Quotes About Resilience

I don't think I can go back to New Orleans. I don't think that's possible.

My mom was an orphan, and there was never anybody to tell her what she could or couldn't do. At the core, she's probably an artist - an artist and a feminist.

When I was an orphan, I was the richest kid at the orphanage because everyone else was complaining about not having anything. But when I discovered that you could get two cents for a Coca-Cola bottle, I would follow people around who were drinking it and ask them if they were almost through with it.

My son, who is five, was adopted from Ethiopia. My daughter was adopted from Guatemala. Her parents died of typhoid and malaria. We got her from an orphanage. They are the lights of my life.

My mother left me for seven years in an orphanage.

Military brats have this toughness: they're almost like orphans or foster children; they develop little mechanisms. It sets you up to look at things a little differently.

Many people, for many reasons, feel rootless - but orphans and abandoned or abused children have particular cause.

It took me three and a half years to go from being sentenced in federal court to going to the Oscars.

No matter what the game was or how much older and stronger the other kids were, we were taught to give it everything we had until it was over. Never give less than one hundred percent.

My daughter told me, 'Daddy, if I don't make it, I don't want you to stop helping these other kids.' So that's where I've been able to go on. I tell people - and I really believe this - I didn't lose a daughter; I gained so many other kids.

Not having a mum was my thing. It came with a sort of fame. Other kids couldn't get their head around that. But looking back now, I'm quite proud about how I managed myself. I didn't end up sniffing glue or running away. I just got on with things.

When you get knocked down, you got to get backup. Otherwise, you are going to lose.

I've been doing my job well for 17 years. People must see something in me. Otherwise, I'd be over and out.

There are things that I am doing apart from films to keep me normal. Otherwise, emotionally, it is very draining.

I had to walk away from America, and say goodbye to the biggest part of my career, because I knew otherwise my demons would get the better of me.

Ofili is still a champion. It would be a huge mistake to think otherwise.

I don't think anybody in America ought to be scared.

My entire life, nothing's been easy. This is the way it ought to be.

When I got out of the hospital, it was one of those classic things - you're looking death in the eye, and it changes you. I thought, I ought to go back on the road.

When I'm not as humble as I ought to be, I tend to get knocked down. What I do is to glorify God.

I've eaten sheep's eyes, the still hot meat from a zebra killed by a lion, and maggots which give you 70 calories to the ounce.

I have always had faith in our community because I've seen us come together in so many ways before, even during the most difficult of times.

Ever since we were little, we were so on fire for our dreams. We never let anyone blow our flames out.

Our father passed away when we were young so mom was the mom and the dad.