Darcey Bussell Quotes

I was in special ed, but I felt like I was a caged bird. I felt like I could do better. I made sure I mastered my special ed lessons. I made sure I listened to my teacher. I made sure I did my homework, but I had to do a little extra.

I know what not being able to read can do to a child's confidence.

I want to do it for myself. It's my goal and dream. All I can ask for is to get the chance and go out there and do the best I can, be as ready as I can.

I'm not a nerd, don't plan to be a nerd and read books - which I can't do at all.

In junior high school, I learned that I could be good at school. I remember liking the freedom to choose classes and the pleasure of learning and doing well. My perseverance and love of reading had somehow allowed me to overcome many disadvantages of dyslexia, and I read a lot of books for pleasure.

It took me nine years to get through the fourth grade. When I got into television commercials, I had to take a crash course in reading. I was 32 years old, and I couldn't read the cue cards.

I didn't read a book until I was 31 years old when I was diagnosed with dyslexia. Books terrified me. They made me nervous. Now I know you can travel to the bottom of the ocean or to outer space or anywhere in between without leaving your armchair, and I'm so, so sorry I couldn't read when I was younger.

I was reading at a third-grade level until the age of 30 before I made the decision that I was going to learn how to read.

You are not going to be perfect every day. It's about turning up the next day and doing it again.

When you've something to fight for, you get the best out of yourself.

Few things are as essential as education.

I willed myself through a junior college to a university and, ultimately, a Ph.D.

If I'm the weak link or whatever, I guess that means I've got something to prove. I've always had something to prove.

I think I was 16 when I had the thought of maybe being a writer. And this is complicated, something I only now understand, because when I was young, having dyslexia and not knowing it made reading such an ordeal.

I had gained so much confidence through my college achievements that I wanted to tackle the world.

I may climb perhaps to no great heights, but I will climb alone.

Today I know that there is still work to be done, but along the way my I am achieving my dreams.

I like to see a driven kid: somebody who wants to come from the ground up. I love to see somebody who wants to be the best they can be.

I could not agree more. The students of Delaware State often looked to the school as their chance, their hand up, their hope. And they gave their all.

You just have to go as far as you can go. Everyone works his way up.

If you have accomplished all that you have planned for yourself, you have not planned enough.

My mentality has always been, If I'm not the best at something, then I might as well be the best at something else. I realized that I wasn't going to be an Olympic volleyball player, but I knew I could model at that level.

No skill shapes a child's future success in school or in life more than the ability to read.

I'm going to go to school. It doesn't matter what the outcome is as long as I did it. I can say I did it.

Unless a man undertakes more than he possibly can do, he will never do all he can do.