Hilary Swank Quotes

Born poor, but of honored and humble people, I am particularly proud to die poor.

Having grown up a trailer park kid on welfare and food stamps, becoming jaded is impossible, although now I make a good living, which I'm not ashamed of; when you've been poor, it never leaves you.

I'm still the little southern girl from the wrong side of the tracks who really didn't feel like she belonged.

I was poor white trash, no glitter, no glamour, but I'm not ashamed of anything.

A Texas girl who grew up in terrible poverty, I ended up leading a pretty glamorous life.

I came from nothing really to something; I came from the gutter to making the gutters.

When people see what I have now, they have no idea of where I came from and how I didn't have anything growing up.

In my wildest imagination, I never thought that the fifth of six children born to Helen and Buddy Watts - in a poor black neighborhood, in the poor rural community of Eufaula, Oklahoma - would someday be called Congressman.

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

It's a hard sport. You don't come from a rich family wanting to be a boxer. Rich kids get hit in the face, they go home. Poor kids come back. They see boxing as a way out.

I came from the projects. So there were times I'd wake up at night, and my palms would be itching to get out. But no matter where I was, I always looked at the stars, because there's nothing ugly about the sky. That was my escape.

I learned at a very early age that life is a battle. My family was poor, my neighborhood was poor. The only way that I could get away from the awfulness of life, at that time, was at the movies. There I decided that my big aim was to make money. And it was there that I became a very determined woman.

I'm just a kid from Bronx who got lucky.

I was the epitome of rags to riches.

Gerald Boyd was a classic specimen of the self-made man. Born poor, he worked and studied his way up out of poverty under the guidance of his widowed grandmother.

When I am made fun of in the press I just remember those days when I'd come home to find that the water had been turned off because my mother couldn't afford the bill. Suddenly, everything feels easier.

My mother's passion for something more, to write a different destiny for a dirt-poor farmer's daughter, was to shape my entire life.

Anytime I'm involved with anything that's well-received, it's a surprise to me.

My mom grew up in poverty in Oklahoma - like Dust Bowl, nine people in one room kind of place - and the way she got out of poverty was through education. My dad grew up without a dad, with very little and he also made his way out through education.

All I ever intended was to make a living at what I do. Everything I've achieved since then is above and beyond.

I cannot take away the fact I am a small-town boy from India, from a lower-middle class family, and was actually standing in front of De Niro - not on an equal level, but as an actor, on the same pedestal.

Philly gave me my ambition and drive to get more. It's a reminder to stay on top of my game. That's not a place I want to go back to.

I still think I'm like the poor girl from Colorado who worked three jobs to buy a car. That's still my mentality, so I'll be walking down the street, and I forget what I do and who I am.

I have no credentials. I have no money. I literally come from a poor place. I was a servant. I dropped out of college. The next thing you know I'm writing for the 'New Yorker,' I have this sort of life, and it must seem annoying to people.

I came from the Bronx and a certain background. I worked really hard. I kept my focus on the right things.