Eniola Aluko Quotes

It is of no consequence of what parents a man is born, as long as he be a man of merit.

Intelligence is a great leveler here as elsewhere

There is also an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents;... The artificial aristocracy is a mischievous ingredient in government, and provision should be made to prevent its ascendancy.

... there shall be no differences save by merit of character, by merit of ability, by merit of service to country. Those are the true tests of the value of any man or woman, white or coloured ...

No good-looking appearance would conceal low intelligence.

There seems to be an idea abroad in this land as well as in others, that a certain class of people are for the purpose of producing servants for another class of people, and that this servant-producing class has no right to give their children an education that is calculated to elevate them above the position of their parents. We are not in sympathy with this idea.

I am not a product of privilege, I am a product of opportunity

Take me as an example. I happen to have a talent for allocating capital. But my ability to use that talent is completely dependent on the society I was born into. If I'd been born into a tribe of hunters, this talent of mine would be pretty worthless. I can't run very fast. I'm not particularly strong. I'd probably end up as some wild animal's dinner.

I firmly believe that talent and intelligence are universal, but resources and opportunities are not.

People believed I was fed with a silver spoon in my mouth, but I fought for everything that I have.

If you have the talent, you should have the opportunity.

I know that I'm talented, and I know that I'm not in American Ballet Theater because I'm black - I'm here because I'm a gifted dancer.

We come from different backgrounds. Some people grow up with money in their pocket, or they have a certain last name; others have nothing. But it comes down to work ethic. That's where we all play on the same playing field.

Anyone can achieve it if they're given the opportunity to.

Prodigious actions may as well be done, by weaver's issue, as the prince's son.

I'm rarely asked to play the smartest man in the room.

Just because someone has gone to an elite school and college does not make him smarter than the person who has grown up on street knowledge.

Outside of the family, education is the greatest determinant of social mobility.

I'm no genius, sure, but I'm no dum-dum.

It seems to never occur to fools that merit and good fortune are closely united.

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.

Mr. Lincoln's elevation shows that in America every station in life may be honorable; that there is no barrier against the humblest; but that merit, wherever it exists, has the opportunity to be known.

Merit should count more than academic background.

Ability is nothing without opportunity.

I worked a long time to get good at what I'm doing, and nobody handed me a recording contract because of who my father is.