Oprah Winfrey Speaks: Insights from the World's Most Influential Voice

by Janet Lowe

Overview

"People have told me that their lives have changed because of me. I take away from this the sense that I'm on the right track."
"I believe you're here to live your life with passion. Otherwise, you're just traveling through the world blindly-and there's no point to that."
"Oprah's on." It's the catchphrase that inspires millions around the world to tune in to one of the most trusted women in the history of television. Almost everyone follows Oprah's every move. One word about a book club selection sends an obscure first novel rocketing to the top of the bestseller list. Oprah Winfrey possesses what is arguably one of the world's most influential voices.
Alive with her unique warmth and insight, Oprah Winfrey Speaks reveals the mystique of Oprah in her own words. Drawing on hundreds of sources, Janet Lowe provides an evocative, personal portrait. Here are Oprah's opinions on everything from childhood and overcoming adversity to dealing with fame and staying real. Oprah Winfrey Speaks highlights Oprah's abiding faith, no-nonsense business rules, generosity, and love as well as her 10 commandments for lifelong success.
Oprah's lifetime theme has been personal transformation-she's constantly seeking, questioning, changing, and growing. This uplifting theme echoes throughout Oprah Winfrey Speaks.
Here is just a hint of the wisdom you'll discover:
* "Just tell the truth. It'll save you every time."
* "Don't complain about what you don't have. Use what you've got. To do less than your best is a sin. Every single one of us has the power for greatness, because greatness is determined by service-to yourself and to others."
* "I am a woman in progress. I'm just trying like everyone else. I try to take every conflict, every experience and learn from it. All I know is that I can't be anybody else. And it's taken me a long time to realize that."
* "If you're angry, be angry and deal with it. Don't go eat a bag of Ruffles."
* "God blesses you better when you pray on your knees."
The world listens when Oprah Winfrey Speaks
Here's just a hint of the wisdom you'll find inside...
"I am what I am because of my grandmother.
My strength. My sense of reasoning. Everything.
All that was set by the time I was six."
"Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity."
"I always feel if you do right, right will follow."
"You know the old clich-, 'a good man is hard to find'? Well, it's true. And the smarter you get, the harder they are to find."
This book has not been prepared, approved, licensed, or endorsed by Oprah Winfrey, Harpo Productions, or by any entity that creates, produces, or broadcasts THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780471399940
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	01/22/2001
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	4.51(w) x 7.52(h) x 0.59(d)

About the Author

Janet Lowe is the author of the bestselling Warren Buffett Speaks, Jack Welch Speaks, and Bill Gates Speaks, among others (all available from Wiley). Her articles have appeared in such publications as Newsweek, the Christian Science Monitor, the Los Angeles Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Ms. Lowe lives in Del Mar, California, with her husband, Austin Lynas.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 1: A Woman of Influence

Everyone Listens to Oprah

It is said that the United States has become the most influential country in the history of the world because of this nation's ability to communicate our popular culture. When Athens, Rome, and Victorian England were at their zenith, there were no televisions, videocassettes, or World Wide Webs to spread their values to every village. Yet it is neither our elected representatives nor our technological geniuses who are doing the most communicating. President Bill Clinton may have political power; Microsoft founder Bill Gates may have economic influence; but Oprah Winfrey spends more time on television both listening and talking to both ordinary and extraordinary people, and that gives her a larger audience than either the world's top political leader or its dominant industrialists.

Writer Fran Lebowitz says "Oprah is probably the greatest media influence on the adult population. She is almost a religion."

Oprah's community spills over borders:

"Every Euro-citizen can now watch Oprah Winfrey on his own national channel, dubbed or subtitled in his own language. There are no local equivalents, in spite of the limits that Europe imposed in 1991 on the import of American programs."

Oprah Winfrey persuaded people to listen to her from an early age. She began reciting and performing at church and community events at age three. She could read and write before she entered kindergarten. After a brief but boring time in kindergarten, she sent her teacher a note: "Dear Miss New: I do not think I belong here." Miss New got the message and immediately advanced Oprah to first grade.

Airline travelers once chose Oprah Winfrey as the person they'd most like to be seated with on a long flight. If they couldn't sit next to Oprah, they'd settle for Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ross Perot, Connie Chung, President Clinton, David Letterman, Dan Rather, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Madonna, or Boris Yeltsin.

"When Ellen said 'Yep! I'm gay,'" wrote Mark Steyn in The National Review, "Oprah was by her side, guesting as (what else?) the star's therapist. She is, of course, therapist to an entire nation. If only it weren't so hard for the rest of us to get an appointment."

Before she signed the contract to continue doing her show until the year 2000, Oprah thought long and hard. She had been in the talk show business for 21 years and was weary, but it was difficult to give up such a powerful platform. She chose to go on.

"I want to use television not only to entertain, but to help people lead better lives. I realize now, more than ever, that the show is the best way to accomplish these goals."

In 1993 Jet magazine reported that the word "Oprah" had become part of the youth lexicon, meaning "to engage in persistent, intimate questioning with the intention of obtaining a confession; usually used by men of women, as in `I wasn't going to tell her, but after a few drinks, she Oprah'd it out of me."

Five short years after Jet spotted the new teen usage for Oprah's name, The Wall Street Journal and National Review magazine confirmed a new word among adults...

Table of Contents

Preface.

Acknowledgments.

A Woman of Influence.

Oprah's Roots.

You Are Responsible For Your Life.

Finding Her Niche.

Oprah the Chief Executive Officer.

On Living With Fame and Fortune.

On Romance.

Oprah on the Outside.

Oprah On the Inside.

On Truth and Courage.

On Doing Right.

On Solving the World's Problems.

Oprah's Worst Mistakes.

Others Speak About Oprah.

Looking Ahead.

Timeline.

Endnotes.