A Quote by John Barnes

The racism I am really interested in stamping out is in everyday life. Joe Bloggs, who nobody knows, walks down the street and gets racially abused. He goes into a shop and people think he is going to steal something. He cannot get a job.
I'm numb to it now. If I'm racially abused out there, I'm abused. Nothing is going to change. I just get on with it. It shouldn't be like that but it is.
Once I start to do a film, it has inferences. If a guy walks down a street and kicks a dog, you're saying something about that guy. A guy walks down the street and somebody's about to be run over and he shoves him out of his way and gets hit by the car himself, you're saying that guy's a hero. You can't avoid making certain statements.
I have to deal with people in weird ways. I was walking down the street and this woman walks up to me and she goes, 'You know, I think it's so inspirational that you're out.' I was like, 'I'm on my way to the liquor store. Are you inspired?'
The problem I have with Bill Parcells is him quitting. I don't like guys quitting. If you sign up for something, finish the job get the job done. Don't quit. It is a three-year formula, he goes in, gets his three years and then he quits and walks out of there with a bucket full of money. I don't like that part of it
I am doing my job and trying to win a game for my team. I shouldn't be getting racially abused; it's silly.
I got into lots of fights at school: I'd get racially abused, then lash out. One day, this kid said something and instead of putting my fists up, I said something back: people laughed, and he walked away.
A guy said to me one time, something really profound, and it's so simple. It's that depression lies. It's a liar and you have to shut it down. There is nothing that alleviates it more than going out and doing something for someone else. It's almost like instant healing. Get away from yourself. People can't even get out of bed and it gets really severe. I've never been at that stage. Everyone goes through low and high and low and high and some people are blessed to be created on an even keel all the way through - but not me.
I can walk down the street and nobody knows who I am.
Nobody really knows if there's a God - not Oprah, not Joel Osteen, not the Pope. Nobody has touched or felt or conversed with God. They say they have, but let's get real. I think that is what keeps me from coming out as an atheist. I think to myself, even the atheists don't know that there isn't a God. Nobody knows anything.
He comes into the world God knows how, walks on the water, gets out of his grave and goes up off the Hill of Howth. What drivel is this?
I'm a stoic. When something goes down the pan, enjoy it. Make the best out of a bad job. I'm not the sort of person who would break down and weep if my trousers split. It is funny, and I don't really get embarrassed.
If you and I took a walk down a shopping street in Jo'burg or Cape Town or London, we see two guys looking in a shop window, we think, "Oh, they're wondering what they're going to buy." A cop looks at them and thinks, "Why are they standing there? Are they doing a drug deal? Are they going to mug someone? Are they going to rob the shop?"
The problem is a lot of people don't think. The general bloke just goes through life, gets a job, gets married and all that, and that's it.
I'm just a really normal, sensitive kind of go-about-my business everyday kinda guy. People see the tattoos, and they either read things or they see things and they don't really know that I'm just this guy that gets up and makes coffee in the morning and hangs out with his friends and walks his dog and reads his Bible and goes about his day.
Nobody gets to say who we love, or who we lay down beside, or take as our husband, lover, life, or bride. Nobody gets to decide what's for some, that others should hide. Pride. Nobody gets to choose but YOU.
I'm from Louisville, Kentucky, and nobody gets out of there. So I'm like, how am I gonna get out of there? Nobody else can. So it took some time. The struggle made me realize I didn't really want to be 'normal' anymore.
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