Michael Chandler Quotes

I was always blessed growing up with opportunities and access to facilities, equipment, and playing with my brothers in the backyard to be the best athlete I could be.

I can pretty much call anyone, whether at the White House, in a company or in the media. I have access, because of the silliness of the entertainment world and how people react to it. It gave me an enormous opportunity to do anything I really want to.

I remember being shocked when I discovered some of my school pals didn't have books in their homes. I thought it was like not having oxygen, or hot water.

My appearance gave me access to a particular kind of world and I'm really grateful for it.

I received a lot from tennis, so it's good to help others because it's very difficult. Many talented kids get lost because they don't have the money. Tennis is an expensive sport in Romania.

I firmly believe that talent and intelligence are universal, but resources and opportunities are not.

I have always worried about who can read, who can't, who doesn't, and the great, life-altering consequences hidden within those distinctions.

I was fortunate enough to make it to where I want to be. There could be other kids as talented or more talented than me in whatever they want to be but don't have the resources to pursue their dream. Maybe they have to get a job instead to help their mom with the bills.

I keep thinking of the gifts of my own upbringing, which I once took for granted: I can read any book I choose and comprehend it. I can write a complete sentence and punctuate it correctly. If I need help, I can call on judges, attorneys, educators, ministers. I wonder what I would be like if I had grown up without such protections and supports. What cracks would have turned up in my character?

I wouldn’t be the person I am today if it wasn’t for the opportunities the library gave me.

In my travels all over the world, I have come to realize that what distinguishes one child from another is not ability, but access. Access to education, access to opportunity, access to love.

The fact that I am able to live a life and act and to do all of those things and support myself and my family is a gift.

It seems that everywhere I go, people want the same things - security, education, family. It's just that so many people have no avenues through which to obtain these things.

It is easy when you are successful to think that you did it all by yourself and to forget that you didn't. You got here because a lot of things broke your way. You were lucky enough to be born into a family that could afford to take care of you well.

As an educator, I have always striven to see that the fruits of the American Dream are available to all.

… the great equalizer.

Substance doesn't do diddly-squat if you don't also have access.

We know what works. What works are the very opportunities that advantaged families provide for their children.

There are no doors that we cannot unlock.

Surrounded by the evidence of their success, the wealthy come to believe that they are fundamentally better than other Americans and that working people deserve their declining fortunes. They trumpet meritocracy while ensuring that their children enjoy crushing advantages from birth. They have unprecedented access to politicians and use it to push policies that swell their wealth while defunding institutions, such as public education, that sustain opportunities for less-fortunate Americans.

We have at our fingertips information that 500 years ago would have made the poorest man a prince.

I didn't grow up with a lot of money, but I grew up with a lot of opportunities that many people don't have.

I'm a nice middle-class girl.

I was lucky enough to be exposed to film, art, literature, culture, and then told, 'Yes, you can do that, too.' It's not something that everybody's circumstances allow for.

My adopted parents were able to pay for me to go to a private school. So I had it better than most people.