If at Birth You Don't Succeed Quotes

“Laughing at somebody is just another way of dismissing them, but laughing with somebody is a bridge to understanding.”
― Zach Anner, If at Birth You Don't Succeed: My Adventures with Disaster and Destiny

“In my darkest moments, the “what-if”s bury me and the “if only”s keep me from enjoying what is.”
― Zach Anner, If at Birth You Don't Succeed: My Adventures with Disaster and Destiny

“I maintained my steady post-breakfast diet of air, which is more substantial in LA because of the smog. All”
― Zach Anner, If at Birth You Don't Succeed: My Adventures with Disaster and Destiny

“The only thing you can do is seize the opportunities you have, keep working, and be grateful for everything but feel entitled to nothing.”
― Zach Anner, If at Birth You Don't Succeed: My Adventures with Disaster and Destiny

“When my Oprah audition went viral, I was given the chance to finally share my perspective on what it meant to actually live with cerebral palsy. People with disabilities are given a platform so rarely that as soon as I had the chance to speak, it was assumed that I would and could be the voice for everyone with any physical disability—paralysis, muscular dystrophy, whatever it was that the elephant man had, and the anomaly that caused Bill Murray to relive the same twenty-four hours over and over in Groundhog Day. When I spoke about my own life and how humor helped me face down discrimination and other challenges, most people were very receptive to my story.”
― Zach Anner, If at Birth You Don't Succeed: My Adventures with Disaster and Destiny

“be funny, and admit you suck before anyone else can call you out on it. In other words, make the narrative of your failure a comedy.”
― Zach Anner, If at Birth You Don't Succeed: My Adventures with Disaster and Destiny

“What comedy teaches you is that if you’re quick enough on your feet, opportunities and mistakes are the same thing, and you have to seize both.”
― Zach Anner, If at Birth You Don't Succeed: My Adventures with Disaster and Destiny

“It bothered me that they didn’t show any of the things that went wrong, because my life has taught me that sometimes the things that seem like mistakes are really just setups for the punch lines of jokes we don’t understand yet.”
― Zach Anner, If at Birth You Don't Succeed: My Adventures with Disaster and Destiny

“Over the years, I’ve learned that a sense of humor is the only skill that allows you to turn sucking at life into a career. Even the most embarrassing mishap can be spun into comedic gold. Or, more appropriately, every pile of dog shit you roll through can be used as fertilizer for a great story at a party.”
― Zach Anner, If at Birth You Don't Succeed: My Adventures with Disaster and Destiny

“There are so many things worth leaving Neverland for. Real things. Seeing the world beyond your hometown, taking your first job in which people actually depend on you, and going outside of your comfort zone just to let someone else in, and getting close enough to hear them say, "I love you.”
― Zach Anner, If at Birth You Don't Succeed: My Adventures with Disaster and Destiny

“But more often, we have to make our own magic, and to get there, we have to be willing to make mistakes. The key to moving forward is not pretending that you've got it all figured out but rather admitting that, like everyone else, you're a work in progress.”
― Zach Anner, If at Birth You Don't Succeed: My Adventures with Disaster and Destiny

“I knew as I was leaving Disney World that I had a long way left to go on the road to adulthood. But unlike in Disney films, you can't just wave a wand or try on a slipper and have your dreams come true. In real life, magic takes time. Sometimes it takes so long, you start to doubt it even exists. Romance, just like a pixie fairy, will die if you don't believe in it.”
― Zach Anner, If at Birth You Don't Succeed: My Adventures with Disaster and Destiny

“The dogs in Berlin do not have owners, they have partners. Every canine confidently trots beside its human counterpart, sharing an unspoken agreement. I love you, but zis is a bond zat ve’ve built on mutual respect and admiration for each other. I vill vait for you outside ze shop vhile you get your cigarettes, but I do not approve of your choices. Vhy is it zat you can put cancer in your body, but I cannot eat a shoe, ja?”
― Zach Anner, If at Birth You Don't Succeed: My Adventures with Disaster and Destiny