Formative Experience Quotes

My mother, God bless her, forced me to take touch typing when I was 16.

My first encounter with the ocean was on the Jersey Shore when I was three years old and I got knocked over by a wave. The ocean certainly got my attention! It wasn't frightening, it was more exhilarating.

The University of Maryland was an inspiration for me, and the relationships I made there have lasted a lifetime.

I have a big brother who would make dolls' houses and playhouses and furniture out of wood. He was the one who taught me from such a young age that you could just make something. The physical act of gluing something together was really formative for me.

My first public impression was my French teacher, Derek Swift.

The Beatles are the 'on switch' to my life.

When you're a child, and you're growing up, and you're mimicking a certain character, or you're trying to live and breathe a certain character on set for eight years that are also your formative years, you oftentimes take a lot of who you're playing into your real life and kind of become that thing.

When I was really young, my mom enrolled me in dance classes.

The music I grew up listening to had a message.

You may leave school, but it never leaves you.

I do come alive in front of a camera. The first video I ever made was a formative moment for me.

'Dawson's Creek' was my college experience.

I can't possibly overstate how much influence Rush had on me as a young teenager. I would say from about 1981 to 1987, they were my gods.

I was in art school once a week from six to 16, which was essential in shaping my artistic sensitivity.

I was a lawyer for 10 years - a short time, but it molded me into who I am.

I came across humanity in Istanbul, and all I know about life comes from Istanbul, and definitely, I am writing about Istanbul. I also love the city because I live there, it has formed me, and it's me. Of course it is natural. If somebody lived all his life in Delhi, he will write about Delhi.

'The State' was a huge thing for me. I watched that and 'SNL' together when I was 15, 16.

I give Seattle credit for grooming me, making me the person I am today.

Youth is a time when we find the books we give up but do not get over.

I grew up around backstage, and that clinched it for me.

I remember listening to 'Low End Theory': I had been kicked out of high school. I was in GED school in the LES, and all I could do was listen to 'Low End Theory.' I was in a strange time in my life, and 'Low End Theory' kind of defined that time.

The Mekons were kind of like the background music of my life.

My life would've been so different if my parents listened to Korn. That would've been fire!

'Star Wars' meant everything to me growing up.

I was raised in a group home for 14 years, so I was a beneficiary of philanthropy. I didn't have a family. The nameless, faceless strangers were my family. They gave me an education, put food on the table and clothes on my back. I am who I am because of that formative experience. Now I am paying it forward.