Curtis Mayfield Quotes

I mean, it's the life lessons that I suppose you learn that nobody gets a free ride and that you do the best you can with the means that you can and try to open yourself to as much knowledge and all that that you can.

I had teachers who said I was not good enough. So, I said I will become good enough. So I became this guy who became obsessed to become good enough. Now I sit down and tell people who I was. Now, I say, 'Do you know who I am?'

I never studied, but I had the best teachers.

I've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. Lived it and I'm still here to talk about it and help someone else if I can.

Learning what all you can overcome as a person, as a human being, is very important. It's very important to understand your strength. Which is not to say you become hardened or bitter.

I've been through a lot of things in my personal and family life. That turned me into a fighter. I always strive to be the best I possibly can.

I'm not a prophet. I'm not a teacher. I have no degrees. My degree is from the University of Life.

Everything that happens to me in my life, be it good or bad, it's all education, and it's important for that to become part of what you do. It all feeds the beast.

I find the education I got from living in Derby and being streetwise and knowing the people that I know, the lessons that I had to learn growing up, have set me in good stead for this kind of working life.

If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself.

You know who helped me a lot? Jane Fonda. She said, Look at how many times I've been up and I've been down. So don't worry about anything.

I struggled to get through high school. I didn't get to go to college. But it made me realize you can do anything if you want to bad enough.

Succeeding is not really a life experience that does that much good. Failing is a much more sobering and enlightening experience.

I had no education whatsoever, and my mother said, 'Oh, you'll get a much better education in life.' I did to some extent, though I always wish I could have tried it.

Your ability to adapt to failure, and navigate your way out of it, absolutely 100 percent makes you who you are.

I was a slightly overweight, spiky-fringed, rat's-tailed '80s girl who was just showing up. That's all I've ever really done to get here, just kept showing up. Even when I didn't want to. That's what I do.

I do believe in the old saying, 'What does not kill you makes you stronger.' Our experiences, good and bad, make us who we are. By overcoming difficulties, we gain strength and maturity.

With a complicated childhood, you can either focus on the positive or the negative, and I chose to focus on the positive.

When I found I could not figure something out, I decided to learn about it, until I knew as much as I could. It's my way.

Constantly getting knocked down and picking myself back up, the relationships I've been able to form with all the different people in the different cities, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I always try to show there's a way for the kids that feel like they're lowlives. In anything you want, you can be the greatest at it, even without school, if you want. Know your route.

I did a job. I completed my Matric and my Bachelors. I did a marketing job. I worked as a bus hostess. I did a lot of jobs; I struggled a lot. I got out from there. The first thing I did when I got out of Darul Aman was my Matric. Then I did my Bachelors privately; I kept doing it.

I look to TJ for inspiration in so many ways. One thing I learned from him is not to feel sorry for yourself.

My hardest lesson has been my most fruitful, too: that when people don't believe in me, I can prove them wrong.

There is no better teacher than life itself.