Maysoon Zayid Quotes

When my doctors said I would never walk, I didn't believe them. I knew I wasn't meant to spend my life in a chair.

When I was young, a lot of things were closed off to me. I was always told, 'Don't do this, you can't do that' - instead of stopping me, it made me think, 'I can do that, I must do that.'

I've always been an underdog. I feel like I beat the odds.

No matter how many people say you can't do something, use that as inspiration to prove them wrong.

I beat the odds, and I beat the odds so many times.

Nothing really comes easy to you when you're under-recruited, you're undersized, you're undervalued. It's a situation where you have to be better than the bigger guys.

I love underdogs, people who have achieved extraordinary things against the odds.

It's remarkable she [Venus Williams] plays at all, given her Sjögren's syndrome [an autoimmune disorder that can cause joint pain]. She's back, winning tournaments. She didn't allow society to tell her, "You have this disease; you can't do that anymore." I look at her, like, "She's not playing at 100 percent. You are. You don't have excuses." Knowing what she went through helped me try to be a more positive person.

When people keep telling you that you can't do a thing, you kind of like to try it.

I want to be an example of a guy who made something of himself out of nothing. A guy who overcame the odds of a tough childhood, who worked hard, who didn't let his surroundings get the best of him and lead him to jail or the graveyard. Where I ended up - being a comedian, a TV star, and a movie actor - might be unique, but my story is not.

I have this drive to prove people wrong - people who thought I should give up or assumed I'd never get anywhere.

My dad told me that no one could ever make it as a writer, that my chances were equivalent to winning the lottery - which was good for me, because I like to have something to prove.

When I hear people boo, that just makes me want to go out there and work harder.

When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.

I have to work extra hard because I am dyslexic. People said that I couldn't be an actress, but I'm proving them wrong. Acting has helped me overcome the challenge.

You can lay in bed and think you don't stand a chance, that's what all of us thought, and here we are. We ended up doing all right.

Working with Christopher, he convinced me he could fly, and he's convinced me he's going to walk again.

Hope is not a form of guarantee; it's a form of energy, and very frequently that energy is strongest in circumstances that are very dark.

You get yourself up for it somehow, and your endurance and the crowd gets you up, too.

I believe very deeply in the human spirit, and I have a sense of awe about it. I look around and ask, 'What makes the difference? What is it?' I've known people the world has thrown everything at - to discourage them, to kill them, to break their spirit. And yet something about them retains a dignity. They face life and they don't ask quarters.

The people who influenced me most were the people who said I would never make it. They gave me a thirst for revenge.

When I got into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, a doctor told me to give up the course as I'd be totally deaf within a couple of years. But I refused to give in.

I was told as a teenager that I would never walk again.

It can be a challenge, but my legacy, at least for the people who came before me, is you don't run from challenges because that's more comfortable and convenient.

When I was a little boy, Marvin Hagler was my idol. He got no respect for most of his career. His fighting style was straight ahead. He took every shot thrown at him, and he kept punching back 'til he won. I honestly feel that's how I am. I take big shots from people. But I keep going.