Michael Oher
People who watch 'The Blind Side,' they're not going to have a chance to get to know me. People I'm close to, as long as they know me, know who I am, I don't have a problem with it.Collection: Chance
I've learned not to buy into what other people say. I've learned not to put dreams in other people's hands.Collection: Dreams
Do what's best for you, and do it to the best of your ability - go after your goals like nobody's business.Collection: Business
Anything is possible. My background is a bad background, but a lot of people said I couldn't do it. You can do anything if you put your mind to it.
I'm not dumb, I just wasn't educated.
Obviously I'm not to where Michael Jordan is, but trying to get to some level where he was and just striving for the best. That's what got me here.
There's a big difference between where I came from and the NFL. Things like this don't happen to people from there often. It just took a lot of hard work and dedication, staying on the right path, believing in myself, and having an inner drive.
I try to win at everything.
Offensive linemen don't get looked at. Nobody is paying attention to the offensive line. But me? I'm getting watched for everything. I know what type of player I am. Everybody else that I know knows what type of player I am.
I know I didn't want to get caught up in the cycle of drugs and violence that was around me. Deep down inside, I felt there was something better outside the situation I was in.
I think there's a need for more oversight by social workers, because there are a lot of foster parents who are just collecting checks. They need to look closely into the backgrounds of the people whose hands you're putting the kids into and then continue to monitor them.
I'm not trying to prove anything. People look at me, and they take things away from me because of a movie. They don't really see the skills and the kind of player I am. That's why I get downgraded so much, because of something off the field.
I would have dreams all the time about me playing in the NFL. Every day I woke up, I said to myself, you know, I'm going to work hard, you know, this day to get to that next level.
I always felt that I was, you know, smart. I just didn't have a lot of the resources that everybody else had... It was tough for me to catch up.
Of course, we all need angels. I had to have one over my head throughout my life, even right now. The odds of my making it were slim to none. So you have to have an angel. You have to believe.
For me, I was always just a down-to-earth guy. From Day 1 my rookie year, I've been the same. As an offensive lineman, we just want to be under-the-radar, humble guys, just like to do our work and not be noticed.
Not every day where I'm from do people get a movie made about them.
I would have - I didn't really have to be an athlete. I could have been, you know - worked in fast food, been a janitor, anything. I would have had two or three jobs, working long hours, you know, to support myself and for my family in the future. I would have been successful.
People mess up all the time. Michael Vick, he made some mistakes. He surrounded himself around the wrong people. And you've got to be careful with that. But he's redeemed himself and came back.
I'm a left tackle. I like playing left tackle. That's my position. I think I can do it better than anybody.
I think I could handle right tackle. With great coaches, I think I can handle anything.
I love Baltimore, I definitely look at it as home, somewhere I'm very comfortable.
Everyone knows someone struggling in some kind of way. You are a role model to so many people, even if you don't realize it. Take someone under your wing. Show them the right way to do things.
Family is very important. Me and my brothers were very close when I was growing up. We did a lot of things together to survive. If you have family behind you, the sky's the limit.
Don't ever allow yourself to feel trapped by your choices. Take a look at yourself. You are a unique person created for a specific purpose. Your gifts matter. Your story matters. Your dreams matter. You matter.Collection: Motivational
It’s true that we can’t help the circumstances we’re born into and some of us start out in a much tougher place than other people. But just because we started there doesn’t mean we have to end there.Collection: Mean
It's never been about football, but about becoming the best and fullest person I could be. And to think that I went from the kid with a GPA in the basement to going to college on a football scholarship-I was thankful and humbled by how far I'd come in just a few years. I knew that miracles really do happen.Collection: Football
If you die trying for something important, then you have both honor and courage, and that's pretty good.Collection: Honor
When I was little and something awful was happening my Mama would tell me to close my eyes.She was tryin' to keep me from seeing her do drugs or other bad things. And then when she was finished or the bad things were over she'd say, “now when I count to three, you open your eyes and the past is gone, the world is a good place,and it's all gonna be okay.Collection: Eye
I came so far- from nothing to a Super Bowl championshipCollection: Super Bowl
Courage is a hard thing to figure. You can have courage based on a dumb idea or mistake but you’re not supposed to question adults or your coach or your teacher because they make the rules. Maybe they know best but maybe they don’t. It all depends on who you are, where you come from.Collection: Teacher
If you know where your next meal is coming from, you are not poor.Collection: Meals
You should hope for courage and try for honor. And maybe even pray that the people telling you what to do have some, too.Collection: People
That’s why courage is tricky. Should you always do what others tell you to do? Sometimes you might not even know why you’re doing something. I mean, any fool can have courage. But honor, that’s the real reason you either do something or you don’t. It’s who you are and maybe who you want to be.Collection: Real