Tony Hawk Quotes

When I started skating, it was such a small community. You didn't aspire to be rich or famous or make a career out of it because that wasn't something anyone had done yet.

For me, skateboarding is a lifestyle. I really don't know anything different. My life revolves around skating. If I wasn't a professional skateboarder, I'd still be skating every day.

Skateboarding is training, but I don't think of it as training. It's fun.

I'd always loved what went on in skateboarding. I'd never skated myself, but I loved the graphics - I really liked the rebelliousness of it.

Once you pick up a skateboard, you'll find out that it's not a hobby, it's not a sport, it's a lifestyle.

I don't think I would ever be a doctor, but the reason I majored in science was because you could become a civil engineer, you could become a biologist, you could become a computer scientist - that was the point of it. I had no idea what I wanted to do. In my last two years of high school here happened to be these few scripts that I really responded to. Eventually, I landed the job, and that was something that I felt transcended whatever other people would think of me.

Skating has so many styles. Once you pick up a skateboard, you'll find out that it's not a hobby, it's not a sport, it's a lifestyle.

I'm too into skateboarding to be devastated by anything.

Acting is so much fun. It is a different ball game and I want to concentrate on that at the moment. I'm really passionate about what I do. I love entertainment and telling stories to people and I am very lucky that I am doing what I want to do.

I know how lucky I am. I never take it for granted. In this country [USA], anything can happen - anybody can be what they want to be. All I ever wanted was to be a good husband and father, a good chef, and to have my own restaurant. And the celebrity was never expected. Wouldn't have even dared dream of it. And here I am. So anyone's dreams can come true. And I'm very, very grateful for everything that's come my way. I thank everyone who enjoys what I do.

Sometimes I go, “What am I doing with my life?” But then I get letters from young women, or people come up to me, and they say, “You’ve made such a difference to my confidence.” And that is a good thing. I should read more fan mail though. I’m crap at responding.

At school he had done things which had formerly seemed to him very horrid and made him feel disgusted with himself when he did them; but when later on he saw that such actions were done by people of good position and that they did not regard them as wrong, he was able not exactly to regard them as right, but to forget about them entirely or not be at all troubled at remembering them.

I really enjoy what I do, and I'm very grateful to be given an opportunity to do it. That's one thing that people can say about me.

Skateboarding is forever, and things like college and girls only ruin an endlessly savored adolescence.

I got into skateboarding when I was like a shorty. It was a toy thing.

I want to live the rest of my life, however long or short, with as much sweetness as I can decently manage, loving all the people I love, and doing as much as I can of the work I still have to do.

I was getting in trouble at school. I wasn't happy. The school was very much a school that created people for commerce and it wasn't an arty school.

You write for the people in high school who ignored you. We all do.

If you love your work, I'm not sure you have hobbies. I try to say no to things that other people could do and only say yes to things that only I could do.

Most of my friends are skaters or were skaters at one time, so they obviously relate.

I've had a lot of people who've said they can relate to the show and it's helped them through a lot of difficult times, especially the kids in high school now. Everyone kind of feels like an outcast in high school. Even if you're super popular, you still have issues.

Somebody came and directed a show at my high school. I approached it with sort of the sensibility - "Oh, I know that music. I'm going to go audition." I ended up being in it and I sang and it was mind-altering - to me, to my parents, who had never heard me sing like that. It put a stop to everything else that I was doing - every sport that I played, every instrument, it was all dropped because nothing felt like that. I feel really lucky that I found my passion at that point. There are people who are adults who don't know what their passion is and go through life doing "a job."

The best part of getting to do what you like is just doing it. That doesn't have to do with being famous or even successful or even powerful. I see people in life who are just doing a job and seem to be having a good time. And that's the trick.

When I hear people tell me they love what I do, no matter what the climate is, it makes me want to go harder, because that's what I'm out here fighting for - to get that love. You just want to be appreciated for being you and being the best you.

You know how in high school you do these plays and people come up after the show and they're really excited for you? Well, that's what's happening to me right now.