Don’t live down to expectations. Go out there and do something remarkable.

The line urges a refusal of the limiting scripts other people write for us—family expectations, institutional labels, or cultural stereotypes. “Don’t live down to expectations” flips the usual warning (“don’t live up to…”) to suggest that even meeting expectations can be a kind of diminishment if those expectations are small, conventional, or biased. The second sentence pushes toward agency and ambition: take risks, exceed the assigned role, and pursue work that is distinctive rather than merely acceptable. Read in light of Wasserstein’s recurring dramatic concerns—women negotiating ambition, identity, and social pressure—the quote functions as a compact manifesto for self-definition and creative courage.