Quotes from Chris Gardner

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%.

Racism is not new. It was not invented just for you. So get bigger than that stuff.

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.'

If you want something, go get it. Period.

Don't ever be afraid to hire people that are smarter than you. Just because they are smarter than you doesn't mean they have to make more money.

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.

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.

As long as you have a plan for how you'll live, don't let jealous people turn their insecurities into yours.

No matter what you accomplish, when you're doing something you're truly passionate about... the opportunities are always going to be bigger.

When you're doing something you're truly passionate about, there is no plan B.

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.'

People can't do something themselves, they want to tell you you can't do it. You want something, go get it.

I was blessed to have the guys at Bear Stearns as mentors. They taught me a lot, but most of all, they taught me that there's nothing wrong with selling if you're selling the right product to the right person.

You're never too old to do something new.

I hold one thing dearer than all else: my commitment to my son.

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.

As children, very few of us have the capacity to fend off demeaning, negating comments, even the ones that are made without malice. Our work as adults is to make the choice to not pass those words on to our kids and to reject cruel or unthinking remarks about ourselves—to flick 'em off our shoulders like dandruff!

if anybody asks you who you are, tell them you are a child of God." That message translated in such a way that you would never call yourself a slave or tell anyone that you were a child of slaves or that you belonged to a slave owner. As a child of God, you were not a mistake, or a product of lust or rape, but you were meant to be here, to learn, love, and be loved.

It's okay to fail, it's not okay to quit.

until you are at home in yourself, familiar with the knowledge of the gold of who you are, where you come from, where you've been, and who you were meant to be, you'll be basically "homeless." In other words, until you can come to value all experience, and find some happyness in everything you've lived and will live, you will be without your ultimate riches.

I used to think that I knew something about poverty. You have not seen poverty until you've seen it in Africa.

Unfortunately, some of the best fathers are mothers.

I also often hear people say that the deck is stacked against them because of racism, sexism, or other oppressive 'isms.' But once you let go of the blame and excuses, you'll see that you can alter your position on your own.

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.