J. K. Simmons Quotes

I wasn't born with a golden spoon in my mouth. It was a really tough life.

For years the Trio did nothing but play for musicians and other hip people. We practically starved to death.

I have seen extreme lows because of factors that were not in my hands - be it not having money to buy my first bike, dropping out of a prestigious engineering college without having a single rupee in my bank account, living with seven boys in a single-room kitchen in Mumbai, or eating nothing but khichdi every day. But I cherish all those moments.

I didn't have much but my mum and grandma gave me as much as they could, but we weren't a rich family and we had to work hard for what we got.

When I got to New York, I had no place to sleep. The pay from 'Sesame Street' wasn't enough to rent an apartment. I was staying on people's couches. I stayed in the dressing room until they found out. I stayed with Jim Henson and his family for a week, and I wanted to do that permanently. I didn't dare ask, though.

I think I'm just like a lot of people who had nothing.

I came from abject poverty. There was nowhere to go but up.

I was starving before I hit Journey. Very, very rough times... I didn't know where the next pay check was gonna come.

I came from poverty and was part of those circumstances.

For a long time, I couldn't even afford food and clothing. I climbed from the very bottom of the society.

I think most art comes out of poverty and hard times.

I come from a poor family.

I had some years of definite frustration. Auditioning and not working as much as I would have liked to, or working and being paid a pittance, and sort of scrounging by in New York and sleeping on a chair that folded out into a bed.

My advice: Don't quit. When I got to New York City, I lived so far below the poverty line, because I didn't give in and get a job at 7-Eleven. I think you can thrive in misery.

My mother, we were a very poor family. When I was a kid, we would be in our little room, and there would be a knock on the door almost every night with a hobo begging for food. Even though we didn't even have enough to eat, my mother always found something to give them.

When I started out, I struggled, and I was broke a lot. But I'm glad I struggled, and I'm glad I was broke a lot.

My entire childhood was steeped in poverty. For me, poverty, in a way, was the first inspiration of my life, a commitment to do something for the poor.

I did just about anything to pay the rent for a while.

Our joy was to do theater. And in some theaters, the only pay we got was tokens for carfare.

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.

Going through economic hard times is something I know firsthand.

I train like I never had nothing 'cause I ain't never had nothing.

Who sees Wanderlei Silva today, with all the marketing, with a good gym and getting paid well to fight, they don't know the difficulties I went through. I went through a lot of hardships in my life.

I've been penniless. I've had to struggle a bit. But now I enjoy thinking about that because it just makes me feel better about my achievements.

I didn't have life that good coming up. I wasn't born with a lot of money. We weren't dirt poor, but we weren't rich. All I knew was struggle.