Victor LaValle Quotes

There has been a lot of self-doubt and unwelcome events in my life.

I wasn't academically successful. And maybe I've spent a lot of my career trying to make up for that.

'Padman' was about my early life and struggles, including my wife calling me a psycho and leaving me.

I went through a really low period about 13 years ago, when all aspects of my career and everything went completely wrong.

Some people are too prideful to go out and reach out to people to help them in that situation because it's just such a dark time.

Listen, it's not nice to have your mum kill herself, that is difficult. But at the end of the day, it happened a long time ago. My mother was, I hope, not the reason that I have been successful. It's not as simplistic as 'My mum killed herself; I've got to prove myself.' I was very lucky that my parents took an interest in me.

I know some people that have gone through serious struggles. People that were close to me, and I've seen some terrible things about people who lose it. So I think that type of pain is something that's human and that, actually, can help us look at ourselves a little bit.

I always thought that if I got no love at all early in my standup career, or I was god awful, I thought I'd get into psychology.

It's a healthy thing to get some bad criticism. I'm still here and I'm fine, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't get to you reading the negative stuff.

Having been kept pretty strict in prep schools, I guess I couldn't cope with all the freedom at Yale. I had a wild, wonderful time, got abysmal grades and was bounced out in my freshman year. I then came back the following fall as a repeating freshman, lasted until April and got bounced out again - for the same reason.

I was bullied as a boy - lots of kids are, but hopefully most of us get on with our lives and grow up.

I'm a creative person who had a lot of dark time in my life. I can still get to it: I can still go to a relationship or a time when things weren't great. But it's getting further and further from me.

'Showgirls' was a critical point in my life. I had my head handed to me. At 21 years old, I had to find my self-esteem again. It was a very hard time.

I was 23 years old, a freshman at university, and there I was, on the first day, sitting in a remedial English class. I was so ashamed I almost got up and left, but somehow I knew inside that if I ran away from this, I would hate myself forever.

I went to Jersey City State College to please a family member. I wasn't prepared for school. To say I failed out is putting it nicely.

I dropped out of college for the last time in 1977.

I believe my own demons would have caught up with me regardless of my race and regardless of whether I worked at 'The Times.'

'Faking It' was hard for me to let go of because I knew how many kids it helped.

My mother was a big influence. She kept pushing me because I was very shy and inhibited. And schoolwork was very difficult for me because I couldn't concentrate. I was failing almost every subject. To this day, I'm not too good at reading a book. But I was the president of my high school comedy group, and they treated me like a king.

I don't think any one relationship in my life has wrecked me. I think I am a collection of wrecks.

Even if you sulk after a failure, you have to put on that exterior that you are fine. You could be going through a series of nonsense in your personal life or failure in your professional life, but you have to put on that exterior.

My dad was a great man, and I loved him, but he had some demons he fought. It was tough to see some of those things as a kid, but I believe God doesn't save you from things; he saves you through them.

I have worked hard to become happy. It was a real struggle.

Many weight issues stem from illness, be it physical or, indeed, emotional. And a large portion of people who sometimes struggle to maintain a 'healthy' weight deal daily with their own self-esteem crises.

I was working three jobs and going to school full time. I was really unhappy and I told myself, You are not this girl. This sounds corny but I would tell myself, You are an Icy Girl. I'm a confident person, but that was the first time I experienced insecurity and low self-esteem.