Quotes About Adversity

You can hear me starting to stutter and slur my words.

Part of what was in the ether all around me growing up, until I was between 19 and 20, was a terrible, debilitating stutter. It was part of what made me very reclusive as a kid.

When I was younger, I had a terrible problem with stuttering.

I used to feel that everything I know I learned through my lifelong struggle with stuttering; I now feel this way about my damn back.

Brazil has people in some places with so difficult situations. They prefer to smile than cry because they love life. They love to be happy. That's Brazilian style.

My style has evolved in a nice way, but everyone has bad moments.

I've been at the very bottom of poverty, and it's not so bad. It's even kind of interesting. You can live there with a certain amount of style.

Now everybody has been doing the national anthem in their own style, but in 1968 I was the one that took the heat. It cut my career for quite a while.

I learned a lot from the Holmes fight. I learned about styles and the pressure. I'm more prepared now.

I love fighting different styles and overcoming obstacles.

As long as I retain my feeling and my passion for Nature, I can partly soften or subdue my other passions and resist or endure those of others.

Trying to write books with a subject matter or in a genre or style you're not familiar with is the best way to find the Big Block looming.

The story of 'Lasers' is my story. I didn't have to look too far to get subject matter for this record; it was stuff that was happening to me.

'Hard Times' does not romanticize the Depression, but at least a few of Mr. Terkel's subjects managed to find silver linings.

I had this inferiority complex as a child, as I was not good at speaking. I was also not good in studies or sports and would often flunk in four-five subjects.

I really love picking up subjects where people say, 'How is this going to work?' and trying to find a way to make it work because every story needs to be told.

I'm not a film-school guy. I was a high-school dropout. I was on a nuclear submarine. I was an electrician. I was a house painter.

Hitler bombed London into submission but in fact it created a sense of national solidarity.

I've had five submissions in the first round. I have 3, 4, 5 knockouts. I've had decisions. I've had grinding fights.

Yeah, I want these fights where people are going to stand in front of me and I'm going to knock them out. But is that going to be best for me in the long run? Probably not. I want those situations and knockouts and submissions against guys who won't just give them to me.

Submit to the present evil, lest a greater one befall you.

I have made mistakes, but I didn't make them again. Even when I struggled, I promised myself never to submit in life.

Of course I will submit if I have a chance, but I always prefer to finish a fight in a stand-up position.

I try to cancel out every possibility of losing the fight, and this runs through my head all day long. I'm seeing myself become smashed in the face, cut, or being submitted or being knocked out in so many different ways all day long.