Chris Gardner Quotes

No one ever laid out the sequence of events that led to my mother being prosecuted and imprisoned for alleged welfare fraud.

Baby steps count, as long as you are going forward. You add them all up, and one day you look back and you'll be surprised at where you might get to.

Though my mom had too many of her own dreams denied, deferred and destroyed, she instilled in me that I could have dreams. And not just have dreams but had a responsibility to make them reality. My mom taught me from a very early age that I could do anything I wanted to do.

This part of my life,
this little part,
is called happiness.

You know how mountains get moved? Everyone who can move a couple, move a couple. Those who can move rocks, move rocks. Those who can move boulders, move boulders. That's how mountains get moved. If every one of us did everything we could, I believe we would be in a different world.

But if you don't take the necessary steps to make them happen, dreams are just mirages that mess with your head!

Claim ownership of your dreams

Walk that walk and go forward all the time. Don't just talk that talk, walk it and go forward. Also, the walk didn't have to be long strides; baby steps counted too. Go forward.

It was right then that I started thinking about Thomas Jefferson on the Declaration of Independence and the part about our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And I remember thinking how did he know to put the pursuit part in there? That maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue and maybe we can actually never have it. No matter what. How did he know that?

The secret to success: find something you love to do so much, you can't wait for the sun to rise to do it all over again.

Sizing up succinctly his lack of formal education compared with his determination to learn from others, the author writes, I went to college with every person I ever met.

Always, always pursue happiness.

I hold one thing dearer than all else: my commitment to my son.

It's ok to FAIL it's not ok to Quit

Every time he came back, apologetic, contrite, he'd start off being real nice. But he was as predictable as rain. No body knew when he'd go off, but at some point everybody knew he would.

The balance in your life is more important than the balance in your checking account.

The future was uncertain, absolutely, and there were many hurdles, twists, and turns to come, but as long as I kept moving forward, one foot in front of the other, the voices of fear and shame, the messages from those who wanted me to believe that I wasn't good enough, would be stilled.

As busy as I am wherever I am, I ...

It can be done, but you have to make it happen.

I just wanted to make a million dollars. But I couldn't sing and I couldn't play ball, so I said to my mother, 'How am I going to make a million dollars?' And she said to me, 'Son, if you believe you can do it, you will.'

Then again, what seems like nothing in the eyes of the world, when properly valued and put to use, can be among the greatest riches.

There was a language specific to all things. The ability to learn another language in one arena, whether it was music, medicine, or finance, could be used to accelerate learning and other arenas, too.

Ready or not, Tell yourself to jump

You can only depend on yourself. The cavalry aint coming,

If you have a dream, you've got to protect it.

You have to be bold because there will be folks who will say, "You can't" or "You shouldn't" or "Why?" There is a certain boldness to saying, "Well, I really don't want to be a high-powered corporate lawyer. I'm really passionate about painting.

Others may question your credentials, your papers, your degrees. Others may look for all kinds of ways to diminish your worth. But what is inside you no one can take from you or tarnish. This is your worth, who you really are, your degree that can go with you wherever you go, that you bring with you the moment you come into a room, that can't be manipulated or shaken. Without that sense of self, no amount of paper, no pedigree, and no credentials can make you legit. No matter what, you have to feel legit inside first.

Still a dreamer, yet more of a realist than ever before, I knew this was my time to sail. On the horizon I saw the shining future, as before. The difference now was that I felt the wind at my back. I was ready.