Ashley Graham Quotes

I came to Chelsea and it was 'oh you can't play Champions League, you can't do this, you can't do that' and I proved them wrong.

I wanted to prove to people it doesn't matter if you come from a small little island: that you can make it in this industry.

When I started singing, people said I couldn't sing because I was a music director. I proved them wrong.

I started off on the 'The Real World,' and no one thought I would amount to anything.

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.

When I graduated from high school, the teacher said I was throwing my life away following music, and the same teacher invited me back to speak at the school. I don't say that to brag, I just want to be an example.

I really feel like becoming a director came from other women saying, 'Yeah, you can do this.' I wanted to direct 'Six Feet Under,' and no, they didn't let me.

Before me, sprinters retired at 23 or 24. I run because I still like it, I can make a living, and I feel I was born to do it. And because people tell me I can't do it.

I tell people to look at me and understand that everybody first told me that I couldn't be a 6-foot, 9-inch point guard, and I proved them wrong. Then they told me I couldn't be a businessman and make money in urban America, and I proved them wrong. And they thought I couldn't win all these championships, and I proved them wrong there as well.

Coming from a small town it was tough to dream big. When I grew up in a small town in Georgia, my biggest dream was one day to be able to go to Atlanta.

Growing up in England, people told you why you couldn't do things. Suddenly, I had a publisher banging on my door, and was given the creative green light to simply make.

Nobody really thought I was going to make it, because I was a musician. I really wasn't a singer.

As a person who came from a small town and had dreams of becoming an actor, I know what it's like to have no support system for what it is that you want to do. A lot of people think you don't have a chance.

I became a cover girl and an editorial model, and then I became a runway model.

The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.

My father came from nothing, so he believed that people could do anything if they worked hard enough. I think he liked that I chose to be an actor. Both he and my mom were totally supportive.

If I were to listen to people all the time when they say, 'Hey, this is a really high challenge, this is a high climb, the bar is pretty steep,' then I wouldn't have gone to the academy. I wouldn't have become an aircraft carrier pilot. I wouldn't have become a Navy SEAL for sure. And I probably wouldn't have applied to Harvard.

I became a writer in spite of my environments.

I think I knew acting was what I wanted to do. But I was from this small town and there was no place for an adult to recognise it.

With ideas it is like with dizzy heights you climb: At first they cause you discomfort and you are anxious to get down, distrustful of your own powers; but soon the remoteness of the turmoil of life and the inspiring influence of the altitude calm your blood; your step gets firm and sure and you begin to look - for dizzier heights.

I think it's important to move people beyond just dreaming into doing. They have to be able to see that you are just like them, and you made it.

When I was young, I used to tell my mum that she had to get me on the TV, but then modelling just sort of happened.

We can each define ambition and progress for ourselves. The goal is to work toward a world where expectations are not set by the stereotypes that hold us back, but by our personal passion, talents and interests.

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.