Baby steps count, too, as long as you're moving forward.
Chris Gardner
Don't wait for the perfect time to start making changes to your life; the time is now.
Your net worth can fluctuate, but your self-worth should only appreciate.
Everybody got a dream. What's the plan?
My first ambition in life, I made up my mind I was going to become Miles Davis. I studied music, music theory. I played trumpet for nine years. One day, my mother explained, 'You can't be Miles Davis. There's one, and he's got that job.'
Racism is not new. It was not invented just for you. So get bigger than that stuff.
When you're doing something you're truly passionate about, there is no plan B.
If you're having a hard time recognizing your gifts, look to someone else you know who's been resourceful. You may be surprised by how your own strengths rise to the surface by watching someone else.
My biggest hero was my mother. She told me every day that I could do or be anything. I knew it, I believed it, and I embraced it.
Passion is not something you have to talk about. People feel it.
I cut grass, I did yard work, I did roofing, I cleaned basements to take care of my family.
What can we be in life? Few figures in history have answered this question with as much clarity and moral authority as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Probably the hardest question I get asked is, 'How do I choose between passion and practicality?' I can't answer that. I had to do both. I was passionate about pursuing a career in financial services. But I was also passionate about feeding my child.
I didn't grow up in a household where dinner conversation was, 'How did the market do today?'
I've been saying to people for a long time, 'If you're not doing something you're tremendously excited about, and you're not feeling passionate about it, you're compromising yourself every day.'
Just remember, you're never too old to have a hero.
The people who care the most about the folks in your community are living in the community. They don't live in Washington, D.C.
So many men have holes in their souls the shape of their fathers. You can pass that on to your kid, or you can do something about it, and I'm seeing a lot of men doing something about it.
If you're lucky enough to have a permanent position, don't feel entitled. Companies value longtime employees' institutional memory, but to be irreplaceable, you must stay invested. Take the initiative and assume new responsibilities.
One time, I was going to be in L.A. for 10 days for a business conference, and I took eight different pairs of sandals.
You can blame outside factors or make excuses about why things didn't work out, but that doesn't change anything.
Everything that I learned in the Navy, I took it with me into the next phase of my life.
Most of us have heard the saying, 'Cleanliness is next to godliness.' That's a sentiment I value, but another virtue has inspired me to revise that saying. As far as I'm concerned, what's next to godliness is resourcefulness.
Salespeople are the most important people in any organization. Until a salesperson gets an order, nobody in the company has a job.
Be bold enough to find the one thing that you are passionate about. It might not be what you were trained to do. But be bold enough to do the one thing. Nobody needs to dig it but you.
Your skills may not be anything out of the ordinary, but you can do miraculous things with what you've got. Maybe it's your parenting skills, or your compassion. It may be your curiosity, your imagination or unique style of fashion. Even if it seems to be no big deal, the lesson here is we all have unique abilities and talents.
Sometimes we are so busy helping others that we forget about ourselves. Remember, it's okay to say no and to ask others to carry their own weight.
Veterans who are homeless may not have a home, but that doesn't mean they don't have diverse skills that could be put to use to meet the needs of an expanding job market.
My stepfather was fond of letting me know, quote, 'I ain't your... damn daddy.' That was something that was painful, to put it mildly.
I've been talking to a lot of young people, especially here in America. I let them know that the people who they're competing with for opportunities live all over the place. They're probably not in your city, state, or country; they are hungry, and they are grinding! Some of the things that a lot of us take for granted, these people don't.
As long as you have a plan for how you'll live, don't let jealous people turn their insecurities into yours.
You want be young and have fun, that's great. But while you're having fun, someone you don't see is studying and preparing. You might end up working for that person. No one wants to hear that! But I try to tell young people: You want to be the one signing the front of the check, not the back.
You're never too old to do something new.
I'm a Levi's guy.
The hardest thing that I had to do every day as a working single parent was child care, to have to leave my child with people that I did not know and hope everything was OK, that was the most painful part of every day.
I initially moved to San Francisco to become a research associate for one of the top young heart surgeons in the country. Everything that I learned in that position is that skills, talent, and expertise are transferable.
Business school professors don't take selling seriously because they don't know how to sell. It's easy to talk about business theory and production time and just-in-time development. Selling is much more difficult.
Many have forged a path to greatness lit only by a vision in their minds.
We can all learn something from people we admire.
I am very, very conscious of time. I always wear two watches. People ask me, 'Why do you do that?' Because I was late once,and it cost me a huge opportunity.
I'm known to be aggressively early.
I made a decision as a five-year-old boy that my kids will know who their father is.
I went through pain as a child so my children wouldn't have to.
I have one of those old-fashioned mothers who told me every single day, 'Son, you can do or be anything that you want to do or be.' And I believed it. I bought into it 100%.
I've said that if you're not doing something that you're passionate about, you're compromising yourself every single day.
I chose to embrace the spirit of my mother, who, though she had too many of her own dreams denied, deferred, and destroyed, she still instilled in me, her child, that I could have dreams and that I did have a responsibility and the power.
I had never gone to college. I was not from a politically connected family. I had no money of my own. Who is going to do business with you?
I'm encouraged by what I see of men trying to be there for their children.
Will Smith played Chris Gardner better than Chris Gardner ever did.
I hold one thing dearer than all else: my commitment to my son.
