A Quote by Iyanla Vanzant

I came from nothing. I came from the projects and welfare and ended up a millionaire with no frame of reference. I was bound to hit a wall sooner or later. — © Iyanla Vanzant
I came from nothing. I came from the projects and welfare and ended up a millionaire with no frame of reference. I was bound to hit a wall sooner or later.
Before my stroke, I thought I was infallible, because I was physically strong, and could do these endless hours with no effects, whatsoever. But sooner or later, we all hit a wall.
Sooner or later a black car came for everyone.
Over the years, I think, people - actors, writers, whatever - lose their frame of reference. Their frame of reference is based on somebody else who did this or did that. Performances. So it just becomes a reflection of what already works. Like a warm-up. And that's an invitation to be inauthentic.
Sir John Hall was a multi-millionaire when I came back to Newcastle. With all the players I've bought, I'm trying to make him just an ordinary millionaire.
Well, I came down to LA initially to join The Groundlings, which is an improv comedy group. I didn't get in, of course, becaue I'm not a part of The Groundlings. I just assumed that I could walk in and take over. So they said: "Hit the road Jack." And I ended up getting an agent instead. They sent me out on a couple of leads and I ended up on a sitcom and Van Wilder thereafter and then pantsless with Sandra Bullock.
I wasn't an academic looking in books for ideas. But I educated myself about historical work that was similar to mine, to provide a frame of reference that wasn't the usual frame of reference of the New York art world and Europe.
My first world title fight, it surprisingly came so fast, but we knew it would come sooner or later.
In 1969, 'Life' magazine came up to me and said they wanted to do a little story on the Hobie, and I ended up getting a six-page spread. I remember Robert Redford was on the cover, and when that magazine hit the stands, it was a whole new ballgame.
I fell off a wall in Cockermouth when I was 18. The slate on the top of the wall was loose and I tried to jump up and sit on it. I ended up falling backwards and the tile ended up falling back onto my hand.
If I were to say that I grew up in East Los Angeles in the projects, poor, I assumed that everybody understood that it came with its own reasons for being the way I am. I didn't get that people needed to understand where my comedy came from; I thought that they knew that.
When I came to Detroit, if you threw a stone up in the air and it came down, it would hit an autoworker because the Chrysler Jefferson plant where my husband worked was very close also to where we lived.
Each of us has a creation tale - how we came into this world. And I'll add this: each of us has an uncreation tale - how our lives came apart. That which undoes us. Sooner or later, it will claim you. Mark you. More than your creation.
For the longest time, the state discourse in Singapore has eschewed any reference to welfare. Similarly, the state has tended to place meritocracy on a pedestal. Political leadership has tended to frame both issues in the extreme, with welfare representing the bad, and meritocracy representing the good.
History is not ended. It will sooner or later take up the threads apparently broken off forever and knit them together in a new pattern.
I came to the country [U.S] without speaking a word of English, without a penny, worked full time, 40 hours a week, went to school full time, opened my own small business, ended up being a multi-millionaire. If I can do it, without even knowing the language, anybody can do it. All it takes is determination, perseverance, and like Winston Churchill said: 'Never, never, never, never give up.'"
I was protected behind the walls of my house, the walls of the mosque and later, walls of my school. I didn't know that I was Palestinian. I knew that I was a girl, but the identity issues came later when I was 12 or 13 - then, they came in a very strong way.
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