DAVE PELZER

I still love my former wife, I won't call her my ex-wife.

I became a war hero before going on to critical acclaim as a professional victim.

I know I can be very standoffish.

I had an attachment disorder.

My fans are buying the DNA of Dave.

I am not the most eloquent guy in the world.

Everyone picked on me in school because I was in foster care.

Something good comes out of every crisis.

There's a lot of Dave mania when I speak.

I am a very shy, introverted guy.

'A Child Called It' was a story about resilience, it was never about boo hoo hoo, it was about a kid that didn't quit.

You can be a victim of cancer, or a survivor of cancer. It's a mindset.

I learned from Arnold Schwarzenegger, too, that it's O.K. to be pluggish.

If people have a basic understanding of right from wrong, possess a strong desire to better themselves and persist in there cause, they can break the chain of any negative environment.

Even when I lecture per se, I am a joke comedian, I can do the voices.

Ask yourself: was there anything I could have done to prevent the situation? If the answer is yes, do something now and become a better person for it.

When you please others in hopes of being accepted, you lose you self-worth in the process.

I couldn't lie to get myself fame and fortune.

What distresses me at times is that I meet a lot of people in their 40's, 50's, 60's, who still say they're a victim of child abuse.

I buy thousands of books a year.

You kick a dog long enough, that dog is going to bite you or die.

The thing is, at the end of the day you still have to face yourself.

To help yourself, you must be yourself. Be the best that you can be. When you make a mistake, learn from it, pick yourself up and move on.

Everybody makes mistakes.

I really believe I'm no different from anyone else. I just had a few challenges I had to learn from at a very early age.