Daily Inspiration Quote by Barbra Streisand

Streisand lands this like a rimshot: the polite fiction of “merit” giving way to the grubby reality of campaigning. “Most awards” is doing a lot of work here. She’s not indicting one ceremony or one petty slight; she’s naming an ecosystem where recognition is rarely a pure byproduct of excellence and more often the result of visibility, networking, and strategic self-advocacy. The sly “you know” invites you in as a co-conspirator, as if everyone already understands the game but prefers not to say it out loud.

The punch is in the feigned innocence of “did you know that?” Streisand, a performer who’s navigated Hollywood’s prestige machinery for decades, obviously knows. She’s using mock discovery to expose how absurd it is that artists must hustle for validation from institutions that claim to be impartial. It’s a joke with teeth: the industry sells the romance of the trophy, then quietly hands you a clipboard and a schedule of lunches with voters.

“Terribly discouraging” sharpens the critique by refusing melodrama. She doesn’t rant; she deadpans. The understatement doubles as emotional truth: the requirement to “go and get them” rewards the already-connected, the well-funded, the socially fluent. If you’re exhausted, private, or simply uninterested in turning your work into a marketing campaign, the system punishes you.

Coming from Streisand - famously exacting, often read as “difficult” when she’s simply in control - the line also flips the stereotype. It’s not ambition that’s distasteful; it’s having to perform ambition for permission to be taken seriously.