Chris Gardner

The future was uncertain, absolutely, and there were many hurdles, twists, and turns to come, but as long as I kept moving forward, one foot in front of the other, the voices of fear and shame, the messages from those who wanted me to believe that I wasn't good enough, would be stilled.

The cavalry ain't coming.

I was so afraid to even read a paper in front of my classmates. It is very funny because at that point I would read my papers fine, but the minute the teacher said I had to read it in front of the class, I'd start to stammer.

You got a dream, you gotta protect it. People can't do something themselves, they wanna tell you that you can't do it. You want something? Go get it. Period.

Don't ever let somebody tell you you can't do something. Not even me. You got a dream, you gotta protect it. When people can't do something themselves, they're gonna tell you that you can't do it. You want something, go get it. Period.

The world is your oyster. It's up to you to find the pearls.

I met my father for the first time when I was 28 years old. I made up my mind that when I had children, my children were going to know who their father was.

Once you let people know anything about what you think, that's it, you're dead.

You want something, go get it. Period.

I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.

You can only depend on yourself. The cavalry ain't coming.

It was right then that I started thinking about Thomas Jefferson on the Declaration of Independence and the part about our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And I remember thinking how did he know to put the pursuit part in there? That maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue and maybe we can actually never have it. No matter what. How did he know that?