Richard Lamm Quotes

Hard work and a good education will take you further than any government program.

I got my degree. More importantly, I got a key to American opportunity. That's who we are - a nation that rewards ambition with opportunity. Where hard work can lead to success, no matter where you start.

We need to be united, and we all need to understand that we're all capable of achieving the American dream. And, but that has to be something that is self-realized. And also, to demonize someone for achieving the American dream is unfair.

I had come to college believing in a story that if you worked hard, the American dream was reachable.

America is still the land of opportunity, and hard work is still a pathway to success.

In America, with education and hard work, it really does not matter where you came from; it matters only where you are going.

I grew up believing in meritocracy and the American dream. My parents came here from India. They had no connections. My brother and I went to public schools, and both of us succeeded.

I want to prove that you don't have to come from Oxford University or Rada - and you don't have to have parents that support you - to succeed.

Circumstances have rarely favored great men. A lowly beginning is no bar to a great career. The boy who works his way through college may have a hard time of it, but he will learn how to work his way in life, and will usually take higher rank in school and in after life than his classmate who is the son of a millionaire.

If you're not willing to work, you're never going to be able to experience the American Dream.

The America that I think most Americans would want, most economists on the right or left would want, is one in which a smart, ambitious, hardworking person without a huge amount of resources has a pretty good shot, in the end, of beating out a less smart, less ambitious, less hardworking rich person.

I think there's lots of people with family connections but who are actually nowhere. If you're hard-working and determined, you will make it, and that's the bottom line. I don't believe in an easy way through.

In the world today many people rightfully feel entitled to have success and the good things in life, but they usually understand it will require sacrifice and hard work.

They didn't have a lot, but my grandparents taught me the important stuff: that hard work and character, matter. When I got my acceptance (and scholarship) to college, it felt like a dream come true.

Every person has to keep in mind that they can grow up and reach the top, no matter where they are born, whether it's in Russia, in Ukraine, in Europe; they've still got the opportunity to show their talent and the culture of their people.

The American Dream is simple: it's the unwavering belief that anybody - you, me, your friends, your neighbors, grandma Verna - can become exceedingly successful, and all it takes is the right amount of work, ingenuity, and determination.

If you want to make it in America, you've got to work for it. And I kind of like that.

I won't stop until every Iowan has an opportunity to succeed.

I'm not guaranteeing that if you work hard you'll be able to duplicate my success. But in America, if you work hard, you just might. I'm a perfect example of that.

People should be able to rise as hard, high as their hard work, their ambition, their talent will take them.

Get place and wealth, if possible with grace; if not, by any means get wealth and place.

If four things are followed - having a great aim, acquiring knowledge, hard work, and perseverance - then anything can be achieved.

With five chances on each hand and one unwavering aim, no boy, however poor, need despair. There is bread and success for every youth under the American flag who has energy and ability to seize his opportunity.

There is no obstacle in the path of young people who are poor or members of minority groups that hard work and preparation cannot cure.

Get off your bottom and be the stand, and do the work you can to pursue the American Dream for yourself, and help others to do the same.