All Quotes

"But today I manage our winery which provides jobs that elevate Argentine wines, and we are helping our whole region with all the research that we do and share. Then there’s the joy that wine brings to people. I honestly think that I’m making a greater impact as a winemaker than as a doctor. Back then I thought I would drink the family’s wines rather than make them. However, the moment that I decided that I wanted to work with my father was when I started going to France with him because he wanted to check out the competition. I had studied French since I was quite young and in the wine world it can be quite useful. He invited me as his translator, and I fell in love with drinking wine. I still thought that I was going to be a doctor. Finally, my father asked me to go to this wine event, the New York Wine Experience. He said, ‘Laurita, nobody here speaks English, you have to go.’ So I managed to trade some shifts at the hospital and I showed up in New York where we were the only South American winery."

"I remember being in my booth and people walking by and seeing Argentina and just being ignored. Back then in the mid 1990s, it was all France and Italy and Spain. I saw my father’s dream of putting Argentina on the wine map as almost impossible! I called him and said, ‘Papa, I have to come and help you because you need so much help.’ Of course, my arrogance as a young person came through and my father was thrilled! I think he pretty much would’ve put me in charge of the winery right there and then."

"I like science and I like people. It’s a great profession because you have instant gratification. You also see a lot of suffering but you can make a big difference to people’s lives. Also, I did emergency medicine so you’ll have a parent that brings in a child who is hurt. The parent is terrified, the child is crying and within an hour I’ve fixed the child. I’ve fixed the parent. Everybody’s happy. It’s the most incredible feeling."

"Winemaking takes a lot more patience because you have to blend the wines before they make a really great wine and that’s 10 to 15 years. You also must research and study and wait for a while to see if the wines can age well. I loved medicine because it felt like I was making a difference all the time, every day, every minute that you’re working. I actually said to my father, ‘Papa, why didn’t you tell me wine was so great?’ Because it’s science and there’s people. He said that if he’d told me to go and work with him then I wouldn’t be working with him now. It was important that I came on my own. That’s something I’ve discussed with other family wineries. You should wait for people to come on their own."

"We are people who have read, traveled, watched lots of films, and because of that, we think we're fine with a whole range of issues. But it’s not like that."

"There are things we don’t talk about out of shame, anger, deep pain, or because if you don’t tell them, you can still believe they didn’t really happen."

"Don’t love your tormentors."

"If you give another person such a big part of yourself, how can you protect yourself? If you give someone your deepest things, then they hurt you more. Because from that moment on, they exist."

"It doesn’t matter whether a story is real or invented: in both cases, you have to dig deep. What matters is telling what you want to tell, without holding back, without pity—for anyone, especially not for yourself."

"My interest in psychiatry was sparked by a deep drive to understand the unseen struggles behind the human face. The kind of emotional and psychological pain that often goes unnoticed, especially in clinical settings."

"There is a toxic mix of problems plaguing our society from poor hygiene, inaccessibility of quality health care, corruption, malnutrition, lack of access to safe drinking water, poor health infrastructure, fake drugs, insufficient financial investments, and lack of sufficient health personnel."

"I don’t see it as a job. I see it as an enjoyable activity that I’m making impact on the lives of people. It is fulfilling. Some people mix up success and fulfilment. I feel really fulfilled being here. I feel really good that I go home knowing that I helped somebody. I feel happy, the impact trickles down."

"Seeing stigma break right before my eyes, especially in spaces where silence used to reign. Stigma is still widely held towards mental health and people living with mental illnesses, but it’s not as bad as it used to be. The mental conversations are ongoing. People are willing to come out and talk about mental health."

"I loved something about the brain; I liked things relating to the brain; I liked things that were life changing. I also realized I would not be good in surgery not because I didn’t have the expertise, I liked details. I was looking at neurosurgery or neurology... Neurology also has to do with the brain so it was either that or psychiatry for me."

"I’m a very proud Nigerian doctor living and working in Nigeria because not all of us will japa (relocate). I strongly believe we need all hands on deck for Nigeria policymakers, the health professionals, including those in the diaspora to come together and create a long-term blueprint for the sector. This should include a strategy for success in the next 20-30 years with timelines and key performance indicators."

"I’ve worn these hats to create impact on every level where mental health is misunderstood, ignored, or stigmatised... And balancing these roles hasn’t always been very easy, I must tell you. But it has made my advocacy multidimensional. And I don’t just talk about mental health, I humanise it, live it, and storytell it across platforms where it matters the most."

"Let’s create a friendly environment where they can easily express themselves, we need to go back to that because if we’re saying 1 out of every 6 Nigerian teenagers is depressed, that is huge; these are our future leaders... So, if a child is already dysfunctional, how are you expecting them to be productive, economically, in society, and relationship-wise?"

"One area I’m sure we have made a small change is that people are beginning to talk about mental health. A few years ago, it wasn’t so. People are now beginning to come out and say something. We are taking baby steps in the right direction. We are hoping that opens up even more. Even globally, more people are speaking up."

"Our government’s performance in the health sector has been abysmal, and this is quite unfortunate, being a Nigerian. Investment in infrastructure has been poor, and meager remuneration for health workers has created a massive brain drain."

"Misconception often leads to stigmatisation and a reluctance to seek professional help. So, how am I addressing it in my practice? I address it by showing more empathy and letting people know that mental illnesses are medical conditions, just like how we have physical illnesses."

"“Make sure people are in the role that fits for them, where their strength can really be used and where they can fly.""

"I had to work my way through college, sometimes holding up to 5 jobs at a time. So I was excited when I finally graduated with an electrical engineering degree."

"I landed my first job with a small startup of 8 people. We were developing digital imaging chips that could capture images the way the human eyes do. I was way out of my depth so I worked weekends trying to catch up."

"I’d say the experience really shaped me because it taught me a few things. First, we tend to place a lot of focus on things that are hard for us. I think that’s wrong. You want to focus on your strengths and get better at the things you’re good at."

"If I had to go back to do it, I would not have concentrated on semiconductor chip design. As much as I found it interesting, it was not my strength. Digital design in electrical engineering was my strength. So I went on and focused on digital design."

"The investor entrepreneur relationship is almost like a marriage."

"The investors are bringing something on the table and so are entrepreneurs."

"The investors are typically investing someone else’s money, at least for the institutional guys, so they can’t just put the money anywhere."

"They have to be confident in your ability as an entrepreneur to execute the business."

"“Luck? It lasts little, if you don’t put something of yourself in it.”"

"“My life at a hundred miles per hour. They obsess over my private life, but I do not share my own affairs.”"

"“Love is everything. It changes the days, the mood, the colors. But it doesn’t save you.”"

"“Acting is a political act; it frees you.”"

"“Cellulite belongs to everyone; let’s accept ourselves as we are.”"

"“Not everyone is made for us.”"

"Dreams for the future? … Maybe… but I’m a certain age!"

"She was a great mother-in-law."

"Becoming a mother at this age makes me even more eager to stay close to him."

"There’s nothing more beautiful than the birth of a child."

"It's always tough when you’re trying to start with anything you do in life, whether its school or supermarket business or you’re a DJ or something."

"Always look at the glass half full and not half empty, and never give up."

"Playing a real-life character in a biopic is the truest form of acting because people know exactly what to compare you to. When you play a fictional character, it's your own spin on it. But when you play someone like Ojukwu, people know his voice, his mannerisms, and how he carried himself. That’s the ultimate challenge for an actor."

"Nothing good comes easy. You must put in the work, be resilient, prayerful and be ready to go the extra mile."

"You just have to work hard and take your chances. It requires hard work to succeed in any industry in life, and the movie industry isn’t too different. You just have to put in the work."

"(About Mata Hari) The painters she posed for were disappointed by her small breasts, and she was often forced into prostitution. She had much better luck when she decided to perform as an exotic dancer. Undaunted by her ignorance and unpreparedness, she began introducing herself as Lady Gresha MacLeod. She claimed to be the daughter of an Indian priestess and to have grown up in a Shiva temple. [...] Her decision to perform only in private homes, probably the only possible choice given her technical unpreparedness, had accentuated the exotic aura of mystery she loved to surround herself with. Less demanding than artists, high society was struck by this tall, slender woman, with lively, burning eyes beneath her mass of dark hair. A witness recalled her superb figure and her noble, simple, and personality-filled bearing. She was the embodiment of the femme fatales that crowded the paintings and novels of the time; she was Gustave Moreau's half-naked, bejeweled Salomé."

""I want to be a living work of art," declared the Marchesa Casati. And she succeeded. Her body became a statue. Her face a painting. Her conversation a performance. She had not clothes but costumes. (p. 32)"

"Luisa Casati masterfully played the "femme fatale," hypnotizing men with her bold balance of the black abyss of her gaze and the white of her nudity. But she ruined no lover. No one committed suicide on her doorstep. Aside from the never-ending affair with il Poet, her love affairs remained on the fringes of her exceptional existence. (p. 33)"

"Her masked balls were triumphs. One night she chose the entire Piazza San Marco as her salon. She could appear dressed as Cagliostro or a serpent, or walk naked in the garden, candidly explaining: "I am the Truth!" But even nudity was a costume for her. (p. 33)"

"'In the symphony of life, resilience conducts the melody that transforms challenges into opportunities'"

"'The stars we once gazed upon, now mock me as I weep alone, every wish upon those lights, turns to ashes in these lonely nights'"