Kerry Greenwood Quotes

Has fortune dealt you some bad cards. Then let wisdom make you a good gamester.

I have been extraordinarily fortunate in my life, luckier than almost anybody on this planet. And whenever I ran into challenges, my parents did everything they could so that I could maximize my own potential.

I've been lucky to be born in Spain to a good family. But some team-mates reached the same position from a tough background. Football is equal, and it doesn't matter where you come from.

In my early days in school, I had no shoes, no school bags. There were days I had only one meal... I walked miles and crossed rivers to school every day. Didn't have power, didn't have generators, studied with lanterns, but I never despaired.

I didn't come from the worst of situations, and I didn't come into the best of situations. But I've appreciated the best situations. And I've made the best of the worst situations. I'm lucky to be where I am.

I was lucky to come from a difficult area. It teaches you not just about football but also life. There were lots of kids from different races and poor families. People had to struggle to get through the day.

We were very poor and my family lost everything during the war - our home and our identity. But I'm a believer in luck and think the social conditions you're born into provide the opportunity for you to prove your luck. And I suppose I've been lucky.

You don't want people who have never had to deal with adversity - you want people who have been able to deal successfully with adversity. That's what adds to society. Those are going to be the hardest-working, best people.

My family didn't have money, and I think it made me fearless. I'm willing to try everything and not be afraid because what's the worst that can be happen? It might not work out, but I can't be worse off than when I was a kid.

Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity a greater.

My dad grew up in a mud hut and studied by candlelight. He was 14 when he got a scholarship to Russia. He was super clever - the cleverest person. He landed in 5ft of snow, and was alone at 14, studying science and engineering. He didn't have a bed, and he slept on a table.

Constrained circumstances can bring the best out of you.

Everyone has a talent. It's simply a question of good discipline, of the good fortune to have an education that meshes with that talent, and a lot of luck.

My education was paid for by the RAF Benevolent Fund, so a charity school, run like an orphanage, with uniforms and beatings. It was tough, but it got me to Cambridge - like being a chrysalis suddenly becoming a butterfly.

Let's remember the children who come from broken homes, surrounded by crime, drugs, temptation, their peers having babies out of wedlock, but who still manage to get a good education despite the many obstacles they face every day.

Life goes on if you're one of the lucky ones.

It never even crossed my mind I wouldn't go to college.

I don't know fancy big words, because I didn't have a rich mother who sent her to fancy schools.

Whenever I'm on my way to a premiere or something, I always have a good laugh in the car... because it's all so absurd - I'm one generation removed from starvation.

When I left school - or, rather, when I was expelled from school for hitting a kid who had disrespected a teacher - I had nothing, with nowhere to go. Where I'm from, it really means that. Now my family are millionaires. I never dreamed this would be possible.

My adopted parents were able to pay for me to go to a private school. So I had it better than most people.

Adversity is the mother of enterprise.

I'd rather be like Odysseus than someone who was handed everything.

The next time you encounter a difficult obstacle or problem, you should smile and say, 'Here's my chance to grow.'

Calamity is virtue's opportunity.