Stephen Fry Quotes

Sometimes I think life is just a rodeo, the trick is to ride and make it to the bell.

When I first came out, I was a film student, and my mom sewed clothes. I was already doing a million things then, whatever it took to survive. If I had to braid someone's hair to get one pound for my lunch money, that's what I did.

In my early days in school, I had no shoes, no school bags. There were days I had only one meal... I walked miles and crossed rivers to school every day. Didn't have power, didn't have generators, studied with lanterns, but I never despaired.

Poverty is uncomfortable; but nine times out of ten the best thing that can happen to a young man is to be tossed overboard and compelled to sink or swim.

I learned a lot in those first years in Miami, while struggling just for survival, by observing my father's fortitude.

But we did the best we could and in the end some of us had to get day jobs and start fresh.

Put paying your dues and all that puts so much into being a success. You have an understanding of what it's about, being on your own for three or four years and living day to day on $3, or living in an apartment with no electricity.

I ain't got much education, but I got some sense.

Precious, she gets hit by life so many different ways and so many times, but she doesn't yield to it. She continues to get up and she continues to struggle for a better life.

I know the true meaning of getting by by the skin of my teeth; I do. It doesn't matter whether you've got money or you haven't, whether you're famous or not. This is the case for all women, actually; you have to carry on. You always have to carry on. And you can, because you have to.

I've always been the person to look at any turmoil as temporary. I recall times where my mom was working five and six jobs, and there's still no food in the house.

My biggest inspiration has been life for me. Basic survival has been my biggest teacher. Surviving in Mumbai for so many years has been a huge ordeal.

I'm usually writing about survival. I never planned it, but it runs through all my books.

I've had to be tough my whole life.

[You Got To Make It Through The World] it's kind of a survival song. Survival is what's happening and it's basically a song about that.

I did rocks, all this dumb stuff. But now it's just trying to stay afloat and just get through the days.

Who wants to die? Everything struggles to live. Look at that tree growing up there out of that grating. It gets no sun, and water only when it rains. It's growing out of sour earth. And it's strong because its hard struggle to live is making it strong. My children will be strong that way.

I think that everybody does hustle in order to survive. That doesn't mean lying - it's more about how you handle situations.

Life is not for the faint of heart.

In spite of the problems he was having he was going on with his life. There are thousands who don’t or won’t or can’t and plenty of them aren’t in prison either.

Bend like the willow, winds gonna blow you hard and cold tonight. Life as it happens, nobody warns you, willow hold on tight.

There's more to life than just surviving . . . but . . . sometimes just surviving is all you get

What else have I done nearly all my life than go hungry and go on singing?

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it.

If we had time and no money, living by our wits, what story would you tell?