Ellen DeGeneres, born in 1958, is an American comedian, actress, and television host, recognized for her groundbreaking contributions to comedy and entertainment. Rising to fame with her sitcom “Ellen,” which aired from 1994 to 1998, DeGeneres became one of the first openly gay actors to portray an openly gay character on television, marking a significant milestone in LGBTQ+ representation.
DeGeneres’s warm, relatable humor and infectious energy endeared her to audiences, paving the way for her successful daytime talk show, “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” which premiered in 2003. The show quickly became a cultural phenomenon, earning widespread acclaim and numerous awards for its uplifting content, celebrity interviews, and acts of kindness.
Beyond her television career, DeGeneres is known for her philanthropy, advocacy work, and efforts to promote kindness and inclusivity. Despite occasional controversies, her impact on popular culture and her dedication to spreading joy and positivity remain undeniable aspects of her enduring legacy.
Ellen DeGeneres Quotes
1. “Be kind to one another. Bye, bye.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
2. “Be true to yourself and everything will be fine.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
3. “I think we need more love in the world. We need more kindness, more compassion, more joy, more laughter. I definitely want to contribute to that.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
4. “My life is perfect even when it’s not.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
5. “The most important thing in your life is to live your life with integrity and to not give in to peer pressure to try to be something that you’re not.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
6. “It makes a big difference in your life when you stay positive.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
7. “Procrastination is not the problem. It is the solution. Procrastinate now, don’t put it off.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
8. “Haters are my motivators.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
9. “Above all, I strive to be the best I can – to be better than I was yesterday and better tomorrow.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
10. “Find out who you are and be that person. That’s what your soul was put on this Earth to be. Find that truth, live that truth and everything else will come.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
11. “So be who you really are. Embrace who you are. Literally. Hug yourself. Accept who you are. Unless you’re a serial killer.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
12. “When you take risks you learn that there will be times when you succeed and there will be times when you fail, and both are equally important.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
13. “When your heart is broken, when your heart has cracks in it, it lets the light in.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
14. “Procrastinate now, don’t put it off.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
15. “Follow your passion. Stay true to yourself. Never follow someone else’s path unless you’re in the woods and you’re lost and you see a path. By all means, you should follow that.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
16. “It’s failure that gives you the proper perspective on success.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
17. “Here are the values that I stand for: honesty, equality, kindness, compassion, treating people the way you want to be treated and helping those in need. To me, those are traditional values.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
18. “Be open to learning new lessons, even if they contradict the lessons you learned yesterday.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
19. “I enjoy growing older and wiser and learning from my mistakes every single day.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
20. “Sometimes you can’t see yourself clearly until you see yourself through the eyes of others.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
21. “Beauty is about being comfortable in your own skin. It’s about knowing and accepting who you are.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
22. “There’s no one way to dance. And that’s kind of my philosophy about everything.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
23. “Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for – in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
24. “It’s our challenges and obstacles that give us layers of depth and make us interesting.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
25. “People always ask me, ‘Were you funny as a child?’ Well, no, I was an accountant.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
26. “In the beginning there was nothing. God said, ‘Let there be light!’ And there was light. There was still nothing, but you could see it a whole lot better.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
27. “I never see the glass half empty because I drink out the bottle.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
28. “I’m going to be kind, because then it all just kind of spreads, and the world is a little nicer out there.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
29. “If someone ever says you’re weird, say thank you.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
30. “I like to try new things because I get bored so easily.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
31. “You’re never too old to play. You’re only too old for low-rise jeans.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
32. “Though you feel you’re not where you’re suppose to be, you shouldn’t worry because that next turn that you take, it will lead you to where you wanna go.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
33. “Do we have to know who’s gay and who’s straight? Can’t we just love everybody and judge them by the car they drive?”
— Ellen DeGeneres
34. “You’re gonna be ok, dum de dum dum dum, just dance.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
35. “We focus so much on our differences, and that is creating, I think, a lot of chaos and negativity and bullying in the world. And I think if everybody focused on what we all have in common – which is – we all want to be happy.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
36. “The thing everyone should realize is that the key to happiness is being happy for yourself and yourself.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
37. “You should never assume. You know what happens when you assume. You make an ass out of you and me because that’s how it’s spelled.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
38. “True beauty is not related to what color your hair is or what color your eyes are. True beauty is about who you are as a human being, your principles, your moral compass.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
39. “I personally like being unique. I like being my own person with my own style and my own opinions and my own toothbrush.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
40. “Sometimes the greatest things are the most embarrassing.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
41. “Haiku sounds like I’m Saying hi to someone named Ku. Hi, Ku. Hello.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
42. “You just have to keep driving down the road. It’s going to bend and curve and you’ll speed up and slow down, but the road keeps going.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
43. “Normally, I try not to pay attention to my haters, but this time I’d like to talk about it, because my haters are my motivators.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
44. “So many people prefer to live in drama because it’s comfortable. It’s like someone staying in a bad marriage or relationship – it’s actually easier to stay because they know what to expect every day, versus leaving and not knowing what to expect.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
45. “I hate having to do small talk. I’d rather talk about deep subjects. I’d rather talk about meditation, or the world, or the trees or animals, than small, inane, you know, banter.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
46. “Don’t you hate when people are late to work. And they always have the worst excuses. “Oh, I’m sorry I’m late, traffic.” “Traffic, huh? How do you think I got here; helicoptered in!?””
— Ellen DeGeneres
47. “Accept who you are. Unless you’re a serial killer.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
48. “Emote. It’s okay. It shows you are thinking and feeling.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
49. “Our flaws are what makes us human. If we can accept them as part of who we are, they really don’t even have to be an issue.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
50. “I don’t think I remember my first memory.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
51. “Sometimes something being taken away from you is exactly what you need to take a look at yourself.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
52. “The world is full of a lot of fear and a lot of negativity, and a lot of judgment. I just think people need to start shifting into joy and happiness. As corny as it sounds, we need to make a shift.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
53. “Things will get easier, people’s minds will change, and you should be alive to see it.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
54. “Do things that make you happy within the confines of the legal system.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
55. “What would bug the Taliban more than seeing a gay woman in a suit surrounded by Jews?”
— Ellen DeGeneres
56. “I would love for the world to be happier.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
57. “I became vegan because I saw footage of what really goes on in the slaughterhouses and on the dairy farms.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
58. “This is my real secret to being a joyful person: I make my life easy. I spend more time being grateful for what I have instead of focusing on what isn’t working. I no longer believe that people have to do things my way and that I have to be perfect.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
59. “There’s nothing I know for sure, because I know for sure that things change.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
60. “Gratitude is looking on the brighter side of the life, even if it means hurting your eyes.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
61. “I get those fleeting, beautiful moments of inner peace and stillness – and then the other 23 hours and 45 minutes of the day, I’m a human trying to make it through in this world.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
62. “I learned compassion from being discriminated against. Everything bad that’s ever happened to me has taught me compassion.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
63. “I like being busy and juggling a lot of things at the same time. I get bored easily, so I need to do a lot.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
64. “I’m probably the most honest person you’ll ever meet – to a fault, like, I-will-hurt-your-feelings honest. I’m sure if I lied about anything, it would have been silly, but I haven’t retained that information.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
65. “People love gossip. It’s the biggest thing that keeps the entertainment industry going.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
66. “All we have is here and now. That’s why procrastination feels so right. Procrastination isn’t the problem, it’s the solution.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
67. “One rough patch is not the big picture.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
68. “The only thing that scares me more than space aliens is the idea that there aren’t any space aliens. We can’t be the best that creation has to offer. I pray we’re not all there is. If so, we’re in big trouble.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
69. “It feels good. Kinda like when you have to shut your computer down, just sometimes when it goes crazy, you just shut it down and when you turn it on, it’s okay again. That’s what meditation is to me.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
70. “We’re just trying to find happiness in the bodies and minds we were given, like everyone else.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
71. “Please raise your children with love and non-judgement. Tell them everyone has the right to love who they want to love. It shouldn’t threaten you or who you are.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
72. “I’m not an activist; I don’t look for controversy. I’m not a political person, but I’m a person with compassion. I care passionately about equal rights. I care about human rights. I care about animal rights.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
73. “Start thinking positively. You will notice a difference. Instead of ‘I think I’m a loser,’ try ‘I definitely am a loser.’ Stop being wishy-washy about things! How much more of a loser can you be if you don’t even know you are one? Either you are a loser or you are not. Which is it, stupid?”
— Ellen DeGeneres
74. “All the commercials on TV today are for antidepressants, for Prozac or Paxil. And they get you right away. “Are you sad? Do you get stressed, do you have anxiety?” “Yes, I have all those things! I’m alive!””
— Ellen DeGeneres
75. “Beauty isn’t between a size zero and a size eight, it is not a number at all. It is not physical.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
76. “My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She’s ninety-seven now, and we don’t know where the hell she is.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
77. “There are people who study germs. I believe they are called Germans.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
78. “If success is really dependent on someone liking you or not liking you, and you have to teeter on that kind of tightrope of how you’re supposed to act and how you’re supposed to look and who you are, it’s just not a healthy way to live.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
79. “Never follow anyone else’s path, unless you’re in the woods and you’re lost.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
80. “If we lose our phones, we lose our phone books. You don’t memorize numbers anymore.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
81. “I don’t really ever live my life in fear. I really live my life in gratitude and feeling positive for the most part.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
82. “I just like observing people – it’s something I’ve done ever since I was a kid, and I got really good at it. That’s a big part of why I became a comedian. My audience is filled with every kind of person you can imagine, and I love that.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
83. “I used to beat myself up about weight and working out, and no matter what I did I never felt good about myself. I decided to accept myself and know that I am good.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
84. “I would rather be the good aunt who never says anything bad and lets the parents discipline the child.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
85. “I don’t know who had the bright idea of teaching pneumonia how to walk, but I’d like to find that dunderhead before he decides he wants to teach it how to drive.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
86. “I’m a godmother, that’s a great thing to be, a godmother. She calls me god for short, that’s cute, I taught her that.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
87. “If you want to get rid of stuff, you can always do a good spring-cleaning. Or you can do what I do. Move.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
88. “I admire people who know they can’t sing. There are so many people out there who can’t sing, but they think they can, so they sing a lot.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
89. “I’m a lesbian, an Aquarian, and a vegetarian.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
90. “What did the letter O say to Q? Dude, your dikk is hanging out.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
91. “Leaning forward in your chair when someone is trying to squeeze behind you isn’t enough. You also have to move the chair.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
92. “Did you ever feel like the whole world was going to a party and your invitation got lost in the mail?”
— Ellen DeGeneres
93. “I don’t want to take a pill. Go to Africa, go follow some bushman around. He’s being chased by a lion. That’s stress. You’re not going to find a pygmy on Paxil, I’ll tell you that right now.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
94. “I know that experts say you’re more likely to get hurt crossing the street than you are flying, but that doesn’t make me any less frightened of flying. If anything, it makes me more afraid of crossing the street.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
95. “It was so important for me to lose everything, because I found out what the most important thing is, which is to be true to yourself.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
96. “When we were growing up our parents somehow made it clear that being famous was good. And I mistakenly thought that if I was famous then everyone would love me.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
97. “I don’t need a baby growing inside me for nine months. If I’m going to feel nauseous and achy when I wake up, I want to achieve that state the old-fashioned way: getting good and drunk the night before.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
98. “I had a really tough time for a few years. My show was gone. My phone wasn’t ringing. There wasn’t one job offer. And at that point, I thought I knew for sure that I wouldn’t work in Hollywood again.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
99. “I’ve moved about 10 times over the past 15 years. I don’t move for the sole purpose of getting rid of stuff. I’m not crazy. I also move so that I never have to wash any windows.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
100. “My name is Ellen and I’m a vegetarian. Just to add another label to me: I am a lesbian, aquarian and vegetarian. I’ve said it…”
— Ellen DeGeneres
101. “If you’re in a position where you can help other people, there is nothing better in life than helping other people. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!”
— Ellen DeGeneres
102. “I feel like I have a hangover, without all the happy memories and mystery bruises.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
103. “I love furniture. And I thought, why are we not seeing who’s making the cool new coffee table and these new designs that come out?”
— Ellen DeGeneres
104. “One time I actually cleaned out my closet so good I ended up on the cover of Time magazine.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
105. “Portia and I have been married for 4 years and they have been the happiest of my life. And in those 4 years, I don’t think we hurt anyone else’s marriage. I asked all of my neighbors and they say they’re fine.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
106. “I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because it’s such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother is attractive, but I have photographs of her.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
107. “I love clothes, so when I wear clothes, they’re usually somebody’s. You know, I’m not wearing Kmart.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
108. “I think beauty comes from actually knowing who you are. That’s real beauty to me.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
109. “It was the hardest time of my life, but the best part of my journey.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
110. “Life is short. If you doubt me, ask a butterfly. Their average life span is a mere five to fourteen days.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
111. “I love Jesus but I drink alittle- Gladis Hardy from the Ellen Show.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
112. “People give me such a hard time because I don’t wear dresses. What’s that got to do with anything?”
— Ellen DeGeneres
113. “I was raised in an atmosphere of ‘everything’s fine.’ But as I got older, I was like, ‘Well no, everything’s not fine. There is stuff that’s sad.’ I am a really sensitive person. I think I am too sensitive sometimes.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
114. “Procrastination isn’t the problem. It’s the solution. It’s the universe’s way of saying stop, slow down, you move too fast.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
115. “Answers to Frequently Asked Questions: Yes. Yes. No. One time in high school. Three times in my twenties. Rocks no salt. Yes. Four. Never. And how dare you! I will take no further questions.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
116. “What goes up must come down, which is why I don’t wear tube tops.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
117. “I am saddened by how people treat one another and how we are so shut off from one another and how we judge one another, when the truth is, we are all one connected thing. We are all from the same exact molecules.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
118. “The reason I do what I do is because I was influenced by Steve Martin, by Woody Allen, by Bob Newhart, by Carol Burnett, by Lucille Ball.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
119. “I don’t understand the sizes anymore. There’s a size zero, which I didn’t even know that they had. It must stand for: ‘Ohhh my God, you’re thin.’”
— Ellen DeGeneres
120. “I’m on the patch right now. Where it releases small dosages of approval until I no longer crave it, and then I’m gonna rip it off.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
121. “When I look back on the stuff I used to wear, I wonder why somebody didn’t try to stop me. Just a friendly warning, “You may regret this,” would have been fine.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
122. “I’ve got a lot to say about television. There’s a lot going on in television right now and I feel like a huge part of television.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
123. “I wonder what will happen if i put a hand cream on my feet, will they get confused and start clapping?”
— Ellen DeGeneres
124. “My dream guests are really not so much celebrities. They’re people who are actually interesting and they’re doing something interesting with their lives or had an interesting experience in some way. I really enjoy talking to regular, everyday people.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
125. “It is a fundamental right for people to be allowed to love who they want to love and marry who they want to marry and stop holding on to some form of discrimination that it’s just isn’t fair.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
126. “I’m glad I’m funny. I’m glad I make people happy, because that’s very important. But I’m proud to be known as a kind person.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
127. “I just want to find somebody special, somebody that I click with.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
128. “I always worry when someone’s a good golfer. It’s like you shouldn’t have time to be good at anything. You should just be a politician and you shouldn’t have time to practice golf.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
129. “We can sit and worry about what’s going to happen to us two weeks from now. I’d rather focus on the amazing things happening right in front of us.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
130. “For someone like me, who loves to sweat and push herself, it’s a challenge to slow down, to sit, to breathe and hold poses.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
131. “The first person I learned I could make happy with laughter was my mother, whom I idolize. It was a powerful thing to realize. I knew I had found my life’s work.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
132. “That’s what life is all about. There’s a lot of crying. So you’d better cry now and get used to it.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
133. “I believe one day a ‘ban on gay marriage’ will sound totally ridiculous. In the meantime, I will continue to speak out for equality for all of us.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
134. “Why can’t rappers just say nice things? Like I wanna take your clothes off and hang them up in the closet real nice.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
135. “The stand up, everything was accidental. I never grew up and was the class clown and had to get the attention. It was – it really is, I have a career despite myself.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
136. “So excited for the Apple Watch. For centuries, we’ve checked the time by looking at our phones. Having it on your wrist? Genius.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
137. “When people show me clothing that seems very, very feminine, it’s hard for me to embrace that, because it just doesn’t feel like me.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
138. “The sixties were when hallucinogenic drugs were really, really big. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we had the type of shows we had then, like The Flying Nun.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
139. “For a long time I thought I knew for sure who I was. I grew up in New Orleans and became a comedian. And there was everything that came along with that. The nightclubs. The smoking. The drinking. Then I turned 13.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
140. “I think they should have a Barbie with a buzz cut.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
141. “I have an amazing team; I have amazing producers; I have amazing writers, but at the end of it, it’s me making the decisions on the writing, the tone, the editing.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
142. “It’s hard when paparazzi are photographing every single thing you do. I’m sure a lot of people made mistakes – they just were not documented the way they are now.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
143. “There would be nothing to get me to run for president. I don’t even understand how anyone would want that job at all. Although I would be able to play golf which I don’t seem to have time now.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
144. “Human beings only use ten percent of their brains. Ten percent! Can you imagine how much we could accomplish if we used the other sixty percent?”
— Ellen DeGeneres
145. “I really don’t think I need buns of steel. I’d be happy with buns of cinnamon.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
146. “Asking who’s the ‘man’ and who’s the ‘woman’ in a same-sex relationship is like asking which chopstick is the fork.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
147. “You say you’re sick and tired of hearing about me? I’ve got news for you: I’M sick and tired of hearing about me.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
148. “My point is, life is about balance. The good and the bad. The highs and the lows. The pina and the colada.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
149. “I watch people’s behavior and notice things. I think that’s why I became a comedian. I notice how stupid the things we do are.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
150. “I prefer to believe that people are good and honest and respect me enough to tell me the truth. It’s not easy to find those people all the time, but they’re out there.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
