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Job, Money, Career, Education and Social Mobility Quotes
The quotes below are good reminders, perhaps best said, about what it takes to reach the various goals in life which could make your life more comfortable and fulfilling.
“[You] know who’s the most uncomfortable mother—— in the room? The nigga that’s right.”
— Dave Chappelle: The Bird Revelation
You should only spend your money in two ways: One, if it’s going to help you grow your business. And two, if it’s going to make your life easier.
— “So Much I Wanna Tell You” Page 93
Don’t underestimate the power of decision. Once you decide to do something, that it’s something you must do, you’ll make time for it. You’ll find a way to start, even if you don’t have professional filming equipment or screenwriting software. All the time you spend wondering how to do something could be spent actually doing it and getting better at it.
So the next time you ask yourself “How do I star?” maybe rephrase the question to “When am I going to start?”
— “So Much I Wanna Tell You” Page 28
If you believe there’s money, it will come to you.
— “Half a Sheet Cake & a Blue-Raspberry Slushie” SMILF
Most successful people will tell you to follow your dreams. I’d say fall into them.
— “So Much I Wanna Tell You” by Anna Akana – Page 5 (Part 1: Creativity – Find Your Voice)
If you’re going to build a team, don’t build a team associating with people who do what you do. Because if you surround yourself with people who do what you do, they’re going to compete with you. You want people who are good at what you’re not good at so they complete you. […] They should accessorize your limitations.
— Bishop T.D. Jakes (The Breakfast Club – 10/11/2017)
“The business is not the dream, it is the transportation to the dream.”
— Bishop T.D. Jakes (The Breakfast Club – 10/11/2017)
It’s about purpose driven, not profit driven. If you are purpose driven, the profits will follow you. If you’re profit driven, then you’ll always be hustling.
— Bishop T.D. Jakes (The Breakfast Club – 10/11/2017)
My motto in life has always been: If somebody says “No,” you’re talking to the wrong person.
— “Episode 10: Kris Jenner” Never Before with Janet Mock
I told them ‘We’re about setting precedences.’ I don’t want to hear ‘Oh, this didn’t work for somebody else.’ If anything, we should look at why it didn’t work for that other person and use that to make it work for us.
— Amanda Seales (The Breakfast Club – 8/9/2017)
I think many of our young people have been taught: Go to school, graduate, get yourself a good job, don’t make too much noise on the job, fit in so you can earn a decent salary, or you can get a raise. […] Life is about a lot more than that. Life is not only about aspiring to opportunity but not allowing people to dismiss you, to undermine you, to intimidate you. […] You have to find a way to not only speak up for yourself but organize with others so that we can challenge injustice.
— Maxine Waters (The Breakfast Club – 8/7/2017)
“You had two kinds of guys we ran into at that time. There were the kinds of guys that wanted to go home at five o’clock, and their interest in what you were doing didn’t exceed the normal demands of the day for them. And those guys never lasted. Because when you’re trying to push the boundaries on things and when you’re moving into different types of frontiers, you need to be surrounded by people who really believe in what you’re doing.”
— The Defiant Ones – Part 1
[Quoting Winston Churchill] The price of greatness is responsibility.
— Angela Rye – The Breakfast Club (7/13/2017)
The best thing to do to prepare for something, in a way, is just to really take care of yourself, you know, psychologically, and then just kind of show up. Because anybody can fumble the ball if they’re […] in their head, no matter how good they were at practice.
— “Robert Downey Jr.” Off Camera with Sam Jones
[…] everything pays off. Anything you take an interest in as an artist, you’ll be able to use in your work.
— “Robert Downey Jr.” Off Camera with Sam Jones
I think the greatest gift anybody can give anyone or anyone can cultivate is the ability to develop your hustle, you know?
— “Robert Downey Jr.” Off Camera with Sam Jones
People ask me if you get nervous when you go on stage? It’s like asking a pilot if he gets nervous before a flight. I might hit some weather, but I feel like we normally land the plane.
— Dave Chappelle – 6.30.2017 (The Breakfast Club)
It’s not necessarily you feel like you have something to prove, I’m sure you guys feel the same way, it’s like quality control. You want to make sure whatever you offer, you put your best foot forward. It doesn’t mean you don’t want to prove anything, it just means you respect the people that respect you and you wanna reciprocate their respect with a good product.
— Dave Chappelle – 6.30.2017 (The Breakfast Club)
I’m not frustrated, but I am determined.
— “Episode 3: Maxine Waters.” Never Before with Janet Mock
I was always raised with the concept of not being a dilettante. […] When you took something up […], you didn’t dabble in it. […] If you wanted to do it, you were going to practice, and you were going to be disciplined and learn how to do it properly.
— Elisabeth Moss
People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
— Van Jones
Budgets open conversations and deposits close deals.
— Tami Roman
[…] there’s a difference between being ready and being ready to do it well.
— Leap (Ballerina)
“She wanted to do something, figured out a way to do it, and then she did it. She had a level of fearlessness that you have to possess to take on something like she did. If you stop to consider the ramifications, you’ll never do anything.”
“Chapter 2: Born a Crime” Location 360-362
— Born a Crime – Stories from a South African Childhood
Nelson Mandela once said, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” He was so right. When you make the effort to speak someone else’s language, even if it’s just basic phrases here and there, you are saying to them, “I understand that you have a culture and identity that exists beyond me. I see you as a human being.”
Chapter 17: The World Doesn’t Love You — Location 3372-3375
— Born a Crime – Stories from a South African Childhood
The first thing I learned about having money was that it gives you choices. People don’t want to be rich. They want to be able to choose. The richer you are, the more choices you have. That is the freedom of money.
“Chapter 15: Go Hitler!” Location 2619-2621
— Born a Crime – Stories from a South African Childhood
When you’re trying to stretch your money, food is where you have to be careful. You have to plan or you’ll eat your profits.
Chapter 16: The Cheese Boys — Location 3006-3007
— Born a Crime – Stories from a South African Childhood
“[…] a knowledgeable man is a free man, or at least a man who longs for freedom.”
Chapter 4: Chameleon — Location 930-931
— Born a Crime – Stories from a South African Childhood
People love to say, “Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he’ll eat for a lifetime.” What they don’t say is, “And it would be nice if you gave him a fishing rod.” That’s the part of the analogy that’s missing.
Chapter 15: Go Hitler! — Location 2655-2657
— Born a Crime – Stories from a South African Childhood
People say, “Oh, that’s a handout.” No. I still have to work to profit by it.
Chapter 15: Go Hitler! — Location 2659-2659
— Born a Crime – Stories from a South African Childhood
[…] comfort can be dangerous. Comfort provides a floor but also a ceiling.
Chapter 16: The Cheese Boys — Location 3100-3100
— Born a Crime – Stories from a South African Childhood
In America the dream is to make it out of the ghetto. In Soweto, because there was no leaving the ghetto, the dream was to transform the ghetto.
“Chapter 3: Trevor Pray” Location 618-619
— Born a Crime – Stories from a South African Childhood
I had a natural talent for selling to people, but without knowledge and resources, where was that going to get me? People always lecture the poor: “Take responsibility for yourself! Make something of yourself!” But with what raw materials are the poor to make something of themselves?
“Chapter 15: Go Hitler!” Location 2652-2655
— Born a Crime – Stories from a South African Childhood
Hustling is to work what surfing the Internet is to reading. If you add up how much you read in a year on the Internet—tweets, Facebook posts, lists—you’ve read the equivalent of a shit ton of books, but in fact you’ve read no books in a year. When I look back on it, that’s what hustling was. It’s maximal effort put into minimal gain. It’s a hamster wheel.
“Chapter 16: The Cheese Boys” Location 3074-3076
— Born a Crime – Stories from a South African Childhood
So many people have respect for the future, but no respect for the present. They got their eye on their prize but they don’t have their eyes on the next step. If you don’t honor the next step, you won’t make it to the prize. And this is important for people to understand. They are so excited about where they are going that they don’t have respect for where they are. If you don’t have respect for where you are, you don’t get to where you’re going.
— Bishop T.D. Jakes (The Breakfast Club – 10/11/2017)
In pursuit of your dreams, deal with your reality.
— Charlagmagne The God (The Breakfast Club – 10/11/2017)
Letting things get personal is how we make it matter.
— “Burnt Food.” The Good Doctor
[…] you’ll only run out of ideas if you close yourself off to things—to new ideas, new experiences, new people. Don’t be afraid to change, to grow, and to learn—that’s the only way to keep yourself creatively vital.
— “So Much I Wanna Tell You” Page 19
I don’t run from the fight, I’m not scared of consequences. Because if you’re scared of consequences then that breeds fear, and fear means you’re gonna stop.
– Katt Williams
Sometimes when you’re expressing the thoughts of the minority, you run the risk of being rejected by the majority, but that rejection should not be the reason you stop. It should be an inspiration for you to continue.
– D.L. Hughley
[…] thankfully there’s a cure for youth and stupidity: Time and experience.
— “Burnt Food.” The Good Doctor
The difference between ignorant and stupid is that ignorant can learn.
— “Part 1.” Alias Grace
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