Black Buck Quotes

“An opportunity means change. An opportunity means action. But most of all, an opportunity means the chance of failure. And it's the potential for failure, more than failure itself, that stops so many people from beginning anything.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“It’s the duty of every man and woman who has achieved some success in life to pass it on, because when we’re gone, what matters most isn’t what we were able to attain but who we were able to help.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“Ain’ no Black people need no therapists, ’cause we don’ be havin’ those mental issues. OCD, ADD, PTSD, and all those other acronyms they be comin’ up with every day. I’m tellin’ you, the only acronyms Black folk need help with is the NYPD, FBI, CIA, KKK, and KFC, ’cause I know they be puttin’ shit in those twelve-piece bucket meals to make us addicted to them. All that saturated fat, sodium.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“My teeth are status quo and powerful, also known as white and straight...”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“The day that changed my life was like every other day before it, except that it changed my life.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“in any game, you gotta have a short-term memory. Someone tell you some shit you don’ like? Forget it the minute they mouth close. Someone tell you some shit you do like? Man,” he said, sucking his teeth so hard that I swore he was about to swallow them, “you betta forget that shit even quicker.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“can’ nothin’ grow without fertile soil or the right hands for it. This right here,” he said, touching a dusty finger to my temple, “is soil. Jus’ like this garden. And only you can decide what grows and who you allow to get their hands in it. Understand?”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“Because we know that when you lift others up, regardless of their skin color, your arms get stronger.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“The media feeds off of black blood like vampires. They want more of it, and they’ll pit us against each other jus’ to see it fly like firecrackers on the Fourth of July.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“In the middle of every difficulty lies an opportunity,”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“You see, it's easy for someone to walk around telling everyone that they're "jus' waitin' for the right opportunity," but an entirely different thing when they actually receive it. An opportunity means change. An opportunity means action. But most of all, an opportunity means the chance of failure. And it's the potential of failure, more than failure itself, that stops so many people from beginning anything.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“Whether you sell someone on yes or they sell you on no, a sale is always made.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“And it was then, as I walked out of his office past the hundreds of salespeople laughing as they saw their fearless leader fall, that I realized it was freedom that had motivated me from the very beginning. Not money, power, the need to prove myself, or even to make Ma proud, but the freedom to breathe where I want, when I want, how I want, and with whom I want in my beautiful brown skin.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“Connections, like treasury bonds, are issued to every rich white person upon exiting the womb. Whenever one of them gets high and crashes their parents’ car, whenever they get busted for buying coke from an undercover, whenever they get caught messing with the wrong gangsters on vacation, they make a call, send a text, or whip out their AMEX.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“Shit, it could’ve just been as small as a friend laughing at you when you told them your dreams, and that little laugh, that seed of doubt, crushed you. You felt less than, like you weren’t worthy of being more, of being better. Like who you were wasn’t good enough.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“What, you think we live in a world where innocent Black men don’t spend five, twenty, or thirty years in jail only to be let out with an apology? Get real, Buckaroo.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“An opportunity means change. An opportunity means action. But most of all, an opportunity means the chance of failure. And it’s the potential for failure, more than failure itself, that stops so many people from beginning anything.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“Reader: Wally Cat is many things, but a fool he is not. What he told me that day was a sales lesson in disguise. The quality of an answer is determined by the quality of the question. Quote that and pay me my royalties.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“He cared more about Sumwun than anything or anyone else. He chose to see me as a man or a Black man when it was convenient to him. He likely picked me over Clyde because it was a better business decision. Still, I loved him with all that I had.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“Because if you are, you’re compromising everything we’ve done here by bringing race into the mix. If you hadn’t noticed, race isn’t all that popular a topic these days, especially for startups.” Funny. Race was popular when he brought me on Rise and Shine, America for “optics.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“People either bring you up or down, and if it’s down, they gotta bounce. No matter how hard it is.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“The good and the great are only separated by the willingness to sacrifice. —KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“Once you learn how to sell, to truly sell, anything is possible.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“cause every action has an equal and opposite reaction,”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“It’s the duty of every man and woman who has achieved some success in life to pass it on, because when we’re gone, what matters most isn’t what we were able to attain but who we were able to help. She was right. And”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“Reader: Always keep your eyes open. Your next opportunity could be staring you right in the face.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul? —JESUS CHRIST”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“Nothing hurts worse than betrayal from someone you love.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“The way I saw it, people, no matter how close you once were, could grow apart. And maybe that’s what was happening to us.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“Salespeople are often separated into two camps: those who love to win and those who hate to lose. Before joining Sumwun, I was one of the latter. But once you taste what it feels like to win, to really win something meaningful—like your spot on the dream team—you will do everything to protect that feeling. Be careful of winning, it’s one of the most dangerous things you can ever do.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck