His track record of success is undeniably one of the best in the world – leading three different entertainment fields of TV, music and movies. Will Smith’s talent mixed with tenacity and a positive mindset are certainly what have helped elevate him to where he is at today.
The American actor was born in Pennsylvania in 1968 and started as a rapper in the 80s under the name The Fresh Prince. His rise to fame came soon after as he landed a leading role in television sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. After the series ended, Will Smith moved to movies, starring in several Hollywood blockbusters like Men In Black, iRobot, The Pursuit of Happiness, Ali, and Bad Boys. He’s the only actor to have 8 consecutive movies earn more than $100 million at the box office.
Smith married actress Jada Pinkett-Smith in 1997 and together they have two children, who have both experienced Hollywood in their own film and music endeavours.
Smith was a normal person, who had big dreams of becoming who he is now. His success serves as a testament that no matter the circumstances, if you believe in yourself and work hard, you can make it happen. Through his films, his love for life, live appearances, interviews and speeches, he has become a role model for almost the entire population.
He continues to inspire millions around the world seeking happiness and persistence in their own lives to make their dreams a reality.
1. Money and success don’t change people; they merely amplify what is already there.
2. There’s no reason to have a plan B because it distracts from plan A.
3. Being realistic is the quickest path to mediocrity.
4. Greatness is not this wonderful, esoteric, elusive, godlike feature that only the special among us will ever taste, it’s something that truly exists in all of us.
5. And where I excel is ridiculous, sickening, work ethic. You know, while the other guy’s sleeping? I’m working
6. Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.
7. The things that have been most valuable to me I did not learn in school.
8. If you’re absent during my struggle, don’t expect to be present during my success.
9. Let your smile change the world. Don’t let the world change your smile.
10. Look at your 5 closest friends. Those 5 friends are who you are. If you don’t like who you are then you know what you have to do.
11. Sometimes you have to forget what’s gone, appreciate what still remains, and look forward to what’s coming next.
12. I’ve always considered myself to be just average talent and what I have is a ridiculous insane obsessiveness for practice and preparation.
13. Don’t chase people. Be yourself, do your own thing and work hard. The right people – the ones who really belong in your life – will come to your. And stay.
14. I have a great time with my life, and I wanna share it.
15. I’ve viewed myself as slightly above average in talent. And where I excel is ridiculous, sickening work ethic.
16. I want the world to be better because I was here.
17. I believe you need to be educated about what you want to do in life, but I don’t believe you actually need college to get you there.
18. I want to represent the idea that you really can make what you want … I believe I can create whatever I want to create.
19. So if you stay ready, you ain’t gotta get ready, and that is how I run my life.
20. The only thing that I see that is distinctly different about me is, I am not afraid to die on a treadmill. You might have more talent than me, you might be smarter than me. But if we get on the treadmill together, there’s two things. You are getting off first. Or I am going to die. It’s that simple.
21. In my mind, I’ve always been an A-list Hollywood superstar. Y’all just didn’t know yet.
22. I’ve trained myself to illuminate the things in my personality that are likable and to hide and protect the things that are less likeable.
23. The first step is you have to say that you can.
24. There are so many people who have lived and died before you. You will never have a new problem; you’re not going to ever have a new problem. Somebody wrote the answer down in a book somewhere.
25. You don’t set out to build a wall. You don’t say ‘I’m going to build the biggest, baddest, greatest wall that’s every been built.’ You don’t start there. You say, ‘I’m going to lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid.’ You do that every single day. And soon you have a wall.
26. Stop letting people who do so little for you control so much of your life.
27. When you create art, the world has to wait.
28. Never underestimate the pain of a person, because in all honesty, everyone is struggling. Some people are just better at hiding it than others.
29. Smiling is the best way to face every problem, to crush every fear and to hide every pain.
30. Boys laugh at what they put girls through but they don’t be laughing when they’re wiping tears off their daughters face for the same reason.
31. Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, cause hate in your heart will consume you too.
32. A rapper is about being completely true to yourself. Being an actor is about changing who you are.
33. You can’t be scared to die for the truth. The truth is the only thing that is ever going to be constant.
34. Life is lived on the edge.
35. 10 ways to love: listen, speak, give, pray, answer, share, enjoy, trust, forgive, promise.
36. Whatever your dream is, every extra penny you have needs to be going to that.
37. Traditional education is based on facts and figures and passing tests – not on a comprehension of the material and its application to your life.
38. I’m a student of patterns. At heart, I’m a physicist. I look at everything in my life as trying to find the single equation, the theory of everything.
39. If you’re not willing to work hard, let someone else do it. I’d rather be with someone who does a horrible job, but gives 110% than with someone who does a good job and gives 60%.
40. Never lie, steal, cheat, or drink. But if you must lie, lie in the arms of the one you love. If you must steal, steal away from bad company. If you must cheat, cheat death. And if you must drink, drink in the moments that take your breath away.
41. There’s so much negative imagery of black fatherhood. I’ve got tons of friends that are doing the right thing by their kids, and doing the right thing as a father – and how come that’s not as newsworthy?
42. I’m a guy. Since when do we get anything right the first time?
43. The prerequisite for spending time with any person is that they nourish and inspire you. They feed your flame.
44. Fear is not real. The only place that fear can exist is in our thoughts of the future. It is a product of our imagination, causing us to fear things that do not at present and may not ever exist. That is near insanity. Do not misunderstand me danger is very real but fear is a choice.
45. Failure actually helps you to recognize the areas where you need to evolve.
46. If it was something that I really committed myself to, I don’t think there’s anything that could stop me becoming President of the United States.
47. 99% is the same as zero. If you are gonna do 99, go ahead and stay home.
48. Because thats what people do… they leap and hope to God they can fly! Because otherwise, we just drop like a rock… wondering the whole way down…”why in the hell did I jump?” But here I am Sarah, falling. And there’s only one person that makes me feel like I can fly… That’s you.
49. As long as we are pointing the finger and stuck at who’s fault something is, we are jammed and trapped into victim mode. When you are in victim mode you are stuck in suffering.
50. Life isn’t how many breaths you take, but it’s the moments that take your breath away.
51. The only thing that has kept me around is my effort.
52. When your wondering what to say, or how you look… just remember… she is already out with you. That means, she said yes, when she could’ve said no. That means she made a plan… when she could’ve just blown you off. So that means it is no longer you job to make her like you… It’s is your job NOT TO MESS IT UP.
53. Being realistic is the most commonly traveled road to mediocrity.
54. It’s quite highly possible that I have peaked. I mean, I just can’t imagine what else I could do beyond this. It’s really a bittersweet kind of feeling.
55. I’ve never really viewed myself as particularly talented. I’ve viewed myself as slightly above average in talent.
56. I believe you need to be educated on what you want to do in life, but I don’t believe you necessarily need college to get there.
57. We all want to be in love and find that person who is going to love us no matter how our feet smell, no matter how angry we get one day, no matter the things we say that we don’t mean.
58. I know how to learn anything I want to learn. I absolutely know that I could learn how to fly the space shuttle because someone else knows how to fly it, and they put it in a book. Give me the book, and I do not need somebody to stand up in front of the class.
59. Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, cause hate in your heart will consume you too.
60. The first step before anybody else believes it, is you have to believe it.
61. I was raised in a Baptist household, went to a Catholic church, lived in a Jewish neighborhood, and had the biggest crush on the Muslim girls from one neighborhood over.
62. I am motivated by fear. I hate being scared to do something. I think what developed in my early days, was the attitude that I started attacking things that I was scared of.
63. I don’t know what my calling is, but I want to be here for a bigger reason. I strive to be like the greatest people who have ever lived.
64. If you’re not making someone else’s life better, then you’re wasting your time. Your life will become better by making other lives better.
65. The concept of improving lives runs through the center of everything I do. And then I realized the way to improve lives is to continually improve yourself.
66. Basic principles: no matter what, no matter when, no matter who… any man has a chance to sweep any woman off her feet. He just needs the right broom.
67. The road to sustained happiness is through discipling your behavior.
68. Greatness lives on the edge of destruction.
69. The keys to life are running and reading. When you’re running, there’s a little person that talks to you and says, “Oh I’m tired. My lung’s about to pop. I’m so hurt. There’s no way I can possibly continue.” You want to quit. If you learn how to defeat that person when you’re running. You will how to not quit when things get hard in your life. For reading: there have been gazillions of people that have lived before all of us. There’s no new problem you could have–with your parents, with school, with a bully. There’s no new problem that someone hasn’t already had and written about it in a book.
70. The center of bringing any dream into fruition, is self-discipline.
71. I mean, I’m very serious with my kids about them comprehending the intricacies of global finance.
72. The most important life lessons are not learned in school.
73. I’m a student of world religion, so to me, it’s hugely important to have knowledge and to understand what people are doing.
74. Self-discipline is the center of all material success. You can’t win the war against the world if you can’t win the war against your own mind.
75. The separation of talent and skill is one of the greatest misunderstood concepts for people who are trying to excel, who have dreams, who want to do things. Talent you have naturally. Skill is only developed by hours and hours and hours of beating on your craft.
