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Blake Lively may be best known for playing the Upper East Side’s resident It Girl on Gossip Girl, but in real life, she’s more “serene” than “Serena.” Lively grew up in L.A. as the baby in a family of actors hailing from Georgia, who she’s often said treated her like an adult even when she was a child. That combination of maturity and Southern roots has led to the drama-free, down-to-earth mama of four that we know and love today.
So while Serena van der Woodsen may be good fashion inspo, Blake Lively takes all that experience and is the ultimate good life inspo. From reflections on love to how she approaches her career, these 18 wise quotes will help you sprinkle some of Lively’s city slash country girl charm into your own life.
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“The most beautiful thing you can wear is confidence.” —Blake Lively
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“I’d rather be by myself than be spending any time or energy on somebody that I didn’t feel sure about.” —Blake Lively
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“I take a cooking class everywhere I travel. I find it’s the best way to get to know a culture.” —Blake Lively
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“People want things with meaning. I know that because I want that.” —Blake Lively
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“My greatest passion is my personal life.” —Blake Lively
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“Every relationship you have, you’re learning and growing and taking something from that.” —Blake Lively
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“I have a strong sense of myself. That gives me a sense of security, you know? If I define myself by things that are always changing, like the public’s opinion, or what I’m wearing, or what job I’m doing, there’s no stability in that.” —Blake Lively
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“I always appreciated the magnitude of my mother’s imagination. She always saw beauty in what was broken and she’d preserve it.” —Blake Lively
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“The most powerful thing is for women not just to be the beneficiaries of the change, but to be agents of it.” —Blake Lively
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“If you ever want something badly, let it go. If it comes back to you, then it’s yours forever. If it doesn’t, then it was never yours to begin with.” —Blake Lively
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“You can’t be an entrepreneur for other people. You can’t start a company for other people. You have to love it more than you ever thought of loving something that wasn’t a human being. The demands will kick you down and rob your life — but yet it is so rewarding.” —Blake Lively
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“Wanting to be an actor and wanting to be famous are different.” —Blake Lively
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“You can learn a lot from criticism if you can take what’s constructive out of it.” —Blake Lively
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“There are a few things in life that matter above all else: your family, your friends, your loved ones. But everything else comes and goes, especially in this business where everything is so of the moment.” —Blake Lively
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“Each day, I choose my age.” —Blake Lively
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“I’m not in the business of trying to win the approval of my cast members, my director, or my audience. If I were, I’d be so beaten down by insecurity that I’d never be able to perform. The only person I’m trying to prove something to is myself.” —Blake Lively
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“I feel like there are so many people I admire for so many reasons that I can’t look at one person’s life and say, ‘I want that life.’ I want to make my own history.” —Blake Lively
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"The best compliment I've ever received was when someone on social media called me a 'crown straightener' — a woman who straightens the crowns of all the other women around her." —Blake Lively
Looking for more celebrity wisdom? Check out these 22 equally wise quotes from Blake’s bestie, Taylor Swift.
Header image via Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
