Gord Downie Quotes

I was bullied in school, but thankfully, I was surrounded by amazing family that love me and kept my head high and didn't allow me to fall into depression because of it.

I've overcome neglect and deprivation, abandonment and abuse.

My wife has now made a point of, after losses, to bring our son into the bed when he wakes up in the morning. So when I'm waking up and I'm still obsessing over whatever happened the night before, I see this little guy right in front of me smiling and wanting to connect with me. It's totally changed how I compartmentalize.

I'm not going to lie: it's tough. There were a couple of games where you're down, and you're in a really dark place, and you don't know if you're ever going to come out of it. You realize, 'Hey, I'm having a bad day,' but you realize there are people out there having worse days.

Everybody's gone through some kind of struggle in their life, and I'd like to be the type of voice who talks about it.

There were moments where I was called many derogatory names. I've gotten into a couple of fights. People have jumped me. You know, I've had a lot of things that have happened to me, but I look past those things now.

It's a long story, my life, growing up with my dad, my mom when she died, everything. I had bad moments in my life, my dad going to prison, I had nothing, and that's where I got my motivation.

I think the toughest phase of life is over, and I don't wish it on anyone. My family has gone through a lot, and I don't want to dwell on the past.

The people around me saved my life, not MMA. It was people who said, 'You're better than this,' who told me, 'You don't belong in this world.' MMA and jiu-jitsu and training gave me an escape.

I was bullied and picked on because I was so different to everyone else, and I definitely didn't believe or even know I was fabulous back then. But those hard times made me everything I am today. It's all water under the bridge now, but being bullied and going through adversity definitely made me stronger.

After my father died when I was seven and my mother entered into an abusive relationship, I shuffled between houses - staying with friends, families from church, and relying on the kindness of teachers and people throughout my community to help me grow up essentially without parents.

When I was growing up, I was obviously gay, and I got heckled every day of my life. The only way I knew how to survive was to make people laugh. If I could make them laugh, I wouldn't get hung in a locker for two hours. That's a blessing.

I was bullied in first grade, and it's definitely not fun. But always tell somebody instead of holding it in. Communicate with people and just say, 'Hey, I'm being bullied. I need help.'

Human behavior in the midst of hardship caught my attention very early on, and my first stories were all pictures, no words.

After 'A Perfect Storm' came out, I heard from a young reader, who had suffered a similar background as 'Arizona,' that I had helped her to find peace. That was the most amazing thing in the world to me.

I had a few really bad years in school, just from not fitting in and being bullied. It was kind of brilliant being a military brat, though, because when you're in that kind of situation, you just think, 'I only have to hang on for another year, because then we'll move. It'll be fine if I can just get out of here.'

A lot of people do have tragic childhoods. But you know what? Get over it.

My entire youth was spent with an incredibly ill parent... I don't think you can grow up that way and not be marked by that experience.

Like so many other kids with special needs, I have been bullied. Kids in elementary school made me eat sand, and those same boys would walk behind me, teasing me. Finally I had enough, and I told them to grow up.

The town, the team, it's a family. That has helped. For some people who have had to deal with some of the problems I have had to deal with don't have football as an out.

I managed to survive the worst things any entertainer could possibly go through.

I had a very dysfunctional family, and a very hard childhood. So I made a world out of words. And it was my salvation.

My whole family have all been through a difficult time. My focus is my children, our children.

When you're going through these difficult times of chaos and trauma, the most important thing is to keep those who are closest to you together.

I was very down as a teenager, very upset because I had gotten hurt in a car accident. But my dad was a source of strength. He used to say, 'It's the character with strength that God gives the most challenges to.' I've thought about that so many times in my life when things didn't go right.