Marcus Samuelsson Quotes

We already had an adopted daughter, 10-year-old Courtney, from my previous marriage. To me, there is no difference between 'natural' and 'adopted.' My own childhood showed me that when it comes to loving your kids, concepts like that don't apply. I was the oldest of six, and three of my siblings were adopted. Mom and Dad even took in foster children. 'There are no limits to how much you can love,' Dad always said.

It would be nice if I did have a good relationship with my family, and yes, part of me longs to have a mum and dad who love and accept me for who I am. But if they never do, it's OK.

All I wanted to do was please my adopted family.

Four years into the life of my son, I realize I'm so in love with him and he's so in love with me that if I don't find that lifelong partner out there, it's okay.

I always felt love from both my parents.

I was a sickly baby, and after two sets of adoptive parents took me home, they returned me to the orphanage because of a serious respiratory infection. But as they say, the third time's a charm, because my mom and dad adopted me and took me into their home where I was raised in a family full of love.

One of the things I would have loved to have had was a family that worked better together, although I love my mother and father to bits.

My son has two loving parents and an extended family, whether it's cousins or stepmothers or boyfriends. My son is surrounded by love.

I've seen women who don't have great relationships with their dads, and it all comes down to this: You have to tell girls you love them every day.

I love kids, and I love having had this second chance to have a family.

When I was a youngster I lived with different families. I nearly always felt closer to the man of the house. Maybe because I always dreamed of having a father of my own.

As a child, the family that I had and the love I had from my two parents allowed me to go ahead and be more aggressive, to search and to take risks knowing that, if I failed, I could always come home to a family of love and support.

I have six siblings but grew up an only child. I was adopted by my aunt and uncle.

My parents told me from the time I can remember that, 'Yeah, you're adopted. But this is your family.' I can remember my mom, she tells me this story: when I was little, I was looking at her, and I was like, 'Why isn't my skin the same color as yours?' She was like, 'Oh, you're adopted, but I wish I had pretty brown skin like you.'

If I can help one family embrace their child and not displace them and throw them out, I'm happy about that.

I brought home a baby without telling [husband John McCain], and he not only took it in stride but loved it, immediately embracing Bridget, who shares John's very dry sense of humor, so she and her dad do pretty well together. If I hadn't taken Bridget out, I think she would have become a prostitute or worse, died.

I was adopted legally around age three, but it's not like this thing I think about when I wake up every day. I was adopted by my foster parents, so I was comfortable with them. I wasn't in this alien place.

Reflecting back on my childhood, I know it wasn't functional. I was very unconditionally loved and accepted, I felt, by my father.

I've had a lot of different lives. I was adopted, I grew up in Nebraska, and then I went to Northwestern... Then I had this really extraordinary, different life than my parents.

I was given an enormous amount of love by my parents.

I've experienced love and ambition and desire in my life, but never in the same way as in a family.

I was adopted by two amazing people: a Salvadoran mother and a white father who were incredibly supportive of me and my work. I am eternally grateful for them.

From the moment this baby came into our home, those two dogs have never been more in love. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever witnessed. People keep saying, 'Oh, you're a single mom.' I'm like, 'Actually, I'm not. I've got two boys helping.'

If your family loves you, you're fine. What you can't grow up without is love.

The friend that I based Heffer on was adopted, and it all played into his total personality.