"Getting ahead in a difficult profession — singing, acting, writing, whatever — requires avid faith in yourself. You must be able to sustain yourself against staggering blows and unfair reversals.

When I think back to those first couple of years in Rome, those endless rejections, without a glimmer of encouragement from anyone, all those failed screen tests, and yet I never let my desire slide away from me, my belief in myself and what I felt I could achieve."

-- Legendary beauty and actress Sophia Loren who received an honorary Academy Award in 1990 for "a career rich with memorable performances that has added permanent luster to our art form."