- Roberta Williams

topic: Kings, Player, Games, Pivotal

This awareness instills a fierce desire to protect that heritage and - in doing so - to educate Americans in the meaning and importance of our pivotal documents.

- Allen Weinstein

topic: Desire, Heritage, Fierce, Pivotal

Amherst was pivotal in my broad intellectual development; MIT in my development as a professional economist.

- Joseph Stiglitz

topic: Intellectual, Mit, Development, Intellectual Development, Pivotal

It is well known that my husband and Lady Thatcher enjoyed a very special relationship as leaders of their respective countries during one of the most difficult and pivotal periods in modern history. Ronnie and Margaret were political soul mates, committed to freedom and resolved to end Communism.

- Nancy Reagan

topic: Country, Husband, Leader, Special Relationship, Modern History

The essence of good taste is a sense of values, and a sense of values is the pivotal point of good living.

- Millicent Fenwick

source: Millicent Fenwick (1948). “Vogue's book of etiquette: a complete guide to traditional forms and modern usage”

topic: Essence, Taste, Values, Good Taste, Pivotal

A pretty pivotal moment for me was having a songwriting class with Paul McCartney when I was at LIPA, and then being called in a few days later by the headmaster of the school to tell me that Paul McCartney likes what I'm doing.

- St. Lucia

topic: School, Class, Pivotal Moments, Pivotal, Headmasters

Metallica came along for me at a time and had an affect on me that I feel is the most pivotal moment of my life. I don't think there's been anything else that's even come close that's affected me in the way that that band did when I was a child when I was 11 or 12 years old, and where it went from there.

- Jeff Kendrick

topic: Children, Thinking, Years, Pivotal, Pivotal Moments

When I was singing "King of the Mountain," it was a pivotal point in the show. That's the song that took us from this concert setting of individual songs into the theatrical narrative piece.

- Kate Bush

source: Source: www.macleans.ca

topic: Song, Kings, Singing, Pivotal

My mom taught me the power of love. I learned to focus on the long-term big picture from my father. His sense of humor and light-hearted approach always make me smile. My husband is a pivotal anchor in my life. His influence encourages me to be independent and take risks.

- Padmasree Warrior

topic: Mom, Husband, Father, Long Term, Light Hearted

I've been watching battle rap since that time period when Cassidy was hot, Murda Mook and Lux first when at it. That was a very pivotal time in hip-hop.

- Ab-Soul

topic: Rap, Hip Hop, Battle, Pivotal, Time Periods

As with anything in life, when you have certain experiences at pivotal times, they shape you.

- Elaine Cassidy

source: Source: www.indielondon.co.uk

topic: Shapes, Certain, Anything In Life, Pivotal

The light bulb going off in my head was a fear that in this pivotal moment in history, when America faces so many serious problems, when the middle class and working class of this country are being decimated, that there were not voices out there representing the tens of millions of people who needed a voice. And the idea of going through a campaign where there is not a serious discussion about the most important issues facing America, where there are not voices out there representing people who are hurting - that seemed to me unacceptable.

- Bernie Sanders

source: Source: www.chicagotribune.com

topic: Country, Hurt, Light, Pivotal, Pivotal Moments

You live and die two or three times making a movie. First, you write it, and the first pivotal moment comes when you can get it made. The second is in the process of making it, when the movie reveals itself to you, its flaws and its virtues. Then the most unnerving moment is when that movie is then launched into the world. It’s like bringing your kid to the first day at school and somebody points out that it has bowlegs, it is cross-eyed, or it’s gorgeous. You feel very exposed.

- Guillermo del Toro

source: Interview with Charlie Day, www.interviewmagazine.com. November 2, 2014.

topic: School, Kids, Writing, Pivotal, Pivotal Moments

Since I am a person who starts work without clear knowledge of a storyline, every single scene is a pivotal scene.

- Hayao Miyazaki

source: Source: www.midnighteye.com

topic: Scene, Clear, Persons, Pivotal

I gave away the Irish dancing, which is pivotal. It's just so silly and fun and nice to do because it kind of lifts the energy for us, right at the point where the energy could start to take a nose dive.

- Katherine Shindle

source: Source: www.broadwayworld.com

topic: Fun, Nice, Silly, Pivotal

Music in Rocky has always been pivotal.

- Bun B

topic: Pivotal

This is a very pivotal time in America and I think families are still reeling from events depicted in that movie [The Big Short ].

- Bun B

topic: Pivotal

I think more to the point, these pivotal times means something other than a politician. I understand the economy. I understand the world. I have a lot of foreign policy experience. I understand bureaucracies. I understand technology, and I understand leadership.

- Carly Fiorina

source: Source: www.foxnews.com

topic: Mean, Technology, Thinking, Pivotal

You probably know the name of Rosa Parks. You probably know that her refusal to move to the colored section in the back of a city bus sparked the Montgomery bus boycotts, one of the pivotal moments in the American civil rights movement.

- Michel Martin

source: Source: www.npr.org

topic: Moving, Cities, Names, Montgomery, City Bus

There was no other concern; there was no other focus [in the Governor's School]. It was simply there to learn and grow and perform, and that was pretty amazing and informative. I'd say that was a big pivotal moment for me.

- Zachary Quinto

source: Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

topic: School, Focus, Pivotal Moments, Informative, Pivotal

Many of us are experiencing a phase of change, shedding outdated patterns and liberating ourselves from the old by moving on to the new. The year 2012 is an important one for mankind, a pivotal year. The potential for this exists in the mere fact that the majority of us are yearning for change.

- Shari Arison

topic: Moving, Years, Important, Pivotal, Outdated

It's not often that you get to read something that just feels very original for a star but also something that feels like it's more than just a movie or entertainment. Even though the riots were one of the most pivotal riots in civil rights history, especially for the LGBT community, I knew surprisingly very little about them. You don't learn about Stonewall in schools. It's a bit gross really! So it certainly felt like something that was quite important.

- Jeremy Irvine

source: Source: www.justjared.com

topic: Stars, School, Rights, Pivotal, Lgbt Community

Because past environmental destruction was the result of ignorance, we can easily forgive it. Today, we are better informed. Therefore, it's essential that we make an ethical examination of what we have inherited, what we are responsible for, and what we will pass on to coming generations. Ours is clearly a pivotal generation. We have global communication and yet confrontation is more common than dialogue.

- Dalai Lama

topic: Pivotal, Environmental Destruction

I really think music in school is vital. Some pivotal moments in my life were my childhood scholastic experiences with music - teachers who found out I could sing, and encouraged me, or teachers who turned me on to music or bands I hadn't yet heard.

- Dave Smalley

source: Source: www.pmakid.com

topic: Teacher, School, Thinking, Music Teacher, Music In Schools

There is no question in the fact that India has a global responsibility, and the coming "Gyan Yug" would see India play a pivotal role, using the strengths of its democracy and demographic dividend.

- Narendra Modi

topic: Motivation, Responsibility, Play, Pivotal

The closest thing to an outline is, because my memory is so bad now, if something occurs to me that I think might be important or pivotal, a lot of times I'll scribble notes down somewhere until I can get back to the book. Of course half the time I look at those notes the next morning and think, "What was that about?"

- Anna Quindlen

topic: Morning, Memories, Book, Scribbles, Pivotal

You can describe [Portrait of the Artist as a Shadow of His Former Self] as a manifesto of sorts. I saw it as a pivotal turn, a work that really led me down the avenues that brought me to where I am. That picture was the vehicle that helped me clarify a lot of things and I began to understand that I wanted to do.

- Kerry James Marshall

source: Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

topic: Manifestos, Pivotal

We are living in a very pivotal time. The time that we inherit from science is a time to humble you, to dwarf you. It tells you that the sun will not fluxuate for another billion years, that species come and go, and, in other words, on a temporal scale you don't matter. And that now doesn't matter. But when you look at the release of energy, the asymptotic speeding up of processes, we tend to be xenophobically oriented toward the human.

- Terence McKenna

topic: Humble, Dwarves, Years, Speeding Up, Speeding

You know, "Moonlight" deserves best picture [on Oscar]. What I mean by tarnished is the moment - being able to be in front of all your peers and being able to thank everyone involved and particularly when it's a movie that has some pivotal social relevance, like "Moonlight," particularly in a time where, with this new transitional government, LGBT rights are just being stripped. This win means something.

- Cheo Hodari Coker

source: Source: www.npr.org

topic: Mean, Winning, Rights, Pivotal, Best Picture

I think one of the most pivotal moments in modern American history was Donald Trump's immediate withdraw from TPP.

- Stephen K. Bannon

topic: Thinking, Pivotal Moments, Modern, Pivotal

A proactive person needs no pressure to perform and an ineffective person offloads his pressure onto others to deform the positive work culture of the system. So practically, a progressive organization knows that no pressure environment plays a pivotal role to increase the productivity or proficiency of its workforce.

- Anuj

topic: Play, Organization, Needs, Pivotal, Proficiency

Marriage and deathless friendship, both should be inviolable and sacred: two great creative passions, separate, apart, but complementary: the one pivotal, the other adventurous: the one, marriage, the centre of human life; and the other, the leap ahead.

- D. H. Lawrence

source: D.H. Lawrence (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of D.H. Lawrence (Illustrated)”, p.9049, Delphi Classics

topic: Friendship, Marriage, Passion, Deathless, Pivotal

My mom [has] always been my hero. Watching her experience something like breast cancer was pivotal, I think in my whole family's life and experience. She is one strong lady.

- Emma Stone

topic: Mom, Strong, Cancer, Pivotal

Hate. Huh. He'd never hated himself. If anything, he'd always liked himself a little too much. Once, a human female had even accused him of picturing his own face while he climaxed. He hadn't denied it, either, and next time he'd slept with her, he'd made sure to scream, "Strider" at the pivotal moment." --Strider, keeper of the demon of Defeat--

- Gena Showalter

topic: Hate, Female, Littles, Strider, Pivotal

In the 2000 presidential election, Al Gore got more votes than George W. Bush, but still lost the election. The Supreme Court's ruling in Florida gave Bush that pivotal state, and doomed Gore to lose the Electoral College. That odd scenario - where the candidate with the most votes loses - has happened three times in U.S. history.

- Juan Williams

topic: College, Florida, Presidential, Pivotal, Electoral College

It was pivotal in making you but you don't remember it. Or do you? Do we understand the events that make us who we are? Do we understand the factors that make us do the things we do?

- Douglas Coupland

topic: Events, Who We Are, Remember, Pivotal

Oxygen plays a pivotal role in the proper functioning of the immune system. We can look at oxygen deficiency as the single greatest cause of all diseases.

- Stephen Levine

topic: Oxygen, Play, Disease, Immune System, Pivotal

We are at a pivotal moment in our shared history. The global goals of a healthy planet, social equality, and economic opportunity for all are within reach. But we cannot prevaricate.

- Achim Steiner

source: "19 VIPs Who Get Climate Change Better Than Congress" by Jacqueline Howard, www.huffingtonpost.com. December 4, 2015.

topic: Opportunity, Goal, Healthy, Social Equality, Within Reach

I'm one that believes that Samuel Alito appointment on the Supreme Court is a pivotal appointment. And because he replace Sandra Day O'Connor and because she was the fifth vote on 148 cases, you well could be a very key and decisive vote.

- Dianne Feinstein

source: Source: www.washingtonpost.com

topic: Believe, Keys, Vote, Sandra Day O Connor, Pivotal

Here you have an incredibly ambitious, accomplished woman who comes up against some of the same problems that women in power come up against today. Cleopatra plays an oddly pivotal role in world history as well; in her lifetime, Alexandria is the center of the universe, Rome is still a backwater.

- Stacy Schiff

source: "Interview with Stacy Schiff, author of 'Cleopatra'". Interview with John McMurtrie, www.sfgate.com. December 5, 2010.

topic: Rome, Play, Ambitious, Alexandria, Pivotal

This is a pivotal time for urban regeneration. We must take a long term view.

- Richard Rogers

topic: Views, Long, Urban, Pivotal, Regeneration

I love scoring. Putting music to picture is a rewarding challenge and one that relies on interpretation of emotion - as in, what is the pivotal feeling in a scene and which character's point of view is driving it at any given moment?

- Liz Phair

topic: Character, Views, Feelings, Pivotal

If Obama fails to win reelection, let the blame be first laid at the door of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who at a pivotal point threw gasoline on the flames by comparing angry American citizens to Nazis.

- Camille Paglia

topic: Winning, Doors, Flames, Pivotal, Reelection

High school is a really strange time - you're not a kid, you're not an adult. You're about to be an adult, you're going to have to make some really intense decisions. It's a really pivotal time to have as much self-confidence as you possibly can. Even if that means you have one friend who supports you completely.

- Tyler Blackburn

topic: School, Mean, Kids, Strange Times, Pivotal

As a member of Guess Who, I think 'No Time' was the best thing we ever did. It was a pivotal song in our career.

- Burton Cummings

topic: Song, Thinking, Careers, Pivotal