I think particularly coming from a family of immigrants, it's a really easy way to feel part of the dominant culture. So, being part of an ad is actually just really glamorous and fun for me because I know my entire family is going to tune in, i come from Boston, so my dad is like the biggest Tom Brady, Patriots fan and Tom Brady love of Tom Brady remained as Tom Brady moved on to the Buckaneers.

Mindy Kaling

If you are going to ask your crush for their phone number, you are one of the small group of women I am so jealous of.

Mindy Kaling

crush jealous phones

Sometimes you just have to put on lip gloss and pretend to be psyched.

Mindy Kaling

inspirational life funny

There is no sunrise so beautiful that it is worth waking me up to see it.

Mindy Kaling

sleep beautiful funny

When I was a kid, I would always write down lists of my favorite things and keep them in my wallet, just in case someone ever needed to know what my 10 favorite foods were, or my 10 favorite actors.

Mindy Kaling

my-favorite writing kids

I have a personality defect where I sort of refuse to see myself as an underdog... It's because of my parents. They raised me with the entitlement of a tall, blond, white man.

Mindy Kaling

white-man personality men

Teenage girls, please don’t worry about being super popular in high school, or being the best actress in high school, or the best athlete. Not only do people not care about any of that the second you graduate, but when you get older, if you reference your successes in high school too much, it actually makes you look kind of pitiful, like some babbling old Tennessee Williams character with nothing else going on in her current life. What I’ve noticed is that almost no one who was a big star in high school is also big star later in life. For us overlooked kids, it’s so wonderfully fair.

Mindy Kaling

funny-inspirational girl stars

Everyone should try to live their life like they'd like to be a role model.

Mindy Kaling

role-models roles trying

I'd rather be like Odysseus than someone who was handed everything.

Mindy Kaling

odysseus

I would rather have someone read my diary than look at my iPod playlists.

Mindy Kaling

ipods diaries looks

I have a personality defect where I refuse to see myself as an underdog.

Mindy Kaling

defects underdog personality

I feel the same way about clothes as I do about food. I want everything.

Mindy Kaling

clothes want way

My whole childhood was like: Work hard, be quiet, respect elderly people, respect your parents, and just be unobtrusive.

Mindy Kaling

elderly hard-work people

Write your own part. It is the only way I've gotten anywhere. It is much harder work, but sometimes you have to take destiny into your own hands.

Mindy Kaling

destiny writing graduation

I'm the kind of person who would rather get my hopes up really high and watch them get dashed to pieces than wisely keep my expectations at bay and hope they are exceeded. This quality has made me a needy and theatrical friend, but has given me a spectacularly dramatic emotional life.

Mindy Kaling

quality emotional expectations

There Has Ceased to Be a Difference Between My Awake Clothes and My Asleep Clothes

Mindy Kaling

awake clothes differences

I don't ever remember being able to debate with my parents. Even though I thought of myself as a very bright kid, I couldn't be vocal in that way.

Mindy Kaling

able parent kids

The funniest racism is the racism between minorities. It's something you don't see dramatized, but almost every minority I know who's my age, they have these funny stories about their parents stereotyping other minorities.

Mindy Kaling

racism birthday funny

Here's my feeling: For everyone, men and women, it's important to be a feminist. It's important to have female characters. It's wonderful for women to mentor other women, but it's just as important for women to mentor men and vice-versa. In my line of work, having Greg Daniels be such a great mentor to me is fantastic. Finding a writer's assistant, be it a man or a woman, and encouraging them to think with a feminist perspective, is key.

Mindy Kaling

character men thinking

I have never regretted erring on the side of withholding information.

Mindy Kaling

erring information sides