Sterling K. Brown Quotes

Barack Obama was not born into wealth or privilege, yet today his is president of these United States of America. Barack Obama has lived the American Dream. He has walked in our shoes.

People only look at you and say, 'You are black and you are from the banlieue,' and all the doors are closed. I had the desire to be something else. If I see a door that is a little open, I will find a way to get through.

America is the student who defies the odds to become the first in a family to go to college - the citizen who defies the cynics and goes out there and votes - the young person who comes out of the shadows to demand the right to dream. That's what America is about.

Although the circumstances of our lives may seem very disengaged, with me standing here as the First Lady of the United States of America and you just getting through school, I want you to know we have very much in common. For nothing in my life ever would have predicted that I would be standing here as the first African-American First Lady.

Because of where I come from, I never thought I'd see in my life a black candidate running for President.

Really, the values under which my generation was raised in the '50s were immigrant values even though we weren't immigrants. The greatest thing you could be was a college-educated Negro.

I'd rather a young black actor read about success as opposed to how tough it was. I get these roles because I can act and that's it. Hopefully that's it.

In America nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you.

The ultimate idea of rags-to-riches success in America is the Hollywood movie star.

It's nice to come into a town and be referred to as the manager of the Cleveland Indians instead of as the first black manager.

I am not a product of privilege, I am a product of opportunity

Both my parents are first-generation success stories.

If you were brought up in the '40s, a kid in Ossining, New York, hanging out at the poolroom and stealing, how can you think, 'Here I am in Ossining. I, too, can be a movie star!'

I am the perfect example that if you give somebody a chance, especially here in the United States, one can find the way.

I think that everybody has their own interpretations of what it means to be American. But from my vantage point, being black and successful in the Unites States of America is the epitome of being American.

My father is a first-generation Mexican-American and sports changed his life. It allowed him to basically live his dream, but it was only because he was given the opportunity by one person.

That's one thing you Americans take for granted, you know? That you can grow up, you know, not so good circumstances, and you can move. Just because you are born in rural Arkansas, whatever, that doesn't define who you are.

Education is transformational. It changes lives. That is why people work so hard to become educated and why education has always been the key to the American Dream, the force that erases arbitrary divisions of race and class and culture and unlocks every person's God-given potential.

I came here as an immigrant. We were poor. We went to flea markets to sell gifts to make ends meet. Just the mere fact that I can be running for Congress is something that can only happen in a place like America. It's such a wonderful country.

That's the spirit of America, right? Anybody from any background can make it anywhere with enough hard work.

Black History Month is a poignant time for the entire country, but particularly the African American community.

It's people who look like me, just seeing representation of everyone. I didn't get that when I was young. I only saw one black girl that was on a Disney show, that was known for being the sassy, coocoo, that type of girl.

My story, is how a kid that's born into really destitute poverty on a little dirt road in Florida winds up in one of the largest bands in history.

You really have to prove yourself and prove your worth. I didn't come from family that had been here for generations and had all these connections.

I've not just played for England. I've done it for all the black players out there - to prove that they can do it.