Michelle Carter Quotes

I worked full time jobs, basically doing manual labor until I could make enough money supporting myself as a musician.

When I was struggling to get recognition as a wrestler, I faced innumerable hardships. I even slept on the ring itself after finishing my practice. Those days, I did not have a house to live.

When I first started fighting, it wasn't the easiest thing. I didn't have all the money in the world. I was eating Subway once in a while, some packets of oatmeal here and there. It wasn't that bad, but it's because I was fortunate and had good people there to support me.

My mom would get up every day at 4 A.M. and worked two jobs. I always felt I was the poorest kid on the block. I had a chip on my shoulder about being broke.

Just being able to grind, day in and day out. You have to be a different kind of person to not just do the workouts, but to not make money for months at a time.

You sacrifice so much to get to the NFL. You miss recitals and graduations. Moments that you can't have because you're focused on being the best.

Back at the beginning of my career, I had to make all these sacrifices - sleeping in a car on nights where I'd wrestle in front of 20,000 people - because I wasn't making any money.

I completely put all my time and effort into my kids and once I stepped foot in the ring, that's who I fight for. And that's who I work extra hard for when I'm tired, to feed my family and to make sure that they are going to be alright after boxing.

I don't want no handouts. I want to get it out the mud.

I have come from a background where I haven't had lots of money to put me on the map. I've had to work very hard for what I've got.

When I started in radio, I worked for free. I lived at the radio station. Then I worked for very little money.

I remember playing in a tournament when at home we didn't have light, because my mom spent her last money on my sneakers.

One of the greatest provisions for people like me, to be honest with you - I give up a lot when I run.

Athletes are sort of part of the community at large. They have to be dedicated to what they do, and go through lots of peaks and valleys. And there's a lot of training that goes into their careers. It's a struggle. Very dramatic.

The hardest work in the world is being out of work.

You have the dreams that you want, and then you have to do other jobs until you can get to that dream.

I'll be working until I die.

A ball player has to be kept hungry to become a big leaguer. That's why no boy from a rich family has ever made the big leagues.

I desperately miss my girls when I am working, and I often feel guilty, but also feel the journey I am on is for them too. When I am on my 16th hour of a day and can barely keep my eyes open, they drive me forward.

You have to go broke three times to learn how to make a living.

It's so funny looking back, but my so-called overnight success actually took 15 years. I remember when I didn't have any money, and my only car was mom's Hyundai.

My family were really hard-working, blue-collar people, and I didn't know the idea or concept of working and having fun. I thought you just worked and made money to support your family.

I was so focused at 21, maybe to my own detriment because I didn't allow myself to have fun. I was constantly looking for the next audition and working to pay the bills.

A lot of late nights in the gym, a lot of early mornings, especially when your friends are going out, you're going to the gym, those are the sacrifices that you have to make if you want to be an NBA basketball player.

I experienced firsthand what it means to be poor, what it means to go hungry, and that, I think, may be the reason, the root cause of why I'm able to work so hard, even these days.