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

“Success has a price. If you aren’t prepared to pay it, you shouldn’t expect to achieve it. —DAN WALDSCHMIDT”
― 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

“Your boyfriend is what we uneducated and crazy people would call brainwashed. It usually happens to the ones who think they're too smart to be tricked.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“Even so, you are a Black man, like me, who has made it in America despite how they treat us. I have respect for you.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“Believing that you can somehow prevent change is the surest way to fail.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“As far as anyone was concerned, our home was their home, and in some ways, the family you choose can be stronger than the one you're given or, in my case, missing.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“It's important for you to know that we weren't poor, that not everyone living in what some white folks think is the "hood" is poor.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“What I do know is you only got but one momma. And you only got her for a bit of time in this world, so you should do what any self-respectin' man would do and make her happy while you can.”
― Mateo Askaripour, Black Buck

“The day that changed my life was like every other day before it, except that it changed my life. I suppose that makes it as important as a birthday, wedding, or bankruptcy, which is why I celebrate the twentieth of May every year like it's my birthday.”
― Mateo Askaripour , Black Buck

“I want you to remember to stay true to yourself and help others like you live the best life they can. 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

“Yes. I. Hate. Coffee. It's black crack. Nothing more. Anyone who drinks coffee craves it, needs it, and shakes, scratches, jerks, and twerks for it every minute it's not coursing through their collapsed veins.
A "café" is a euphemism for a crack den. But instead of lying on a moldy sofa cushion stained with blood, sweat, and semen, folks with names like Chad, Kitty, and Trip sit down on plush leather-backed chairs licking the sweet white foam off of a seven-dollar venti, caramel, mocha, choca, cock-a-doodle-do, double-espresso long macchiato. But I digress.”
― 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

“There were still trees on the sidewalk with leaves that refused to turn brown”
― 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