Quote

When you work for something, you appreciate it more. So what are y'all going to do with all the opportunities you inherited that you didn't have to work for?

Tavis Smiley

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Tavis Smiley
Age: 60
Born: 1964
Born: September 13
Businessperson
Journalist
Radio Personality
Talk Show Host
Television Presenter
Television Producer
Gulfport
Mississippi
Inherited
Opportunities
Appreciate
Opportunity
Didn
Going
Work
Something

More quotes by Tavis Smiley

Image
Competition's always been a product of American lifestyle
Tavis Smiley
Image
Fear, fear, breeds hopelessness. When you're afraid, you don't know what to believe in, you don't know what to hold on to. You're struggling to find something to believe in.
Tavis Smiley
Image
We come to know who we really are in life during the dark and difficult and desolate days of our journey.
Tavis Smiley
Image
The City of Angels is a microcosm of the world, and so living in L.A. makes me feel like a citizen of the world.
Tavis Smiley
Image
This is not a skill problem, this is a will problem. Does America have the will to make education a priority? We know the things that work. Why don't we scale up those things that do work.
Tavis Smiley
Image
Regardless of your race, religion or political affiliation, never hesitate to question those in authority.
Tavis Smiley
Image
There are enough bad films coming out of this town already without the process being more democratized. I'm a guy who loves democracy. I'm all for democratizing any process, but I think there is a price to pay for that.
Tavis Smiley
Image
Struggling to stay in the middle class, and I love that. That's me and my dad and my family.
Tavis Smiley
Image
Music is the soundtrack of our lives, it's essential for our lives.
Tavis Smiley
Image
I don't want the Obama era to be more about symbolism than substance when it comes to black people. I love him, but I love black people even more.
Tavis Smiley
Image
How do you grow up in the shadow of a guy - I want to talk about the movie in a second - but how do you grow up in the shadow of a guy who really is a legend in his own time?
Tavis Smiley
Image
My role on television is one of helping people reexamine the assumptions that they hold. I regard Dr. King. You would never hear me get up and speak without in some way, shape or form, referencing, Dr. King.
Tavis Smiley
Image
Sometimes rejection in life is really redirection.
Tavis Smiley
Image
When I'm at the premiere and I see the film in its entirety, I forget plot, I forget the story, I forget what my character goes through, because I really do just let it go.
Tavis Smiley
Image
What determines your altitude in life is your attitude.
Tavis Smiley
Image
I believe if we make black America better, we make all of America better.
Tavis Smiley
Image
I fear that we are living in a society, living in a world where forgiving people is becoming more and more difficult to do.
Tavis Smiley
Image
Live just because or live your life for a cause
Tavis Smiley
Image
Every community has a Martin Luther King Boulevard. It's the cornerstone we all know. It's not just a street or boulevard, but a place where Walmart stands together with your community to make every day better.
Tavis Smiley
Image
[John Carlos] has spent much of his life since that time as a dedicated human rights advocate and public speaker, and he is out now with a wonderful new text a memoir, in fact.
Tavis Smiley