Quotes from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between

Lauren Graham ·  209 pages

Rating: (53.5K votes)


“But life doesn’t often spell things out for you or give you what you want exactly when you want it, otherwise it wouldn’t be called life, it would be called vending machine.”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between


“What with your phone and the Xbox and the taxi TV and that music player you wear on your arm and the headphones that look like donuts on your ears, doesn’t it make life so much smaller? If absolutely everything important is only happening on such a small screen, isn’t that a shame? Especially when the world is so overwhelmingly large and surprising? Are you missing too much? You can’t imagine it now, but you’ll look like me one day, even though you’ll feel just the same as you do now. You’ll catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror and think how quickly it’s all gone, and I wonder if all the time you used watching those families whose lives are filmed for the television, and making those cartoons of yourselves with panting dog tongues, and chasing after that terrible Pokémon fellow…well, will it feel like time well spent?”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between


“Because who wants to Fast Forward anyway? You might miss some of the good parts.”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between


“As my friend Oliver Platt used to say to me about hopes and dreams I'd share with him: 'It's coming, just not on your time frame.”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between


“I guess what I’m saying is, let’s keep lifting each other up. It’s not lost on me that two of the biggest opportunities I’ve had to break into the next level were given to me by successful women in positions of power. If I’m ever in that position and you ask me, “Who?” I’ll do my best to say, “You” too. But in order to get there, you may have to break down the walls of whatever it is that’s holding you back first. Ignore the doubt—it’s not your friend—and just keep going, keep going, keep going.”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between



“But life doesn’t often spell things out for you or give you what you want exactly when you want it, otherwise it wouldn’t be called life, it would be called vending machine.
It’s hard to say exactly when it will happen, and it’s true that whatever you’re after may not drop down the moment you spend all your quarters, but someday soon a train is coming. In fact, it may already be on the way. You just don’t know it yet.”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between


“I still find that, in general, having a plan is, well, a good plan. But when my carefully laid plan laughed at me, rather than clutch at it too tightly I just made a new one, even if it was one that didn’t immediately make sense. In blindly trying a different path, I accidentally found one that worked better. So don’t let your plan have the last laugh, but laugh last when your plan laughs, and when your plan has the last laugh, laugh back, laughing!”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between


“Because here's the thing: I was fine on my own, and so are you. But it can be hard when you feel ready for Happy Couplehood and you seem to have missed the train.”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between


Even so, there's a checked-out, drugged sort of look we get when on our phones that's different from the look we get when reading a book, or even just staring into space. I get that look too, and when I catch my own reflection, it gives me a chill. It's like Gollum's face just before he drops his Precious in the water.
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between


“It’s good to be bored in the car, I always tell him. Spend some time with just yourself and your thoughts and nothing to do. How else will you learn who you are?”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between



“There’s more comedy in failure than in success, and it’s a much more universal language.”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between


“So don't let your plans have the last laugh, but laugh last when your plan laughs, and when your plan has the last laugh, laugh back laughing!”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between


“Sometimes the idea of doing something is the most fun part, and after you go through with it, you feel deflated because you realize you’re back to looking for the next thrill.”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between


“In blindly trying a different path, I accidentally found one that worked better.”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between


“Because here’s the thing: I was fine on my own, and so are you.”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between



“In my experience, there’s no secret to accomplishing almost any goal worth pursuing.”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between


“Stars may or may not be just like us, but generally I’ve learned it’s a mistake to think anyone else has the answer to pretty much anything. When I hear Kim Kardashian lost her baby weight on Atkins, I’ll eat steak for three days straight until I remember that, oh yeah, I’ve tried this before and it didn’t make me feel that great. You have to find what works for you, not what works for someone else.”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between


“For a very long time I worked and worked and worked, and then I looked up one day and all my friends were married with children. These married-with-children people were still my friends, but they'd become part of a community I wasn't in, a club I didn't belong to. Socially, their lives had completely changed, and they were busy. Their attention had turned to carpools and birthday parties and school tuition, and I was playing catch-up:"Wait, so we don't have game night anymore? You guys, who's free for dinner Saturday? Oh, absolutely no one?”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between


“You know how before a party you clean up your house so that everyone thinks you live that way all the time? That’s meeting someone at an awards show.”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between


“I know how lucky I am to have had such wonderful first and second acts in my career. I'm still not sure what my third act will turn out to be (Sexy Baking Competition Hostess? Flamboyant Peruvian Bingo Caller?), but if you happen to run into Betty White, tell her thank you.

I'd like to be her one day.”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between



“It was just a coat, I know, but I held onto it for so long. I’m not even sure why I kept it. It was with me every day. It kept me warm and dry, and billowed behind me as I rode my bike across the lot in the wee hours of the night. I can’t help feeling a little sad it’s gone. [But], the coat has served its purpose. The sun is blazing, and I don’t need it to keep me warm anymore. Rather than mourn the loss of my jacket, I will be thankful for the time we had together. I thank it for all it did for me, and then I let it go.”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between


“Eventually I learned that, in the beginning at least, it was better for me to be finished than to try to be perfect. I had to get out of my own way. It wasn't that the voice in my head-the one telling me my pages weren't good enough- went away, exactly. I just didn't let it stop me. An important tool against self-doubt is just to ignore it. Forge ahead anyway. Just keep going, keep going, keep going.”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between


“If absolutely everything important is only happening on such as small screen, isn't that just a shame?”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between


“Because here’s the thing: I was fine on my own, and so are you. But it can be hard when you feel ready for Happy Couplehood and you seem to have missed the train. As my friend Oliver Platt used to say to me about hopes and dreams I’d share with him: “It’s coming, just not on your time frame.”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between


“Every bit of advice below was actually given to me by a fancy person, or someone who knows a fancy person and the methods they use to stay fancy.”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between



“To me, Lorelai was equal parts Gal About Town and The Mom, plus a magical mix of smarts and humor that made her totally unique.”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between


“Eventually I learned that, in the beginning at least, it was better for me to be finished than to try to be perfect. I had to get out of my own way.”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between


“life doesn’t often spell things out for you or give you what you want exactly when you want it, otherwise it wouldn’t be called life, it would be called vending machine. It’s hard to say exactly when it will happen, and it’s true that whatever you’re after may not drop down the moment you spend all your quarters, but someday soon a train is coming. In fact, it may already be on the way. You just don’t know it yet.”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between


“So between critiques, the camera flew around on its arm like some sort of drunk helicopter, getting reaction shots from each contestant, and then from the judges. They asked us to hold our reactions as best we could until they got to us. Ever smile for a photograph for someone who doesn't know how to work their camera? Twenty times longer than that. My mouth started to tremble from trying to hold a smile. During one of these awkward frozen moments, one of the contestants grinned at me and mouthed the words "I love you," and I tried as best I could to communicate my thanks while also maintaining my frozen face.”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between


“The Chosen Butts became an instant club of sorts. We tried our best to be professional and not act overly excited, but it was clear we were bonded because of our excellent butts I mean acting ability.”
― Lauren Graham, quote from Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between



About the author

Lauren Graham
Born place: in Honolulu, Hawaii, The United States
Born date March 16, 1967
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