Kate Reardon Quotes

I am not a product of privilege, I am a product of opportunity

America is a meritocracy.

A meritocracy is a system in which the people who are the luckiest in their health and genetic endowment; luckiest in terms of family support, encouragement and, probably, income; luckiest in their educational and career opportunities; and luckiest in so many other ways difficult to enumerate - these are the folks who reap the largest rewards.

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

It would be against all nature for all the Negroes to be either at the bottom, top, or in between. We will go where the internal drive carries us like everybody else. It is up to the individual.

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

In America, as opposed to the old country, success was based on merit.

I'm aware people will think I've had an easy way into a dream career. My view is, if anyone has opportunities, they'll take them. My surname opens doors, but those doors will slam firmly if I'm no good.

We're seeing an enormous amount of global upward mobility that's quite rapid and quite sudden, and undiscovered individuals have a chance - using the Internet, using computers - to prove themselves very quickly. So I think the mobility story will be a quite complicated one.

I'm not saying I'm something special. I might play a little better tennis than other people, but it is because I was given the chance, and not many people are.

Everybody should have an equal chance - but they shouldn't have a flying start.

The American dream, to me, means having the opportunity to achieve, because I don't think you should be guaranteed anything other than opportunity.

When people are educated, class distinction disappears.

In a country where there is no privileged class, genius and industry may attain the highest honors.

We once had a society stratified by bloodlines, in which the Protestant Establishment was in one class, immigrants were in another and African-Americans were in another. Now we live in a society stratified by education. In many ways this system is more fair, but as the information economy matures, we are learning it comes with its own brutal barriers to opportunity and ascent.

Take me as an example. I happen to have a talent for allocating capital. But my ability to use that talent is completely dependent on the society I was born into. If I'd been born into a tribe of hunters, this talent of mine would be pretty worthless. I can't run very fast. I'm not particularly strong. I'd probably end up as some wild animal's dinner.

You can be born into privilege, or you can not be born into privilege. You can be born into the opposite extreme and into poverty. I think from there on, though, you really do have to make your luck.

As Americans, I think we really believe that with the meritocracy that exists in our country, the equality of opportunity is so important to the foundation of our culture and our society.

After a point, it doesn't matter where you come from. There are many star kids who haven't done well in the industry and rank newcomers who have done amazingly well.

My brother and sister are smarter than me. But I'm the most successful because I've been given opportunities that they never had.

My father is a taxi driver, and my mother ran a small business. I hadn't even met a barrister before I got my first shot at the legal profession. But back then, I was lucky enough to be given a break - I can't help but wonder if I would be so lucky today.

I think this country is genuinely a meritocracy.

I definitely think if you're born into the industry, you get easier access, but that's about it. I have never denied that, but after that, only talent and hard work sustains you.

There are few things that define us as a country more distinctly than the idea of the American Dream. The idea that anyone can make it here through hard work and dedication. And that dream rests on giving people here a fair shot.

You really have to prove yourself and prove your worth. I didn't come from family that had been here for generations and had all these connections.