Jimmy Iovine Quotes

I am who I am: an Irish Catholic kid, working class from Long Island. And I made it big.

I've had a very unusual background in science - not the usual route of planning on being a scientist from age 3. I think my story shows that success is more about personal motivation and determination than it is about where you were born or what your economic status was.

If I can go through what I've been through and do a television show with my son and then be a boy from the hood making records for the people I make records for, that's reality.

If you are different, or you have minimum possibilities, you can still succeed. I am living proof of that.

I came from a very poor family. And I was able to rise up and actually win an Academy Award. And if I can do it, then any kid can do it.

All I would say is it doesn't matter where you come from. Like, Jim Sheridan comes from the inner city, and he's one of the top ones, a top lad.

I've been able to reach from the streets to the suites.

I came from such a simple origin, without any great privilege, and I would say I also wanted to make a mark. It wasn't until I was about 15 that I appeared in a race.

From being a little girl in the projects, going through all of the mess that I was going through, to ending up at the Inauguration for the first African-American president, I'm speechless right now because I never thought I'd - I never ever - I couldn't even see that far. Even when I ended up in the music business, I couldn't see that.

I've sort of escaped my background, as people often do, through art and culture.

I want to be an example of a guy who made something of himself out of nothing. A guy who overcame the odds of a tough childhood, who worked hard, who didn't let his surroundings get the best of him and lead him to jail or the graveyard. Where I ended up - being a comedian, a TV star, and a movie actor - might be unique, but my story is not.

I haven't always been thrilled with my work. But the fear of not proving the people wrong who think you can't emerge from a franchise and do well, that's a very strong driving force.

I'm living proof that you can make it out of the ghetto.

As a boy, I was never interested in theater because I came from a working-class Scottish home. I thought, 'I want to do movies.' Then it was finding the means to do it.

Barack Obama was not born into wealth or privilege, yet today his is president of these United States of America. Barack Obama has lived the American Dream. He has walked in our shoes.

I'm living the dream! I just want to tell actors and writers it's never too late, and it can happen when you least expect it.

I'm living proof you can excel regardless of where you come from.

Producing came about because I never wanted to be in one of those books, Where Are They Now?

I might have been born in a hovel but I am determined to travel with the wind and the stars.

Dreams do come true, even for someone who couldn't speak English and never had a music lesson or much of an education.

I am not a product of privilege, I am a product of opportunity

As a Southerner and as a Mormon you approach life in this aspirational way: 'I will rise above my station.'

Both my parents are first-generation success stories.

My father graduated from high school and didn't go to college and still found his way.

That's my mission: I really want to get in the heads and hearts of kids and persuade them that they can believe things they haven't seen, they can do things that maybe others haven't done before them, that they are more than their worst acts.