Peter Abrahams Quotes

What people tell me they take away from my books is that they can shape their lives, they can achieve their own dreams. And certainly that's what I want them to take away.

Years ago I met Richard Burton in Port Talbot, my home town, and afterwards he passed in his car with his wife, and I thought, 'I want to get out and become like him'. Not because of Wales, because I love Wales, but because I was so limited as a child at school and so bereft and lonely, and I thought becoming an actor would do that.

I do know that there is no reason for me to drown myself from sorrow since I haven't yet tried to achieve anything great.

You can become whoever you want to be. You can do what you want to do.

You can't change where you come from, but you can change where you go from here. Just like a book. If you don't like the ending, you make up a new one.

I truly believe that we can overcome any hurdle that lies before us and create the life we want to live. I have seen it happen time and time again.

At the end of the day, life's about realising one's human potential. I don't know if I've realised mine, but I've certainly gone a long way towards realising some goals and some dreams.

You can't just sit there and wait for people to give you that golden dream. You've got to get out there and make it happen for yourself.

I realized that I had the ability to carve out a life for myself, that it was in no way limited by what had already occurred in my past. And that inspired me to go to school.

I gave up on the national team - I thought to myself, 'Well, that's just not something that's going to happen for me.' The national team was in residency camp; I was 6,000 miles away. Nobody was watching, nobody cared... I'm just going to go play for myself and my team and try to be great... and I had more fun than I'd have ever had.

I feel honored to be an example for others. It makes it feel worthwhile to have overcome all the challenges I have encountered so I can help others to dream and also fulfill their dreams.

Nobody is going to love and honor your dreams like yourself. It's really not looking for someone to be your superhero but for us to save ourselves and to really understand that. I've been at the lowest of lowest of my life, and it took that for me to realize that I want to do better and to be better.

Once I started feeling better and healthier and learned to walk on my first prosthetic leg, I realised I'm not going to be satisfied with just walking around.

Focus on your dream and do everything in your power. You have the power to change your life circumstances.

My life would be a reflection of my childhood, but it isn't; it is a reflection of the dreams that I had as a child for a better life. When I look around and see the beautiful people and wonderful surroundings that are now my reality, I know that I have overcome so much. I still have plenty of fight left in me.

Everyone's got to have a dream... It's not reaching your dream that counts. It's going toward them.

You can be anything you want to be. You can be a street sweeper, if you want. Just be the best blasted street sweeper you can be . . . And, you know you can be mayor.

When you consider what you would love to accomplish in your life but feel ill-prepared to bring it about, picture the eighty-nine Michelangelo living five centuries ago, painting, sculpting, and writing. Imagine he is telling you that you can create whatever you desire, and the great danger is not in having too much hope, but in reaching what you have perceived as hopeless.

I'm here to spread a message of hope. Follow your heart. Don't follow what you've been told you're supposed to do.

I might have been born in a hovel but I am determined to travel with the wind and the stars.

I am, you know, really fighting for myself and my life. And I think the message that I could give to anybody is that it's never too late to start your life again and dream new dreams.

I like to think that my finest hour is still ahead of me, so I can look forward rather than look backward.

Dreams do come true, even for someone who couldn't speak English and never had a music lesson or much of an education.

I am a great motivator. I have struggles in my life, and the only way I can push through them is to motivate others. It really is quite selfish.

One must be something in order to do something.