Lionel Sosa Quotes

I moved to Queens, New York, when I was seven and a half. I went to middle school in a foreign country, but I had so many different kinds of Americans push me along and encourage me. I was very odd. I didn't talk very well. We were poor, and we didn't have any connections, but people showed up and pushed me along.

I would say to you that Americans of Hispanic descent want desperately to give their children the chances they never had.

My parents both came to the United States from the Dominican Republic, and they were deeply grateful for the opportunities this country provided. They raised my siblings and me to want to make a difference and give back. They taught us to work hard and aim high, but to also make sure the ladder was down to help others climb up.

With my fighters, there's no excuses like, 'Hey, listen, he's a dumb guy. Came from the mean streets of somewhere. He's just not all that bright.' These are educated guys, most of them went to college, they have families, children, etc. These are smart, rational people I'm dealing with.

My parents immigrated to this country from Jamaica with no more than a fifth-grade education.

Even though I didn't have a lot of material things, I had the love and education and all together a lot of kids don't have the same chances, so the goal is to give some chances to the kids that don't have it.

I won't stop until every Iowan has an opportunity to succeed.

Dreams do come true, but not without the help of others, a good education, a strong work ethic, and the courage to lean in.

We really need to put the best we have to offer within reach of our children. If we don't do that, we're going to get the generation we deserve.

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

Education equals choices. I have been blessed with the choice to be anything I ever wanted to be, and I truly owe my happiness to my family and education.

I think the Hispanic community, the values that resonate in our community, are fundamentally conservative. They are faith, family, patriotism.

I want to prove that you don't have to come from Oxford University or Rada - and you don't have to have parents that support you - to succeed.

Learning to read and write changes lives; it means jobs, money, health, and dreams fulfilled.

The older I grow the more I see the influence of my family on my life. I didn't always see it. It was up to our parents to see that we had our education in a town that hadn't yet realized what racial prejudice was but actually knew and practiced it on occasion.

Really, what education does is it gives opportunity, but it also gives hope.

Access to quality education has enabled me to reach far beyond the Bangladeshi village I grew up in.

Government can provide opportunity. But opportunity means nothing unless people are prepared to seize it.

A quality education grants us the ability to fight the war on ignorance and poverty.

If I had the opportunity to speak to a young immigrant girl that just arrived to the U.S. the advice I would have for her would be: ask, speak, search; because there are opportunities out there. And, know that you aren't the only immigrant or the last to come to this country. Many that have come before you have succeeded. It is possible.

Really, the values under which my generation was raised in the '50s were immigrant values even though we weren't immigrants. The greatest thing you could be was a college-educated Negro.

For generations, people have come to U.S. shores to seek opportunity. It's what my grandfather did a century ago, when he came to Seattle, and worked as a houseboy just one mile from the Washington State governor's mansion that I was privileged to inhabit for eight years.

Through hard work and education, we can deliver a strong economy and opportunity for all.

My parents shared not only an improbable love, they shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation. They would give me an African name, Barack, or blessed, believing that in a tolerant America your name is no barrier to success.

My parents, fleeing a repressive regime in the Dominican Republic, were embraced by this country and taught us to love it in return. After my father served proudly in the U.S. Army, they settled in Buffalo, N.Y., and were able to live the American Dream.