Vlade Divac Quotes

If I had the opportunity to speak to a young immigrant girl that just arrived to the U.S. the advice I would have for her would be: ask, speak, search; because there are opportunities out there. And, know that you aren't the only immigrant or the last to come to this country. Many that have come before you have succeeded. It is possible.

I can honestly say from my experience, my family and I had to start from scratch. We left Venezuela back in 1998 and sold the few things we had to come to America in search of the American dream. We went through really tough times. There were moments where we were wondering are we going to make it.

I had some difficult times when I first moved to Los Angeles when people would tell me I was saying things wrong. I felt different although my mum kept reminding me it was OK to be different.

Never far from my thoughts are memories of being a little girl in Queens, N.Y., our family of five crowded in a small one-bedroom apartment, struggling to learn English and survive a new life in a new country, America. We humbly and gratefully still recall the kindnesses shown by strangers and neighbors who became new friends.

When you go to a new country, you don't have the same facilities as you had in the one before. You adapt very quickly to the circumstances.

I moved to Queens, New York, when I was seven and a half. I went to middle school in a foreign country, but I had so many different kinds of Americans push me along and encourage me. I was very odd. I didn't talk very well. We were poor, and we didn't have any connections, but people showed up and pushed me along.

I can't tell you how many times I get into a taxicab in New York or Los Angeles, and I'm talking to somebody who is a recent immigrant who was a doctor or lawyer or engineer or professor in the country they just came from. They're starting over again in life, and I think the majority of people out there can relate to that.

Being an immigrant gives you so much courage.

I think being an immigrant makes me overly optimistic.

My parents went through hell and back. They came to America with suitcases and a family of seven and $250, and that's it.

I reflect back on my mom's journey, someone who was an immigrant to Canada and came not knowing anything and figured it out tremendously. I reflect back on that a lot.

My mom had been a script supervisor in Hungary, but you can't just jump into that in Canada without knowing any English. She worked retail jobs and raised my sister and me while learning English.

'First Gen' is kind of the ode to my parents and to really all immigrant children who come here with kind of a preemptive expectation placed on them, and then they get there, and they realize the American dream is bigger than, sometimes, what our parents dreamt.

As a child, it was really hard because I'd be thrown into a new school and have to make new friends, or I'd sit in class for months without speaking the language, but as I got older, I welcomed the possibility of discovering new cultures and languages.

For almost every interview, I had to have others translate for me, and look for someone to do that. I had a lot of miserable moments. But my teammates treated me well and helped me gain confidence.

Going around the league, people know, 'Oh, he got in some trouble' or 'He didn't play well his rookie year' or 'He's a bust.' That's the headline. I'm going to have a million more opportunities to create new headlines, and I can't wait. Can't wait.

The fact that I didn't speak English I think was the most difficult thing for me.

My father worked with a first-grade education in this country and managed every single day without a hiccup.

I am proud to be the granddaughter and daughter of immigrants who were brave enough to leave their homes and come to a whole new world with a different language and culture and immerse themselves fearlessly to start a better life for themselves and their families.

It's been my dream to race in F1 since I was eight. I don't see why that should change just because I've changed. It's a big challenge but I like to push myself. The accident has toughened me up and made me realise what's important. It's spurred me on to get to F1.

Once I got to the U.S., and I realized we weren't going to go back to Britain, I was ready to commit to starting a bigger life here.

I was only 19 when I came to Hoffenheim. Everything was new to me - a strange country, a foreign language. That was not easy at the beginning. Europe was a big adventure to me, and of course I had my doubts.

I'm the daughter of refugees. The immigrant mentality is to work hard, be brave, and never give up in your pursuit of achieving the American dream.

I landed in New Jersey, where I could barely speak English, and I had to figure out what a short brown kid was going to do in this big white world.

My parents' story is a great example of the American dream. Their struggles, their hard work for a better family... it inspires - that no matter how bad it might seem, you can always move past that and better yourself.