The Pursuit of Happyness Quotes

“Books allowed me not only to travel in my imagination but to look through windows into the world of the unknown and not feel afraid.”

“My father held Christopher’s little fingers protectively, proudly. As one of those memories that you capture and that remains unchanged through the years, the image of the two of them walking along in that night produced a surprising reaction in me that would come back every time I recalled it. What first flashed in my brain and my heart was--How come that couldn’t have been me? How come I never got a chance to do that? As time went on, I recognized that it wasn’t anger of course. But I was jealous of my little boy, ridiculous as that was. Below that layer, in the core of my being, was simple hurt.”

“As long as I kept my mental focus on destinations that were ahead, destinations that I had the audacity to dream might hold a red Ferrari of my own, I protected myself from despair. 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.”

“Go forward. That became my mantra.”

“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.”

“Her stillness defeated his storm.”

″‘Son, if you want to, one day you could make a million dollars.‘”

“The encounter with the driver of the red Ferrari showed me the way to discovering what the arena was in which I could apply myself and also to learning how to do that. But it was my mother’s earlier pronouncement that had planted the belief in me that I could attain whatever goals I set for myself.”

″‘Here it is, Chris, the world is your oyster. It’s up to you to find the pearls.‘”

“His message wasn’t explicit, but the theme was always clear: live large. That message wasn’t meant in any kind of negative or selfish way. To me, it meant to dare to dream, to commit to living on my own terms, to pursue my vision--one that other’s didn’t have to see, just me.”

“The powerful truth that emerged for me was something Moms had tried to tell me when I was younger--no one else can take away your legitimacy or give you your legitimacy if you don’t claim it for yourself.”

“This is your worth, who you really are, you 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.”

“No matter what I had in my pocket, no matter what my suit cost, nobody could prevent me from acting as if I was a winner. Nobody could prevent me from acting as if my problems were all in the process of being solved. Pretty soon, my acting as if was so convincing that I started to believe it myself. I began to think futuristically, as if I had already passed the test as I weighed what would happen next.”

“Volatility and change had been the watchwords of my life. If I had learned anything it was that it’s never the end of the world, no matter how bleak things can be.”

“Still a dreamer, yet more of a realist that 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.”

“Wealth can also be that attitude of gratitude with which we remind ourselves everyday to count our blessings.”

“Every time he came back, apologetic, contrite, he’d start off being real nice. But he was as predictable as rain. Nobody knew when he’d go off, but at some point everybody knew he would. Again, and again, and again.”

“Anyone who believed that money saves all has never had any money--like me back then.”

“I had grown up right and had graduated to become a citizen of the world, credit due to many who took those chances on me, but no one more so than Moms. It was so important to me that she know how far I had been able to come, thanks to her.”

“Losing Moms did break my heart, creating a void in the world where once her smile had been--the sight of which I will miss until the day I die. There was so much more to come that I still wanted to share with her, to make her happy.”