Brian McKnight Quotes

There's not much of a follow-your-dreams kind of vibe in New Zealand or my family.

Lots of people let it go by and never accomplish what they want. I just wanted to see what I could do.

At one point that's all I cared about, being a pro athlete. But I realized I wasn't athletic enough.

I kind of grew up with high goals for myself; I intended to play pro baseball. Growing up in Texas, Hollywood isn't much of a reality.

I had grand visions of being in professional sports. But when reality set in, I went, 'Oh, OK. I'll just move to Hollywood and be an actor.' I didn't want to look back on my life and wonder, 'What if I had done this? Or I had done that?'

Any man who selects a goal in life which can be fully achieved has already defined his own limitations.

When you're raising a little kid, you tell that kid to go after their goals and their dreams. And you tell them to work as hard as anybody.

My mentality has always been, If I'm not the best at something, then I might as well be the best at something else. I realized that I wasn't going to be an Olympic volleyball player, but I knew I could model at that level.

Too many people chase dreams that they don't understand. Too many people try to go for things that they'd like to do, but they're not realistic enough to know they don't have the talent.

I know what I need to work on; I know my weaknesses, but I have that work ethic to improve every day. I have that want to be the best player at my position, and I have the belief in myself that one day that will come true.

I'm not the type to pat myself on the back and all that, but somebody has to be lucky, right? When I got to Dallas, I was struggling - sleeping on the floor with six guys in a three-bedroom apartment. I used to drive around, look at the big houses, and imagine what it would be like to live there and use that as motivation.

The principle of all successful effort is to try to do not what is absolutely the best, but what is easily within our power, and suited for our temperament and condition.

Ambition is best tempered with self-knowledge!

I always tell students that you've got to be practical. You do not need a dream. You need a purpose, something you can wake up to in the morning when the dream is dissipated.

You never accomplish everything you want to accomplish.

That is what all of us must learn to do in the United States; to limit objectives, to get ourselves away from the absolute, to find out what is within our powers.

I think it's important to have goals and to have dreams, but you also have to live in the moment of what the reality is.

I want to be the champion one day, but I don't want to get ahead of myself.

I have always believed in going after your dreams.

I think, at some point, I might have said it must be great to be as big as Elvis, but that wasn't a realistic dream.

My confidence level is, I think I can be a first-round pick; I think I can be a professional basketball player.

I never even thought about playing professionally. I didn't think that was a possibility for a little kid from Illinois.

Growing up, you want to make it to the NBA. That's everyone's goal.

I worked my whole life and dreamed my whole life of being a professional athlete.

A lot of youngsters want to be footballers and a lot dont make it. It is very difficult but if your education is good and you work hard and do everything the best way, then why not?