The Best Career Advice From Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Mindy Kaling

"To my own detriment, everything that happens to me becomes fodder. Sometimes I wonder if I would be a bit happier if I were more in the moment, and less trying to translate the moment into a piece of writing or a piece of film. I have never known another way to express myself, whether it was writing weird confessional poetry in fourth grade or my first play, which was closely based on what I thought the relationship between my mom and her two sisters was. It's just the way that I think."

-Lena Dunham talking with Judd Apatow

“Don’t waste your energy trying to educate or change opinions; go over, under, through, and opinions will change organically when you’re the boss. Or they won’t. Who cares? Do your thing, and don’t care if they like it.”

-Tina Fey, Bossypants

"Whatever you choose, however many roads you travel, I hope that you choose not to be a lady. I hope you will find some way to break the rules and make a little trouble out there. And I also hope that you will choose to make some of that trouble on behalf of women."

-Nora Ephron's address to Wellesley Class of 1996

"I just want ambitious teenagers to know it is totally fine to be quiet, observant kids. Besides being a delight to your parents, you will find you have plenty of time later to catch up. So many people I work with—famous actors, accomplished writers—were overlooked in high school. Be like Allan Pearl. Sit next to the class clown and study him. Then grow up, take everything you learned, and get paid to be a real-life clown, unlike whatever unexciting thing the actual high school class clown is doing now."

-Mindy Kaling in Is Everybody Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)

"Try to keep your mind open to possibilities and your mouth closed on matters that you don't know about. Limit your 'always' and your 'nevers.'"

-Amy Poehler's address to Harvard's graduating class of 2011

"It’s never too late to turn ... even if you’ve passed the exit and you’re in the carpool lane on the highway, just believe you can make it across those six lanes and go for it, and if you have to back up on a city street or exit ramp to make your turn – so be it! Oh, and it’s never too late to like change your path, goals, life blah blah too."

-Comedy duo Frangela in an interview

"Of course you can't have it all. That's absurd! It doesn't mean you shouldn't pursue what you desire. It's not possible to do and have everything all the time. So you have to make choices. And I don't think that's an antifeminist statement. I don't mean you have to sacrifice who you are or cower in a corner because of some stupid-ass glass ceiling. But if you realize that, then I think you can free yourself up to prioritize."

-Julia Louis Dreyfus in an interview