Danielle Macdonald Quotes

I truly think if I had stayed in England, I'm not sure I would be coaching. So what America gave me was kind of a dream and the opportunity and ability to follow that path, which I really had never dreamed about. I just feel very fortunate to be here.

I came to this country when I was 12 years old because my parents wanted to give me new opportunities to succeed. President Obama wants everyone to have the chances I had.

It can be liberating to get fired because you realize the world doesn't end. There's other ways to make money, better jobs.

It was a big deal to leave home and my culture and my language. But I believed that in America, I could truly reap what I sowed and that the measure of a man was his ability and determination to succeed. This was the land of boundless opportunity.

When I came to America, I dreamed bigger dreams.

I can't tell you how many times I get into a taxicab in New York or Los Angeles, and I'm talking to somebody who is a recent immigrant who was a doctor or lawyer or engineer or professor in the country they just came from. They're starting over again in life, and I think the majority of people out there can relate to that.

I saw so many opportunities in the U.S. because I knew that I could make a living doing things I could never do in Romania.

Realise when you are 'middle aged' you have a chance for a whole second career, another love, another life.

It was an honor and privilege to arrive to this country 16 years ago with almost no money in my pocket. A lot has happened since then.

All I want to do is to go to America, get married and start a new life.

A lot of Broadway has that immigrant narrative of America as a place where you can become something else against all odds.

It's true. In America, you can reinvent yourself at any turn. And, you know, if things aren't going well for you in life, everyone says, change, become someone different.

If I were still twenty years old, I would really move to America.

When my father came over here penniless with $100 sewn into his underwear, thank God some well-meaning liberal didn't come put his arm around him and say, 'Let me take care of you.'

My great-grandfather, like many, came to this country in search of the American dream.

L.A. is a place people come to for all sorts of reasons, often to reinvent themselves, and that fascinates me.

My parents were European immigrants. They came to the States with $1,500, two suitcases, and me, and they managed to build a business, a family, and a future for their family. They didn't have any of the resources of people who have lived here for two or three generations.

People often think that losing your job is one of the worst things that can happen to someone. And, in some cases, that might be true. But for me, unemployment can be the time and the motivation to finally go after my goals.

In grade school I was taught that the United States is a melting pot. People from all over the world come here for freedom and to pursue a better life. They arrive with next to nothing, work incredibly hard, learn a new language and new customs, and in a generation they become an integral part of our amazing nation.

To be able to live and work in the United States is a privilege.

Millions upon millions of people came here full of hope and aspiration to this extraordinary land of liberty and opportunity, and helped build the United States. So the Atlantic Ocean was absolutely critical to the story of America.

American opportunity, the treasure no thief could touch … It was the one thing he [her father] was able to promise us when he sent for us; surer, safer than bread or shelter.

America looked like the land of the future, separated by an ocean from the misfortunes, follies, and crimes of Europe.

When my mother, sisters and I arrived on the shores of America when I was 8 years old, the boat on which we came, a freighter, passed the Statue of Liberty.

As Americans, we are proud that we are a country that people run to, not from.