Michael Oher Quotes

I didn't inherit any great success and the problems that came with it, and yet I was able to keep working and supporting myself and later a family. I'm crazy fortunate.

My mom always told me one of the reasons that she was really happy in her life was that, if Dad never worked again, she was confident that she could support the family.

My parents had to work hard, and I was always looking for a way to make it big - for their sakes as well as my own.

For most of America's history, people typically aspired to acquire 'a competency' rather than great riches. A competency meant the ability to comfortably sustain a household without depending on others. 'Competence' also meant being capable and reliable. The American Dream was that people who worked hard and capably could support their families.

I justified working so hard by knowing that I was helping to maintain the roof over our heads.

My goal is to live out my dreams, to have a long NBA career, win championships and provide for them. My mom works two jobs. She does security and event staffing. My sister is a waitress. Anytime I'm down or don't want to work out, I remember our situation and what I've got to keep doing.

I'm gonna go hard no matter what because I gotta feed my family, and I gotta feed myself.

I don't want no handouts. I want to get it out the mud.

My grandma divorced my granddad and became a finance manager to get her own house, and my mum worked very hard to make sure we could have our own space.

My father had hammered into me, you want to look after your family, you want a nice house, and you want to be able to enjoy yourself, and you have to work very hard for those things. Don't think the world is going to come to you.

I come from nothing. When I got a chance to make some money, I was like, 'Man, I'm not ever going back.'

Are you to give up the fight and let this vast body of our wealth go to ruin? I do not believe it.

I worked selling tickets for Dodger Stadium; I delivered pizza; I did every job under the sun. It's the part that sucks as an artist. But I've learned at the end of the day you just have to enjoy your life.

I never wanted to rely on my family for money.

There wasn't a rich father or rich family that paid for everything that I have right now, so I worked my way.

It is easy to be independent when you've got money. But to be independent when you haven't got a thing, that's the Lord's test.

Choose a field that will supply sufficient remuneration to provide adequately for your companion and your children. I bear testimony that these criteria are very important in choosing your life's work.

He who is not capable of enduring poverty is not capable of being free.

I grew up not really having anything, so the idea that I can take care of my family and my friends now is a really cool bonus.

I've always been a workhorse, and I've been supporting myself since I was 15.

I did everything I could to stay in college and pay my own way, so I think that if success hadn't come so quickly, I would still be pursuing it.

I've been working since I was a child. I worked cutting lawns, delivering newspapers; I was a telephone salesperson; I was a guitar repairman.

As for money - when I have it, it's great. When I don't, I go get some. I've been a dishwasher, a gardener, a cleaner.

I played basketball to try to get my parents from working so hard.

If you work, you should not be poor.