Quotes About Persistence

I wanted to play saxophone, but all I could get were a few squeaks.

I've learned never to say never.

My philosophy is that on a scale of 1 to 10, I will go to 15. No matter what!

No matter what, I still was gonna make music, even if it was on a small scale. Even if it was just for me.

The first few years in L.A. were really tough and scary, but I had to figure things out for myself.

For us, as hoopers and as basketball players, doesn't matter the scenario, the scene. True hoopers and true basketball players are going to get out and perform.

Some scenes take days and weeks, and some scenes take an hour.

I've worked extremely hard. There's always that part that people don't see, the things you do behind the scenes.

Even over the course of the NBA's schedule, you're gonna have games where you're gonna take your lumps.

Scheduling me is not easy, as most people know, because once I start, I don't stop.

What drew me into being an actor was that I never got cast in the school plays - and it used to kill me.

Well, I mean, I'm still a scientist, you know. I think once a scientist, always a scientist.

You want to score in every game and to fight hard.

I really enjoy playing a lot of games because I always want to score more and play more.

I always want to go out and score, but there are times when you can't.

If the beat feels like it don't make you move right, I scrap that and go to another track. Sometimes it takes 10 minutes, sometimes it takes an hour to get one done.

I'll play until they have to scrape me off the stage.

I come from an era where you just build something. Me and Common built what we built from Chicago from scratch.

I get up every morning the same as everyone else, and scratch my head and just get on with the job. Whatever that job may be.

When I met Judd Apatow, he told me I should start writing screenplays. They'd be really bad at first, but the more I did it, the better I'd get.

I do have screenplays I've written that never saw the light of day, but I don't usually go back to them. When I've told a story, I want to tell another story.

In 2007, I probably wrote four screenplays in the entire year. Every three months I was writing a screenplay.

I read the script, and I knew it was a good part. It was written for a white actor. That's what I'm up against - I have to try to make roles happen for me that aren't written black.

When I started out, nobody gave me scripts, so I had to write.