Brian Blessed Quotes

I know what it's like to be hungry. I know what it's like to be homeless. I know what it's like to have to choose between breaking the law and feeding yourself. I know what it's like to take meals at shelters and at Salvation Army facilities. I know what it's like to beg for money on the streets.

I know exactly what it's like to not have a penny. I know exactly what it's like trying to get a job. I know exactly what it's like having bloody one tin of Ambrosia left in the cupboard. But I know I can survive.

There were times when I couldn't even buy a loaf of bread.

When I was a kid out here in L.A., I was homeless, I didn't have any money and I was living in my car. I wasn't averse to going down to Santa Monica Boulevard and letting a guy buy me a sandwich. Know what I mean?

Things were so bad we ate rabbits that neighbours had run over and gave to us because they knew we were broke.

For a long time, I couldn't even afford food and clothing. I climbed from the very bottom of the society.

I used to sit in front of McDonald's and ask people for dollars to get me a cheeseburger. It was bad.

There were days when my father didn't have money for food, and we slept hoping the next day something could be got from work.

I was raised in the Depression, when there was a great sense of dog-eat-dog and people fighting over scraps.

We came from nothing really. One house. Ten people. Even days the lights was off. The worst days was not eating. Surviving off rice and toast.

Hunger can bring out the worst in us.

Yeah, I'll basically do anything to make money for food.

Sometimes, you have to remind yourself that some people are just trying to find something to eat.

The fight to make ends meet, keeps a man upon his feet.

Do I gotta go sell me a whole lotta crack for decent shelter and clothes on my back?

It is useless to talk virtue to a starving girl.

A guy I interviewed for Hard Times says, "What do I remember about the Great Depression? That I was hungry, that's all." Elemental things.

Did I want a dog? No. Did I need a dog? Also no. We were six kids running for our lives, not knowing where our next meal was coming from. Could we afford to feed a dog? Wait for it—no.

It really strikes me how much of your energy in America, especially if you're from a working back-ground, is spent just keeping your head above water. It really saps your grace and your strength.

I don't believe in pressure. Pressure is when you don't know where your next meal is coming from.

I definitely would say, by sixth grade, I was a professional shoplifter - and not because I wanted to. I'm not going out to shoplift earrings or clothes or shoes like the average teenager. I was shoplifting frozen dinners at a grocery store.

I had to steal to survive.

It's frightening to think about more sanctions. When I've met North Koreans in China, they've said to me, 'You have no idea how difficult our lives are. We live like dogs.' They wake up in the morning wondering what they're going to eat for dinner.

I used to help my dad with a stall selling eggs when I was about 12. People were so hard up they would ask for one egg. But mostly no one came by at all. It was very demoralising.

Hunger makes a thief of any man.