Quotes About Hardship

My grandfather, born in 1865, was a copper miner from the age of 10. The air down the mines was poisoned with arsenic, and working conditions were horrific. They only had candles for light, so they worked in a pitch-black environment.

My father was raised in an orphanage, and my mother was an immigrant from Poland whose first childhood memory was of hunger. Somehow, despite all of that, I am called a member of the 'elite.' If so, I damned well earned it.

When you come from Poland, you have nothing. Your mother and father are working. You have only a bed for sleep. You have a kitchen, and that's it. You must fight.

My family was poor. My father was in the police force and was drawing a small salary. Because of that I could not study.

Being an immigrant mother can be hard, but being a poor immigrant mother is much harder. You don't generally get to sit in cafes polishing your French by reading 'Le Monde.'

Most of the guys I've come across in the UFC have always been really polite and are always friendly with each other. We all understand how hard it was to get where we're at and how hard it is to stay there, so it's a mutual respect for each other.

I had never gone to college. I was not from a politically connected family. I had no money of my own. Who is going to do business with you?

Times were very hard if you were a poor, politically correct Jewish girl living in the east end of London during the Blitz and you were trying to eke out a living as a hairdresser.

Nothing comes easy in life, but politics is incredibly difficult.

It's such a Bore Being always Poor.

When I was growing up, my family was so poor we couldn't afford to pay attention.

My father, who was illiterate, smoothed iron for Ford Dagenham and we'd get up at 5;30 A.M. to give him a jump-start. My mother was a nurse and part of the Windrush generation. Growing up in east London, we were financially poor, but rich in hope and dignity, and we were happy.

My family were really poor.

I didn't have the easiest time growing up; it's no secret. We were just poor.

I did grow up poor. My mom managed to get a job as a custodian at our church, and it was really just a favor for her, and my dad's an electrician - just a blue-collar family, and the house was usually falling apart.

I was brought up poor, but I've earned every cent in my bank account.

When I started, I had nothing. Because my family was really, really, really poor.

Growing up poor, I didn't even have a lunch to take to school. Lunch was 26 cents, and we didn't even know what 26 cents looked like. I didn't love school because I wanted to disguise that I was poorer than everybody else.

We were much poorer than many families.

I was one of the poorest people in America.

It would be nice if we redefined what we meant by 'war story.' If you're making $15,000 a year living in a certain area of Portland, trying to make it with three kids and no husband, that's a kind of war.

I am from a poor background in Portugal. We were medium-down, not down-and-out. My parents felt problems around food in the past but they made sure I did not miss anything. But there was nothing extra, no luxuries.

I know I'm in the exceptional position of having money but I didn't have it for many decades.

Most great men start in that position, with very little and that's what motivates them to get where they're going.