Melvin Van Peebles Quotes

As a kid, I'd get up at 3 in the morning during school vacations to help my father on his bakery-truck route. He didn't get a vacation from that schedule.

I used to sell candy and ice creams in the street, and I worked in the fields to help my parents.

I've been working since I was a child. I worked cutting lawns, delivering newspapers; I was a telephone salesperson; I was a guitar repairman.

My parents had to work hard, and I was always looking for a way to make it big - for their sakes as well as my own.

My father worked on assembly lines in Detroit while I was growing up. Every day, I watched him do what he needed to do to support the family. But he told me, 'Life is short. Do what you want to do.'

When I was nine years old, living on the south side of Chicago, my father was a minister and my mother used to scrub floors. I had seven brothers and four sisters. I told my mama, 'One of these days I'm going to be big and strong and buy you a beautiful house.' That's all I've ever wanted to do with my life, is to take care of my mother.

My family were really hard-working, blue-collar people, and I didn't know the idea or concept of working and having fun. I thought you just worked and made money to support your family.

My parents had always preached the virtues of hard work. But hard work is one thing; economic struggle is another.

Money was tight and Mum used to do two jobs to support us.

I watched my parents. My dad worked nights, and I was aware of how much he was doing for us. My mom was a Tupperware lady and also worked at the school. I always felt that I couldn't let them down. And I had a natural discipline from early on. I was always training for something.

My mom and dad worked very hard to give me the best chance in - not just in golf but in life. You know, I was an only child, you know, my dad worked three jobs at one stage. My mom worked night shifts in a factory.

In West Virginia, the most vulnerable people we have are people who get up every morning and go to work.

I was raised to work for my father when I was four.

My parents are very hard working people who did everything they could for their children. I have two brothers and they worked dog hard to give us an education and provide us with the most comfortable life possible. My dad provided for his family daily. So, yes, that is definitely in my DNA.

The restaurant business had a profound effect on my future and that of my two brothers. When we were able to stand on a stool to reach the sink, we washed dishes, and later, when we could see over the counter, we waited tables and managed the cash register.

We opened Panda Inn on June 8, 1973. The whole family - my parents, a brother and sister - all worked at the restaurant for free. We lived in a two-bedroom apartment in San Gabriel and didn't have any money.

I've worked since I was in second grade.

My parents worked really hard.

When I was just 13, we went from being middle class to lower middle class and finally lower class, as someone close to my father took away everything he had, including his property. All of a sudden, I started working at the age of 13.

My father had four jobs every summer. He taught driver's education. He sold World Book Encyclopedias. He sold life insurance. He worked the tobacco market. From the time I was really, really small, I went with him. Obviously, I didn't get paid.

I had a very hard-working father and a very hard-working mother. My dad was someone that would get up at 5 in the morning and work 'til 4 in the afternoon and then had a hobby he made money with. After he'd get home, he'd have a meal and have a drink and then flow right into that, trying to provide.

Any man who steps in the ring, I give them respect because we're trying to feed our family and this is how we do it.

We were a single-parent household for a while. It was just my mom, me, and my brother. We were on welfare for about a year and a half. But I remember my mom never complained, and we never wanted for anything. She always made ends meet and she's been the rock for the family. She instilled in me work ethic and toughness.

My father's father died when he was a teenager, and dad went to work to support his mother and two siblings as a carpenter and as a builder's mule, hauling carts of lumber to construction sites when it was too icy for the mules to climb the hills.

I do know that no matter what, I know within myself that if I have to work at McDonald's, I will do what it takes to provide for my kids, period.