Tony Cardenas Quotes

In my particular instance, I came from a family that didn't have anything. Everything I earned in life I made. Myself. With songs that I wrote.

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

My father graduated from high school and didn't go to college and still found his way.

I'm very inspired by him-it was my father who taught us that an immigrant must work twice as hard as anybody else, that he must never give up.

I grew up in this poor place, with very limited circumstances, at about 16 years of age was sent by my family to work, and instead of remaining in the position into which I was sent, I somehow worked my way out of it without any help from anyone, just luck.

I worked hard to get where I am. And I started with nothing.

I've had the school of hard knocks, and I've worked my way up to be the governor of this great state of Connecticut.

I'm a big believer in personal responsibility. My life wasn't always peaches and roses. Where I am today is through a belief in hard work and never saying no.

At some point in your life, you'll find yourself in a similar position: Surrounded by people who are smarter, faster, who have more experience and more money - and you'll just have to find a way. And you'll have to do it with passion.

My mum had me when she was just 18 and she worked three jobs, including bar tending, to put food on the table and she also went to night college. She worked really hard for us and I kept myself busy with football.

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.

My mom and dad both worked when I was little... My mom, her mom died when she was 11, so she had a rough childhood as well. She put herself through college in three years at the University of Texas - while working a job to pay for it.

I came to the country [U.S] without speaking a word of English, without a penny, worked full time, 40 hours a week, went to school full time, opened my own small business, ended up being a multi-millionaire. If I can do it, without even knowing the language, anybody can do it. All it takes is determination, perseverance, and like Winston Churchill said: 'Never, never, never, never give up.'"

The thing that I think about the most, and is the most rewarding to me, is the whole past. That I kind of went from nothing to something and I did it on my own, and I did it through hard work and smarts.

I am someone who always gets up again, even if there are setbacks. I have a survivor instinct. I'm not sure where it comes from, but probably from all the little things that make you into who you are.

Abraham Lincoln comes from nothing, has no education, no money, lives in the middle of nowhere on the frontier. And despite the fact that he suffers one tragedy and one setback after another, through sheer force of will, he becomes something extraordinary: not only the president but the person who almost single-handedly united the country.

I want to be an example of a guy who made something of himself out of nothing. A guy who overcame the odds of a tough childhood, who worked hard, who didn't let his surroundings get the best of him and lead him to jail or the graveyard. Where I ended up - being a comedian, a TV star, and a movie actor - might be unique, but my story is not.

I'm a realist. Where I come from, 'phenomenons' don't exist. I'm from a land where people make mistakes and try again, harder, faster; where negativity is not an option.

I have met hundreds of young people doing just what George Romney did: using a hand up in tough times to become part of the American Dream.

You win any which way you can. You do what you have to do to get by. That's the way it works in any job.

I had a period of unemployment for about nine months after my first big break, and it's the greatest lesson I ever could have learned, never to believe you're home and dry.

I showed up in L.A. with $500 and a backpack and I stayed at a shelter, so nobody handed me anything. I worked for every single thing that I have.

If I was hearing something I couldn't do, I would figure out how to do it.

My grandfather could barely read. My grandmother had a sixth-grade education. They were people who were industrious. They were frugal.

Circumstances have rarely favored great men. A lowly beginning is no bar to a great career. The boy who works his way through college may have a hard time of it, but he will learn how to work his way in life, and will usually take higher rank in school and in after life than his classmate who is the son of a millionaire.