Sober up, and you see and hear everything you'd been able to avoid hearing before.
Sammy Davis, Jr.Read
What have I got? No looks, no money, no education. Just talent.
Interpretation
Talent can be more valuable than material possessions or traditional advantages.
In this quote, Sammy Davis Jr. emphasizes the idea that personal talent and ability can be more significant than conventional markers of success such as wealth, appearance, or formal education. It underscores the importance of recognizing and valuing one's innate skills as a means to achieve one's goals in life.
In practice
In a motivational speech to aspiring artists, this quote can inspire them to focus on their unique talents.
Sober up, and you see and hear everything you'd been able to avoid hearing before.
I'd learned a lot in the Army. I knew that above all things in the world I had to become so big, so strong that people and their hatred could never touch me.
Reality is never as bad as a nightmare, as the mental tortures we inflict on ourselves.
May was young and beautiful, we were legally married, but she was caught in the prison of my skin.
The success of the Rat Pack or the Clan was due to the camaraderie, the three guys who work together and kid each other and love each other.
I have a respect for Elvis and my friendship. It ain't my business what he did in private. The only thing I want to know is, 'Was he my friend?', 'Did I enjoy him as a performer?', 'Did he give the world of entertainment something?' - and the answer is YES on all accounts. The other jazz just don't matter.
The one requirement for success in our business lives is effort. Either you make the commitment to get results or you don't.
The ideal business is one that earns very high returns on capital and that keeps using lots of capital at those high returns. That becomes a compounding machine.
The winner asks, "May I help?" The loser asks, "Do you expect me to do that?"
It is true that success is the most boring thing, it is tinny and brittle, failure runs deeper. Success is dangerous. I have a very complicated relationship with that word.
Even at the height of my fame, 50 per cent of the people who saw me wanted a fight; itβs the downside of being a star player.
I never wanted to be famous. I only wanted to be great.
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