Quotes from The Pursuit of Happyness

Chris Gardner ·  320 pages

Rating: (20K votes)


“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.”
― Chris Gardner, quote from The Pursuit of Happyness


“Others may question your credentials, your papers, your degrees. Others may look for all kinds of ways to diminish your worth. But what is inside you no one can take from you or tarnish. This is your worth, who you really are, your 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.”
― Chris Gardner, quote from The Pursuit of Happyness


“The world is your oyster. It's up to you to find the pearls.”
― Chris Gardner, quote from The Pursuit of Happyness


“It was right then that I started thinking about Thomas Jefferson on the Declaration of Independence and the part about our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And I remember thinking how did he know to put the pursuit part in there? That maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue and maybe we can actually never have it. No matter what. How did he know that?”
― Chris Gardner, quote from The Pursuit of Happyness


“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.”
― Chris Gardner, quote from The Pursuit of Happyness



“Still a dreamer, yet more of a realist than 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.”
― Chris Gardner, quote from The Pursuit of Happyness


“Wealth can also be that attitude of gratitude with which we remind ourselves everyday to count our blessings.”
― Chris Gardner, quote from The Pursuit of Happyness


“There was a language specific to all things. The ability to learn another language in one arena, whether it was music, medicine, or finance, could be used to accelerate learning and other arenas, too.”
― Chris Gardner, quote from The Pursuit of Happyness


“No one ever laid out the sequence of events that led to my mother being prosecuted and imprisoned for alleged welfare fraud.”
― Chris Gardner, quote from The Pursuit of Happyness


“Every time he came back, apologetic, contrite, he'd start off being real nice. But he was as predictable as rain. No body knew when he'd go off, but at some point everybody knew he would.”
― Chris Gardner, quote from The Pursuit of Happyness



“This is a work of nonfiction. I have rendered the events faithfully and truthfully just as I have recalled them. Some names and descriptions of individuals have been changed in order to respect their privacy. To anyone whose name I did not”
― Chris Gardner, quote from The Pursuit of Happyness


“Cualquiera que crea que el dinero lo salva todo, no ha tenido nunca dinero… como yo en aquel tiempo.”
― Chris Gardner, quote from The Pursuit of Happyness


About the author

Chris Gardner
Born place: in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, The United States
Born date February 9, 1954
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