149 Quotes by Valerie Jarrett

By 30, I was separated from my husband, and I clearly remember sitting in my lovely office with a magnificent view, staring at a very lucrative pay stub, and bursting into tears because I was just miserable. So I had to make a decision: Keep following my plan, or be honest with myself and search for my true passion.

I had my daughter when I was pretty young, 28, and I had to sacrifice not going out with my friends, and I had to figure out how to juggle both raising her and also a very demanding job.

Own your choices. Don't feel ashamed about what you're doing, trust yourself that you're a good parent, don't let anybody else shame you, and, certainly, don't shame yourself.

I'm always trying to improve. I think I take criticism constructively.

I'm kind of old to change. But if somebody were to come to me and say, 'You know what, Valerie? I think if you were to do this it would be more helpful,' of course I would listen to that.

A big part of our agenda is to position the United States for long-term sustainable growth and health, and those jobs come from the private sector.

I wouldn't trade the best days of my life in the private sector for the worst days of my life in the public sector.

I don't want to just tell my story - I want to share the experiences, life lessons, and values that have shaped who I am and my ideas for the future.

When you're a member of a team, when I was member of a team, whether I ultimately agreed or disagreed, once a president makes a decision, everybody, in my opinion, has to go with that decision, or you shouldn't be a member of the team. Your reputation rises and falls with the person who's the leader of the team.