Sargent Shriver Quotes

I grew up working hard to earn everything I had.

It is easy to be independent when you've got money. But to be independent when you haven't got a thing, that's the Lord's test.

When my trust fund ran out, I panicked. I have a lot of admiration for the kids who come to the big city with nothing and make it.

I was never given any hand-outs. I started at the bottom and was very good at finding people who knew more than me and learning from them.

I've always been the person to look at any turmoil as temporary. I recall times where my mom was working five and six jobs, and there's still no food in the house.

Of all the advantages which come to any young man ... poverty is the greatest.

I always knew that I would have to make it on my own somehow.

There's danger in just shoveling out money to people who say, 'My life is a little harder than it used to be.' At a certain place you've got to say to the people, 'Suck it in and cope, buddy. Suck it in and cope.'

I have to thank my mum for kicking me out at 16 and making me stand on my own two feet - that's how I got here.

You are the master of your own ship, pal. There are lots of people who fall into troubled waters and don't have the guts or the knowledge or the ability to make it to shore. They have nobody to blame but themselves.

I've always found poverty a source of strength.

I always had to have a job in the summer when I was at school. It was about teaching me, and my brother and sisters, a good work ethic and making sure we knew there were no handouts. We had to find our own way in this world.

After school, I'd wait for someone to pick me up and no one would, so I'd be like, 'I guess I'll walk home.' I had to be a hustler, because nobody did anything for me.

My father felt that children should make their own way.

During the Depression, my dad made radios to sell to make extra money. Nobody had any money to buy the radios, so he would trade them for dogs. He built kennels in the backyard, and he cared for the dogs.

I was 20 years old. My entire possessions consisted of $5 and a sewing machine.

The Depression is a good thing generally. Let them fail. Let everybody fail! I made my fortune when I had nothing to start with, by myself ns my own ideas. Let other people do the same.

I come from a simple background, so I couldn't call my father and say, 'Come pay my bills,' so I had to get out there and work.

My mom had not worked a day in her life, and then she woke up when I was 15 and found herself with four children, no job, no money. But she set out and made it all OK for us, and from that, I saw that there's no problem that can't be solved.

We were rather poor, but we always had what we needed.

I came to New York with no money and just one suitcase. I had my family's emotional support, but they weren't able to help me financially.

My mom had to be resourceful. She grew up dirt poor in rural Louisiana.

When I was very young, I had to start to working to help my family, while my friends were studying. Since then, I have felt the urgency to escape from every dependency situation.

I grew up at a park, and everybody was always for themselves. I was the smallest, so I had to find a way to get my own rebounds, and it always translated throughout my whole career.

My mom was not able to buy us the expensive Air Jordans, so if I wanted something that was a little bit nicer, my brother and I, we had to go earn money for it.