Julie Bowen Quotes
“It’s a war of attrition. If you have patience and a modicum of faith in yourself your chances are not too bad.”
“Success is getting up one more time than you fall down.”
“There’s an expression: great is the enemy of the good. Sometimes in trying to be great, you make a mess of things.”
“Sometimes good enough is good enough.”
“Everybody should make the choice that’s right for them. But, please, make an educated choice.”
“Children are like crazy, drunken small people in your house.”
“Being a parent is really hard, and I don’t have endless stores of patience. I wish I did. I read some article where Reese Witherspoon said, ‘If you’re not yelling at your kids, you’re not spending enough time with them.’ It made me feel so much better. I always come across sounding like I hate my children. I actually love them very much.”
“I use an app called ChoreMonster. The kids earn points for brushing teeth or picking up the dog poop. It’s genius.”
“I tell my kids, ‘Look, your life is a video game, and I have to get you from level zero to 18 as an independent person with all your skills and limbs intact. Every time you hit your brother or throw food, you’re taking us all back.’”
“It’s kind of a funny thing, having children. Maybe you liked to cook before you became a parent, or maybe you didn’t. And it’s not like you suddenly become Martha Stewart once you drop a placenta or two, you have to really learn how to cook and feed these tiny humans so they can grow.”
“It’s important to strike a balance that works for you on all levels—financially and emotionally. Listen only to your needs and the needs of your family, to establish this balance, whatever it may be.”
“If finances dictate that you work a full schedule, or if you need to work to maintain a healthy sense of personal identity, then good: work. If this is what’s best for your family, accept it. Then find nurturing child care and let the guilt go.”
“Remember, no one has it all. ‘Having it all’ was not what the women’s movement of the 1960s and ’70s was about; it was about having choice and opportunity. It’s been twisted into this notion that women are supposed to have the amazing career and the amazing kids and the amazing husband and the amazing body—all at once. Men don’t have it all, and they never have. Why do modern women believe they can have—no, expect to have—everything, all at once? Something has to give.”
“I am tired of being a mom. I mean I love it, but do I want that to be my identity in the world? I would like to reclaim this situation for something other than mom-ing for a little while. I could just seal this up and never act again, but I love acting.”
“I love my job.”
“I am going to produce, do some directing. I am a real saver. I like a bargain, I don’t shop.”
“The reality is that I’m such a worker bee. I don’t know how to not work. I’ve gone from show to show, and job to job, and now I’m supposed to be strategic, but I’ve gotta go to work. I don’t really know how to not go to work. So, I’m sure that when it comes up, if I’m lucky enough to get offered other opportunities on television, I’ll be guided by voices stronger and more knowledgeable than my own. I know that I’m not gonna just go play a mom on a comedy. I’ve got that. But besides that, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do.”
“I would like to say that I am a very relaxed, loving person who is not competitive, but that’s a lie!”
“What phrase defines me? I would say constantly expecting more of myself—and I do not mean that in a good way. I think sometimes I need to lighten up a little and not think I have to solve all the problems all the time. I think I’d be much better off if I just relaxed a little, but… not in this lifetime.”
“Running was the first thing I discovered that I was any good at. Something that really helped me to get rid of the anxiety, take a breath, and feel calm was running.”
“After a run I feel psyched to take the garbage out. I can do all of this stuff. All of the mundane stuff that can get on your nerves seems like an easy thing to do. It’s not like I suddenly do something different, but the stuff that I am doing seems much more manageable and fun.”
“I eat really clean and have pretty simple rules.”
“I’m a bit of a boring creature of habit. I’m very consistent in eating pounds of kale, exercising, using sunscreen. I do all those things, I really do; I’m gross that way.”
“I’m so not stylish by nature, but I’ve learned to work with what I have.”
“The reality is I’ve never been a super girly girl, and so the boy energy sort of works for me, but it’s exhausting. But I’m finally starting to carve out some ‘me time’ as a mom of three. I found out that legally your kids are allowed to be in the house alone for up to an hour. I was like, ‘You mean I can go for a run with the alarm on and lock the door, and I’m not going to get arrested?’ That changed everything. And because they’re older now, I’m not on deathwatch anymore. I can go and lay down and read. I set my alarm for when it’s time to get up and make dinner. Those little windows are great. There aren’t many, but they’re great.”
“I read books more than I go out.”
“I don’t need to go to a party on the weekends because I have this crazy job that is a party.”
“I count myself lucky to be fairly anonymous but occasionally have people tell me nice things.”
“Sometimes, I wish I could put my current brain in my 20-year-old body and say, ‘Do not worry about all this crap. Do not worry about money or meeting the right person.’ I don’t know if it’s exhaustion or wisdom, but the end product is an intelligence that comes from being older. I’m not as quick to get upset about things. I’m still an emotional person, and I’m happy about that—I’ve made money off of it! But I don’t feel like it has to drive me every day.”
“I feel like I’m going to look back and think that this is a pretty magical age. I’m old enough to have a tablespoon of wisdom and not really feel like I need to compete with the 20-year-olds of the world who are so extraordinarily youthful and fresh, and yet I have not yet crossed over to the part where I feel like I’m trying to paste myself together.”
“As long as I can create work for myself, either as an actor or director or producer, I don’t have to fight the clock as far as not being 25 years old.”
“I’m incredibly lucky.”
