I became a war hero before going on to critical acclaim as a professional victim.
— Dave Pelzer
Everybody has a tragedy or two in their lives.
You can be a victim of cancer, or a survivor of cancer. It's a mindset.
I couldn't lie to get myself fame and fortune.
I buy thousands of books a year.
My message has always been about resilience.
You kick a dog long enough, that dog is going to bite you or die.
I am not the most eloquent guy in the world.
Everybody makes mistakes.
To help yourself, you must be yourself. Be the best that you can be. When you make a mistake, learn from it, pick yourself up and move on.
Ask yourself: was there anything I could have done to prevent the situation? If the answer is yes, do something now and become a better person for it.
Everyone picked on me in school because I was in foster care.
What distresses me at times is that I meet a lot of people in their 40's, 50's, 60's, who still say they're a victim of child abuse.
I'm always looking for a story of survival.
There's a lot of Dave mania when I speak.
My fans are buying the DNA of Dave.
I plan my life in 15-minute sections.
I am a very shy, introverted guy.
I know I can be very standoffish.
My mom obviously had a problem.
When you please others in hopes of being accepted, you lose you self-worth in the process.
If people have a basic understanding of right from wrong, possess a strong desire to better themselves and persist in their cause, they can break the chain of any negative environment.
I really believe I'm no different from anyone else. I just had a few challenges I had to learn from at a very early age.
I still love my former wife, I won't call her my ex-wife.
'A Child Called It' was a story about resilience, it was never about boo hoo hoo, it was about a kid that didn't quit.
I learned from Arnold Schwarzenegger, too, that it's O.K. to be pluggish.
Something good comes out of every crisis.
I work 338 days a year, 16 hours a day.
Even when I lecture per se, I am a joke comedian, I can do the voices.
I had an attachment disorder.
The thing is, at the end of the day you still have to face yourself.
Whatever you do for the sole purpose of having others admire you, your efforts will most likely be in vain.
