Quotes About Struggle

I wanted to write a book about poverty that wasn't only about the poor. I was looking for some sort of narrative device, a phenomenon that would allow me to draw in a lot of different players. I was like, 'Shoot, eviction does that.'

I loss that fight to Phil Davis, but I'm not convinced on that fight. Because it wasn't fair for me. I'd like to do another fight.

I think everybody from Philadelphia been shot at before.

People see my current success but don't realize I've worked hard to get where I am. I used to clean garbage off the Philadelphia docks and put a lot of time into developing my music.

When I was in Philadelphia during the Depression in 1930 or '31, I got a very sad job as a night watchman in a garage. The cars in the garage had been abandoned by their owners, since they had lost their jobs and couldn't keep up the payments.

Part of the problem when I was doing 'How I Learned to Drive' is I would see my kids one night a week for six months, and that was just too hard. We moved to Philadelphia after we lost our house in the earthquake, the '94 Northridge earthquake.

I've never been incarcerated; I don't deal with these things on a day-to-day basis in my own personal life, but I have family members that do. I have friends that do. I have people in the city that I live in, Philadelphia, that are dealing with this on a daily basis.

I have failed a lot in my philanthropy, where I will make philanthropic contributions and they just won't be effective.

Growing up for me in the Philippines was hard to read comic books because I'm blind.

'Honor in the Dust' is less about the freedom of the Philippines than the soul of the United States.

The Philippines, it might be said, is a country in search of an identity.

It was already hard enough growing up in the Philippines but imagine being blind, that's 10 times harder.

Growing up in a brand-new country, coming from the Philippines, was hard. I was treated differently and felt like people thought less of me because I was Asian.

The universe, in a big bang mode, is still expanding, which means it's cooling down, and evolution seems to be going against this; we're almost battling it. That led me on to a more creative, philosophical way of thinking, which is what led into influencing some of the songs, which is, maybe this is what our struggle is.

It's almost like a lot of black people in America, a lot of young black men, are born with this cloud over their heads. It's their penitentiary cloud, this philosophy we all have, that it's harder for us.

I wanted to go to grad school for philosophy, but I couldn't hack it in college, at least I couldn't at that level.

Social phobia, panic disorder... I've had panic disorder ever since I was young.

I always had a sense of where I was going with 'Dark Phoenix.' Jean had the greatest power imaginable... and, how's she going to deal with that?

My mother was a phoenix who always expected to rise from the ashes of her latest disaster. She loved being Judy Garland.

Every time I try to move forward, somebody brings up 'Fresh Prince.' Every time I walk into a room or make a phone call, somebody brings up 'Fresh Prince.'

I'd given my life and my soul to Kajagoogoo and then after a cheap phone call, it was all over. I did cry and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Anybody is entitled to break down under those circumstances.

You play a couple of shows, and these label guys come - and they leave halfway through a show. Then the phone calls just stop. And your heart is broken.

I live in reality, and I know at any moment I could stop getting the phone calls and nobody wants to hear me sing or tell jokes anymore.

Some of the kids in school used to call my father a fake or a phony. That kind of thing brought on a few fights.