Sam Levenson Quotes

My father was often angry when I was most like him.

I enjoy racing because I want to do it. No one's forcing me.

when we are young our parents run our life; when we get older, our children do.

What does it mean to be an individual? What does it mean to flourish?

All the time a person is a child he is both a child and learning to be a parent. After he becomes a parent he becomes predominantly a parent reliving childhood.

And I always laugh at that, because I think I've always been doing what I want to do since Day 1.

No matter what, your parents are going to worry about you. I had a tour bus, and my mother still thought I was broke. Remember: It's your life, not theirs. Just because your parents sent you to college doesn't mean they bought the rest of your life.

The only possible ethic is to do what one wants to do.

When the Nobel Committee chose to honor me, the road I had chosen of my own free will became a less lonely path to follow.

I think people ought to do what they feel useful at the time. If I do things because I ought to do them, I switch off.

Now is the one time in my life I can be 100% selfish. I'm not married; I don't have kids; I can focus on my career.

I wanted above all else not to be like my mum.

I have made the choices that work best for me. I know I cannot please everyone, and that's fine.

Too many people try to please their parents. My parents were Republicans, which is too bad, but they allowed me to be who I wanted to be.

My parents told us how they felt but never imposed their beliefs on us, although I appreciate I got a healthy sense of democracy from them.

We're allowed as adults to create a life that we like. Kids don't have that freedom.

I think that parents grow up with an idea of what they want their kids to be like - and then their kids grow up to be people of themselves, of their own.

There's a flipside to this; if you as an individual have the right to live on your own terms, you must have the right to both succeed and fail on them.

I'm a big believer in everybody being themselves. If not doing a swimsuit calendar is yourself, that's great. But if doing a swimsuit calendar is yourself, then you should be able to do it. What I do outside the car adds to who I am and expresses a different side of me.

Some people are going to be happy with my decision, some people aren't... But I must live my life.

I was not very keen on joining the family business... there were 14 family members working together, and it worried me that I would not have enough individuality.

I am not happy, and the quest for happiness as a principal objective is not part of my world. Of course, ever since I can remember, I have done what I felt like doing.

Each man must have his "I"; it is more necessary to him than bread; and if he does not find scope for it within the existing institutions he will be likely to make trouble.

I never felt that I was supposed to be white. Or black, either. My parents just wanted to let me be who I needed to be.

I can be whoever I want. I can feel however I want.