Dale Earnhardt Jr. Quotes

When I started travelling, I would go to a city and be on television and I used to get the question, 'Why do you work? If I were you, I'd just go and lie on a beach somewhere.' And I'd answer, 'Well, I wanted to make something of my life.'

I had that laser focus, identified what I wanted when I was a kid, and never let anything get in my way. If you look on paper at who I am and what I sound like, and what I look like, you wouldn't say, 'Go into broadcasting.' It's just what I wanted to do - I knew that I could do it, and I never let anyone tell me that I couldn't.

At one of my old schools, I didn't tell anyone I was doing my first album because I was worried they'd be like, 'Who does she think she is?' So I just let them find out for themselves.

I missed so many opportunities along the way to do what I wanted to do because I didn't have the confidence to tell myself, much less anybody else, 'Yes, this is the business I wanted to be a part of, and not feeling that I had the talent... and letting it go all the way through Notre Dame and then through two years of Navy service.

If I listened to my critics, I would still be at home under my bed right now.

Mediocrity scares me. It's the fear of not being as good as you want to be. If you give over to that fear, it will sabotage you. As much as I can, I try to use that fear to guide me.

My dad, we'll be talking about goals for the next year. He's like, 'I think you can be here,' and I look at him like he's cross-eyed, like, 'Are you serious? That's so far out of my reach.' Well, then I always end up achieving it.

I don't see how people are comfortable with seeing other people be great. You can be happy for anybody, but what is your excuse to not want to be great? These people are great because they just say, 'I'ma do that,' and they do it. That's it. There's no scientifical process.

When one is trying to do something beyond his known powers it is useless to seek the approval of friends. Friends are at their best in moments of defeat.

If I'd said, 'I'm going to be a director,' it probably wouldn't have happened.

I've always thrived on challenges, both personally and professionally.

I don't know, you know, when I look at it now, I don't know what in the world made me think I could become a director. I really don't.

I knew I had to show everybody that I could excel at something. But I didn't know what.

My friend was interning at the Miss India office and asked me to go for an audition. I just wanted to clear one basic round to show it to my friends. 'I'm in this mind space, and I can do this, losers.' I cleared the first round, and then I wanted to do more.

When I was about 18 or 19, I told my father that I want to be an actor, and he was shocked.

I suffered a lot of setbacks when I started; I didn't have any work experience and no real confidence to go after the career that I knew in the back of my mind I really wanted. It affected my confidence as knock-back after knock-back left me feeling like I might never succeed.

I remember all the stages in my career where I almost didn't have enough confidence to try for something, almost didn't have the guts to follow something I was excited about doing, because I didn't know anyone else who'd done it, or other people made me question it.

I never expected to become an actor at all. You can do anything you put your mind to it!

I don't think I made it clear where I was mentally when I appeared on 'X Factor.' There was so much pressure and a lot of judging. But I wanted to take a chance on the show because I wanted to make something of myself. 'X Factor' seemed like the only way out.

There are just times when it seems you can't do anything wrong. Then there are other times when whatever you do is wrong. I think I could have had more drive. I was never very ambitious.

I think a lot of people feel like they still have something to prove, because when you get in and you're chasing success, you always feel like you have something to prove. But at this point, I feel like an underdog, and I actually like being in that position.

What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place...The old humility was a spur that prevented a man from stopping; not a nail in his boot that prevented him from going on. For the old humility made a man doubtful about his efforts, which made him work harder. But the new humility makes a man doubtful about his aims, which will make him stop working altogether.

My philosophy has always been that I hope I have a good enough day to give me another one, I hope that I have a good enough year to give me another year. I know that's cliched, but it's the truth in how I approach my career.

I just don't want to be rapping forever. I love it, but sometimes you got goals for yourself.

If there's something I want, I go for it. I just think about how I'm going to go for it.