Quote

I feel blessed to be in the broadcast business for 20 years. I believe that when you're this blessed, you have an obligation to pay it forward. That's what life is all about ultimately.

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
Feel
Feels
Broadcast
Believe
Obligation
Years
Ultimately
Life
Blessed
Forward
Pay
Business

More quotes by 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
We give you the facts. I told you information is power - knowledge is power. We can't be in an ideological battle to redeem the soul of this country if we don't have the facts.
Tavis Smiley
Image
To be clear, the gap between the have gots and the have nots is widening. In this most multicultural, multiracial, multiethnic America ever, that concerns me.
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
The storm came. Lives were washed away. Ancient pains resurfaced. Now it is time for a sea of change.
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
When it comes to the president, we have to respect him, we have to protect him, and we have to correct him. And in my career, since he'd been on the national stage at least, I've had - I've always respected the president.
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
I wanted to be a theater actress, and initially, I wanted to work in musical theater
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
Troubled times do call for troubled songs, songs that unsettle our souls and our spirits unapologetically.
Tavis Smiley
Image
Losing teaches you something
Tavis Smiley
Image
Don't envy someone else's gift. Discover your own.
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
Poverty and wealth inequality are a form of instability into the future.
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
Even in the era of the first black president, racism is still the most intractable issue in USA. Regarding poverty, half of all Americans are either in or near poverty. Poverty is certainly worse for African-Americans now than it was during King's lifetime.
Tavis Smiley
Image
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
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
[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