Idris Elba Quotes

When I first moved to L.A., I went walking down the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and I would tell myself, 'One day, I'm going to have my own star.'

I never thought much about success early on. I only thought about being a comedian - or just being in show business, is really more accurate.

I remember talking with a friend. He asked me a question. He said, 'What's your end game? What's your goal with this?' And I said to him, 'You know, I want to win the Academy Award one day.' And he said, 'OK'.

I would like to become champion, but I'm realistic about it.

I suppose that I am ambitious.

Raise your ambition beyond where you're capable of now. There's nothing about my hometown that said I'd be working with Fortune 50 CEO's, Olympians, at the highest level.

I've never hidden the fact I'm ambitious at some point.

I had always wanted a top spot, ever since I came to Japan in 2008.

I've always had very high aims for my life and for my career, for anything that I do.

I always wanted to come into the spotlight. I always had dreams and plans of doing my own thing and creating my own image, so it came a little sooner than I thought it would but this is still something I knew I would be going through and would have to experience.

I don't want to be New Vocalist of the Year; that's not a goal of mine. If those things come along, that would be awesome, but that's not something I strive for.

You have to be ambitious in life.

I'm still fiercely ambitious.

I wanted to be successful, not famous.

Hopefully I'll be successful with the singing, but there are so many other things I want to do, like acting. I'll do them one at a time first!

I think the fact that I am living my dream and being really productive and embarking on all my lifelong aspirations is proof enough that if I can do it, anyone can. I try to tell everybody to dream big and go after their dreams.

I've won many awards and I want more. If you want to call it hunger then I'm hungry for awards.

Dreaming big is always a good way to go about things.

I'm greedy and ambitious like everybody else.

I want to be the best. That's just the human way.

If you've got aspirations to be a manager or coach, obviously coaching your country would be a great honour.

Passion is what gives meaning to our lives. It's what allows us to achieve success beyond our wildest imagination. Try to find a career path that you have a passion for.

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.'

When you start a new job or a particular journey, you really don't know what to expect. I mean, you hear about your name being on the bestsellers list, but it doesn't really mean anything. Like, really, what does that translate to?