Mike Vallely Quotes

#1. My Meema, her favorite show was 'Dallas.' She made the family watch. She loved to hate J.R. She passed away when I was 12, and I know she's looking down on me going, 'Oh, my goodness. How are you on the show? I am so proud of you and why in the hell are you playing J.R.'s son?'

Josh Henderson

#2. I feel like the best thing, as far as what I do with kids, is I treat them like human beings.

Mike Vallely

#3. If someone told me I had to give back, or I'm supposed to give back, or I'm supposed to do these things, I would reject that. My actions are those of valuing and caring.

Mike Vallely

#4. The poetic side of me is Scottish.

Annie Lennox

#5. I wouldn't be ashamed to sell my own art for a lot of money.

Wolfgang Beltracchi

#6. Everything that I'm really about is being an individualist. I believe in individuality.

Mike Vallely

#7. The pursuit of natural knowledge, the investigation of the world - mental and material - in which we live, is not a dull and spiritless affair: rather is it a voyage of adventure of the human mind, a holiday for reckless and imaginative souls.

Archibald Hill

#8. When I got sponsored, it symbolized a major change and a major shift in skateboarding.

Mike Vallely

#9. I don't see masses, I don't see it like, oh there's hundreds of people here and I'm overwhelmed. I just try to think, well I could be a kid in that crowd, or my daughters could be in that crowd, and no one wants to feel like they're just part of the masses.

Mike Vallely

#10. I always try to individualize everything, every person. I see individuals and that's why I've never fallen for racism, or any type or classification of people.

Mike Vallely

#11. I grew up on the Bones Brigade as well. The very first skateboard video I saw was the Bones Brigade Video Show and I'd always valued the Bones Brigade and Powell Peralta as the ultimate in skateboarding.

Mike Vallely

#12. I am highly susceptible to the force of all truly religious music, especially to the music of my own church, the church of Shelley, Michelangelo, and Beethoven.

George Bernard Shaw

#13. I strive to do my best every single time and I think that's something the skate community knows about me and appreciates.

Mike Vallely

#14. If I signed a contract that meant someone else wouldn't be playing.

Mike Vallely

#15. Kids at skate parks will step up and challenge me to a game of Skate, but I'm over that, I really don't care. I'm all about participating, and I'm all about being a part of this scene, but there's certain vibes I just don't get along with.

Mike Vallely

#16. I would dream of being a pro skater, but I never dreamt I'd be discovered by Lance Mountain and Stacey Peralta, who were two major heroes of mine, and be asked to skate for that team and be a part of their company.

Mike Vallely

#17. I understand that these people are all there to see me ride, that that's why they're in the building, and whether I have ten people, or a thousand people come out to see me, they still came out to see me, and I take that to heart.

Mike Vallely

#18. I don't talk down to kids. Usually someone my age who's talking to a ten or twelve year old is yelling at them.

Mike Vallely

#19. Where I'm coming from is that nothing I do is from a sense of obligation.

Mike Vallely

#20. Through getting sponsored and becoming a part of the Bones Brigade and Powell Peralta, doors were being opened. The entire culture was shifting from ramps to street, and I sort of became a poster child for that.

Mike Vallely

#21. What I do is I take action because I value the position I have, the career I have, the life I live, the people I interact with, my fanbase, my friends, however you want to say that. I value those relationships and I use the opportunities they present to me.

Mike Vallely

#22. I grew up with heroes, people who made me aspire to raise my game, to dream bigger and I like to keep it that simple.

Mike Vallely

#23. We didn't call it a sport necessarily, and skaters definitely weren't thought of as athletes, we were thought of as misfits.

Mike Vallely

#24. There's a lot of time when skaters think they know everything because they've seen videos of you, and seen you on TV or the internet, and there's ways of throwing jabs and being inconsiderate and not having your manners.

Mike Vallely

#25. I'm not out here on the front lines trying to create clones, or consumers, or worshippers of who I am, and what I do. I'm trying to nurture the idea that you should do your own thing, which is really powerful.

Mike Vallely

#26. I'm not going to beat somebody up for talking smack to me, especially another skater.

Mike Vallely

#27. When you choose sin the baggage that comes with it is error.

Adrian Rogers

#28. I desire to have a dialogue that's positive, and communicative and moves forward, and is about something real, not just consumption.

Mike Vallely