Jayson Tatum Quotes

I didn't grow up with a lot of money, but I grew up with a lot of opportunities that many people don't have.

I didn't really want to be a filmmaker, growing up. Other than Spike Lee's movies, I would think, 'Where is a place for me?' We were so damn poor that it just seemed too far beyond.

I had never gone to college. I was not from a politically connected family. I had no money of my own. Who is going to do business with you?

When you come from an under-privileged background, oftentimes, you feel a little overwhelmed by your education or your lack of.

Ignorant people are apt to overrate the value of what is called education. The sons of the poor, having suffered the privations of poverty, think of wealth as the mother of joy.

I grew up with not a lot of money and I definitely shopped at Goodwill. But even in my most unfortunate state, I was really blessed compared to a lot of the rest of the world. I had a really great chance to follow my dreams and have them actually come true.

I'm from a working-class background - I had free school meals all my life and then spent six years in art school.

I have always worried about who can read, who can't, who doesn't, and the great, life-altering consequences hidden within those distinctions.

A rising tide raises all boats, but you need a boat to rise with the tide. What does he who does not have a boat do?

Our generation in the west was lucky: we had readymade gateways. We had books, paper, teachers, schools and libraries. But many in the world lack these luxuries. How do you practice without such tryout venues?

I think that's what all New Zealanders who are fair-minded want - a good chance for everybody to get ahead, whether it's education or housing.

I believe that access to a university education should be based on the ability to learn, not what people can afford. I think there is no more nauseating a sight than politicians pulling up the ladder of opportunity behind them.

When I got outta High School I was driving a truck. I was just a poor boy from Memphis, Memphis.

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.

I am open-eyed about what poverty does to people.

Every soul deserves a shot at a Cadillac, but not everyone should be guaranteed a Cadillac.

I started life in a poor family and could not even afford a proper tertiary education.

I went to school and made good grades and went to college. So I was afforded an opportunity through my parents' hard work that most people don't have.

My father was really good with math. It's a funny thing, I don't remember my father or my mother being so mechanical-minded. My father always wanted to be a doctor, but he came from a really poor family in Georgia, and there was no way he was going to be a doctor.

I was lucky to come from a difficult area. It teaches you not just about football but also life. There were lots of kids from different races and poor families. People had to struggle to get through the day.

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.

My mom grew up in poverty in Oklahoma - like Dust Bowl, nine people in one room kind of place - and the way she got out of poverty was through education. My dad grew up without a dad, with very little and he also made his way out through education.

I'm aware of the fact that a lot of talented people out there will never get this chance.

The wealthiest Sudanese don't know what war is. Their children are safe in school.

Other families who are poor do what they can to get out of it. My mother did not. She did not utilise her resources. She had a degree. There was something she could have done, but she actively, purposely refused that so we could have this absolutely authentic experience of the worst of capitalism: 'See? Look how bad capitalism is.'