Andrew Yang Quotes

It's kind of almost not fair that certain people don't get the opportunities that others get just because of where they are born or where they were brought up.

There's an admirable belief about the virtues of meritocracy - that the best ideas prove the best results. It's a wrong and misguided belief by well-intentioned people.

What family you were born into matters so much more than it did before in a perverse way.

The danger of success is that it makes us forget the world's dreadful injustice.

I'm aware of the fact that a lot of talented people out there will never get this chance.

I never came into life with any favours or privileges.

Mitt Romney subscribes to the cynical logic that says the American dream belongs to some of us but not all of us.

Everyone should have the same opportunity, and in many areas that's not the case because programs are built around the elite.

These days, it seems that if you're not already in place, you can't get there from here.

Some men will be always able to pay more for their children's education than others; and that those children will, inevitably, win in the struggle of life.

Inequality is an inevitable product of capitalist activity, and expanding equality of opportunity only increases it—because some individuals and communities are simply better able than others to exploit the opportunities for development and advancement that capitalism affords.

All inequality that has no special utility to justify it is injustice.

It is definitely true that adversity and hardship are not evenly distributed.

The white actresses I have known have been allowed to do 10 times more than I shall ever do.

We say success in America is about hard work and character. It's not really. Most of success today is about how good you are at certain tests and what kind of family background you have, with some exceptions sprinkled in to try and make it all seem fair.

The consequences for failure are very different if you're a woman or a person of color than they are if you're a guy. If you're a guy who makes a mistake, you get a second chance. Often, for those of us who are outsiders, we make a mistake, and that's the end of the conversation.

Nepotism and outsiders are two sides of the same coin that is Bollywood. They both have to co-exist. Both have their share of struggles.

I don't think the world works on merit.

According to bourgeois standards, those who are completely unlucky and unsuccessful are automatically barred from competition, which is the life of society. Good fortune is identified with honor, and bad luck with shame.

The world is not a meritocracy, as much as we may like to pretend that it is. And we have a long way to go before we really reward people based on their own merit.

I'm not saying people shouldn't apply themselves and work hard. You do have to try to make your own luck. But I know people firsthand who worked incredibly hard, who were really smart, who never got into trouble, and still didn't get a break.

I was very much a product of the public-school system. There was only one other kid in my class who had parents not involved in the stock market or law.

Face it, the system is rigged, and it's rigged against us.

I remember hearing in first grade, 'Oh, why does she get to skip school?' It wasn't like I suddenly started feeling different. I always knew that I was. I never felt I missed out.

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