Chris Gardner > Quotes

“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.”
― Chris Gardner, The Pursuit of Happyness

“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.”
― Chris Gardner, The Pursuit of Happyness

“The world is your oyster. It's up to you to find the pearls.”
― Chris Gardner, The Pursuit of Happyness

“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?”
― Chris Gardner, The Pursuit of Happyness

“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.”
― Chris Gardner, The Pursuit of Happyness

“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.”
― Chris Gardner, The Pursuit of Happyness

“Wealth can also be that attitude of gratitude with which we remind ourselves everyday to count our blessings.”
― Chris Gardner, The Pursuit of Happyness

“Her stillness defeated his storm.”
― Chris Gardner, The Pursuit of Happyness

“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.”
― Chris Gardner, The Pursuit of Happyness

“But if you don’t take the necessary steps to make them happen, dreams are just mirages that mess with your head!”
― Chris Gardner, Start Where You Are: Life Lessons in Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be

“No one ever laid out the sequence of events that led to my mother being prosecuted and imprisoned for alleged welfare fraud.”
― Chris Gardner, The Pursuit of Happyness

“This is a work of nonfiction. I have rendered the events faithfully and truthfully just as I have recalled them. Some names and descriptions of individuals have been changed in order to respect their privacy. To anyone whose name I did not”
― Chris Gardner, The Pursuit of Happyness

“If you have a dream and a desire to pursue it with every fiber of your being, but can’t move past excuses or circumstances that seem to be standing in your way, there is a life lesson ahead with your name on it. If you are tired of the status quo and are dying to shake up your life, reinvent yourself, and find a pursuit you love doing so much that you can’t wait for the sun to come up in the morning, you’ve come to the right place. If”
― Chris Gardner, Start Where You Are: Life Lessons in Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be

“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.”
― Chris Gardner

“sometimes the only way we can discover our true power is by living through the crisis we feared. As”
― Chris Gardner, Start Where You Are: Life Lessons in Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be

“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.”
― Chris Gardner, The Pursuit of Happyness

“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.”
― Chris Gardner, Start Where You Are: Life Lessons in Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be

“It's okay to fail, it's not okay to quit.”
― Chris Gardner

“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.”
― Chris Gardner, The Pursuit of Happyness”
― Chris Gardner

“Mr. Gardner, why people gotta keep you down when you have your dream?” Again, I was having a long overdue conversation with myself. “Well,” I said, “people who can’t do something themselves, they’re jealous, so they wanna tell you that you can’t do it. But you know what? You got a dream, it’s yours and you gotta protect it. So, don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t. If you want something, go get it. Period.”
― Chris Gardner, Start Where You Are: Life Lessons in Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be

“Cualquiera que crea que el dinero lo salva todo, no ha tenido nunca dinero… como yo en aquel tiempo.”
― Chris Gardner, En busca de la felycidad

“no matter where you are, only you have dominion over your mind, your beliefs, and your attitudes. So if you look at your situation and let go of excuses or blame, and you choose to believe that you can alter your position on your own, you’ll deprive the system, the man, or the ism controlling you. First,”
― Chris Gardner, Start Where You Are: Life Lessons in Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be

“The irony is that while sleep sometimes brings nightmares, it’s the reality of my waking hours that can cause me the greater fear.”
― Chris Gardner, The Pursuit of Happyness

“What I do know in the hours and days that follow is that nothing puts more stress on a relationship between a man and a woman than if the man has no job. At least, in the world I come from and inhabit, that’s so. A man without a job, as far as my upbringing taught me, is no man at all. Any man that was a man had to take care of and provide for his family.”
― Chris Gardner, The Pursuit of Happyness

“All that travel is inevitably exhausting, but it never gets old. Arriving in the next city for the next opportunity is always a thrill. As busy as I am, wherever I am, I try to get out and walk the streets, to check out the sidewalks for cracks, to remember how far I’ve come and appreciate every baby step of the way, to stand in amazement and joy that the pursuit never ends.”
― Chris Gardner, The Pursuit of Happyness

“Don’t listen to them,” I said. “In fact, don’t ever let anybody tell you that you can’t do something. Not your parents, your teachers. Nobody.”
― Chris Gardner, Start Where You Are: Life Lessons in Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be

“I used to think that I knew something about poverty. You have not seen poverty until you’ve seen it in Africa.”
― Chris Gardner, The Pursuit of Happyness

“You won’t find magic potions here. No matter how enticing they may seem, promises of quick fixes mostly set us up for failure and do more to deter us than empower us.”
― Chris Gardner, Start Where You Are: Life Lessons in Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be

“It was a multi-step process that involved first contacting the number-two person in the management hierarchy and offering some special investment opportunities and then, when there wasn’t interest right away, tracking in real dollars what they had turned down. Three months later I would place a call to the number-one person at the company and note that I had called before, saying, "I would have been calling you to send you a check for one hundred thousand dollars, but you didn’t feel that it was of interest at the time. Here’s what I’m calling you about now..." Almost across the board immediate interest and some subsequent trading followed.”
― Chris Gardner, The Pursuit of Happyness

“we all have the power of choice in determining who we ultimately become. This”
― Chris Gardner, Start Where You Are: Life Lessons in Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be