Quotes About Adversity

I didn't have the welfare. I didn't have the proper education. I didn't have these things. That's why it's almost like a complex in me that I want to explode myself in my films.

When you question this war on poverty, you get all the criticisms from adherents to the status quo who just don't want to see anything change. We got to have the courage to face that down, just as we did in the welfare reform of the late 1990s, and if we succeeded, we can help resuscitate this culture and get people back to work.

I just remember one girl really getting me on the field and beating the holy crap out of me. I never to this day know why. And then people used to be funny because we were on welfare. People used to make fun of you. But I used to get school dinners so I thought it was great, I got a hot meal every day.

Defeat may serve as well as victory to shake the soul and let the glory out.

Mistakes are part of the game. It's how well you recover from them, that's the mark of a great player.

People say, 'We remember the good times.' Well I remember the bad times.

I'm not even scared of the devil. If the devil confronted me, I'd confront him as well.

If things aren't going so well, I try to stay positive and not give in to negative thoughts.

They call it the rope-a-dope. Well, I'm the dope. Ali just laid on the rope and I, like a dope, kept punching until I got tired. But he was probably the most smart fighter I've ever gotten into the ring with.

The furnace of affliction produces refinement, in states as well as individuals.

Everybody told me I was making a mistake by going into this business, but I know how to grow hair as well as I know how to grow cotton.

If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business.

Since human wisdom cannot secure us from accidents, it is the greatest effort of reason to bear them well.

I didn't respond well to a firm hand and insults.

Just like everyone else, I'm not perfect; I go through challenges as well.

Obviously, it's nice when you're having success, but this isn't going to last forever. There are going to be rough times as well, but you've just got to ride those.

You may lose by it now and then, but it will be a loss well gained if you do.

I was working on 'My Little Pony' in the '80s, but I got fired because I couldn't draw the ponies well enough. It was a horrible show.

Coming from a small South Dakota school, it was a different route to get to the NFL. I went from South Dakota State to the World League of American Football with the Amsterdam Admirals, and fortunately I did well enough there that the New England Patriots decided to sign me and give me a chance.

I shall be well enough when I get to Kentucky or Alabama. The tonic I need is the tonic of opposition. That always sets me on my feet.

There's two sides to the game, and you have to do the ugly side as well. If you're getting beat, and you're conceding the goals that we're getting beaten by, then it's because you're not defending and shutting people down well enough.

If I'm walking down the street, and if a person abuses me, the dignified thing to do is to keep walking, but if that person starts throwing stones into my home and affects the well-being of me and my family, then that silence is no longer strength; that silence becomes weakness.

I think of emotional well-being as a resource within each of us that allows us to do more and to perform better. That doesn't mean just the absence of mental illness. It's the presence of positive emotions that allows us to be resilient in the face of adversity.

Being in this business and surviving day-to-day can be a constant struggle. It's about learning how to be your own super hero, put on your own cape, and be a well-rounded individual.