“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
"I want everything, right now, and I want it all. I do not want to be modest and just be happy with a little piece if I behave well. I want everything to be as beautiful as when I was a child - or die."
– Antigone, Jean Anouilh
When I was 20, I played the role of the Greek theater heroin, Antigone. She is this fragile dark-hair small young woman that nobody never really noticed. At first sight, she has everything to live a quiet and wealthy life. Yet one day, against order and establishment, she quits everything to stay true to the dreams and values she had set for herself – and she dies to accomplish her destiny. Although I played her role for few hours, Antigone inspired the way I walk through my life.
I want to always follow my dreams: I worked in the publishing industry because I had a passion for books; I moved to the US because this country fascinated me since my childhood; I came to HBS because I wanted to study at the best place in the world. My next dream would be to take a leading role in the media industry or create a company, and ultimately give back to my family in France.
I want to remain true to my values: I want to feel alive each minute of my life, in the greatest moments as the simplest ones, and transmit this intensity around me. I want to remain faithful to my friends, be here when they need me, as I needed them in difficult times. I want to always look for diversity in people or places, to discover the 'unknown' every day.
I do not want things to be small or boring. Even if I fall many times along the way, Antigone's words remind me that I should never give up, especially when people say "no."
When I was 20, I played the role of the Greek theater heroin, Antigone. She is this fragile dark-hair small young woman that nobody never really noticed. At first sight, she has everything to live a quiet and wealthy life. Yet one day, against order and establishment, she quits everything to stay true to the dreams and values she had set for herself – and she dies to accomplish her destiny. Although I played her role for few hours, Antigone inspired the way I walk through my life.
I want to always follow my dreams: I worked in the publishing industry because I had a passion for books; I moved to the US because this country fascinated me since my childhood; I came to HBS because I wanted to study at the best place in the world. My next dream would be to take a leading role in the media industry or create a company, and ultimately give back to my family in France.
I want to remain true to my values: I want to feel alive each minute of my life, in the greatest moments as the simplest ones, and transmit this intensity around me. I want to remain faithful to my friends, be here when they need me, as I needed them in difficult times. I want to always look for diversity in people or places, to discover the 'unknown' every day.
I do not want things to be small or boring. Even if I fall many times along the way, Antigone's words remind me that I should never give up, especially when people say "no."
— Marie-Laure Goepfer