Quotes About Louis Zamperini

#1. I think as a human being, as a mother, as someone who works internationally, I needed desperately to know a man like Louis Zamperini in my life, to know that there is hope.

Angelina Jolie

#2. I'll be an easier subject than Seabiscuit, because I can talk." Louis Zamperini to Laura Hillenbrand.

Laura Hillenbrand

#3. God knew my needs and took care accordingly.

Louis Zamperini

#4. (On surviving on the raft for 47 days) We had truly made it on a wing and prayer.

Louis Zamperini

#5. Don't be afraid to make mistakes; they are just the stepping-stones to success.

Louis Zamperini

#6. All I did was pray to God, every day. In prison camp, the main prayer was, 'Get me home alive, God, and I'll seek you and serve you.' I came home, got wrapped up in the celebration, and forgot about the hundreds of promises I'd made to God.

Louis Zamperini

#7. I've got to say that is - the highest emotion of the human experience is going down in a plane knowing your going to die!

Louis Zamperini

#8. When you're on a raft, you pray like in a foxhole.

Louis Zamperini

#9. If I can take it, I can make it.

Louis Zamperini

#10. I'd made it this far and refused to give up because all my life I had always finished the race.

Louis Zamperini

#11. People tell me, "You're such an optimist". Am I an optimist? An optimist says the glass is half full. A pessimist says the glass is half empty. A survivalist is practical. He says, "Call it what you want, but just fill the glass." I believe in filling the glass.

Louis Zamperini

#12. Everyone needs that support-even if at first you don't think you do. Look around. See who's on your side and in your corner. You don't have to go it alone.

Louis Zamperini

#13. You should make your life count right up to the last minute.

Louis Zamperini

#14. I knew then that I would not turn back. I'd struggled to come this far, and I would commit myself to whatever happened next.

Louis Zamperini

#15. People say, on the raft, you must have hallucinated. Baloney. We were sharper after 47 days than the day we started because our minds were empty of all the war and contamination; we had clean minds to fill with good thoughts. Every day we'd exercise our minds.

Louis Zamperini

#16. Every soldier should learn survival on land, sea, and in the air.

Louis Zamperini

#17. Hope is incomplete and ongoing. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and is complete.

Louis Zamperini

#18. I didn't know it then, but my persistence, perseverance, and unwillingness to accept defeat when things looked all but hopeless were part of the very character traits I would need to make it through World War II alive.

Louis Zamperini

#19. The great commandment is that we preach the gospel to every creature, but neither God nor the Bible says anything about forcing it down people's throats.

Louis Zamperini

#20. Sometimes what we see as a loss turns out in the end to be a gain, and sometimes a gain is a loss. I try not to be too swift to pass judgment on any situation, preferring instead to be patient and take the long view because I believe that in the end all things work together for good.

Louis Zamperini

#21. I've always been called Lucky Louie. It's no mystery why.

Louis Zamperini

#22. Yet a part of you still believes you can fight and survive no matter what your mind knows. It's not so strange. Where there's still life, there's still hope. What happens is up to God.

Louis Zamperini

#23. You only have one life. You should never be too busy to save it.

Louis Zamperini

#24. It was all in His hands now - as it had always been.

Louis Zamperini

#25. I've accepted Christ as my Savior.

Louis Zamperini

#26. The world, we'd discovered, doesn't love you like your family loves you.

Louis Zamperini

#27. All I knew was that hate was so deadly as any poison and did no one any good. You had to control and eliminate it, if you could.

Louis Zamperini

#28. Pain is that last quarter of a mile. You feel it, but when you're through racing, your whole body just feels elated. So the pain is worth it.

Louis Zamperini

#29. Self-esteem can't win you a race if you're not in shape.

Louis Zamperini

#30. I was raised to face any challenge.

Louis Zamperini

#31. However dark the night, however dim our hopes, the light will always follow darkness.

Louis Zamperini

#32. I ended up in the Army Air Corps in the Pacific, operating out of Ayuka field in Hawaii.

Louis Zamperini

#33. One moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory.

Louis Zamperini

#34. The one who forgives never brings up the past to that person's face. When you forgive, it's like it never happened. True forgiveness is complete and total.

Louis Zamperini

#35. All I want to tell young people is that you're not going to be anything in life unless you learn to commit to a goal. You have to reach deep within yourself to see if you are willing to make the sacrifices.

Louis Zamperini

#36. That's one thing you learn in sports. You don't give up; you fight to the finish.

Louis Zamperini

#37. To persevere, I think, is important for everybody. Don't give up, don't give in. There's always an answer to everything.

Louis Zamperini

#38. Never give up, no matter what.

Louis Zamperini

#39. If you hate somebody, it's like a boomerang that misses its target and comes back and hits you in the head. The one who hates is the one who hurts.

Louis Zamperini

#40. I think the hardest thing in life is to forgive. Hate is self destructive. If you hate somebody, you're not hurting the person you hate, you're hurting yourself. It's a healing, actually, it's a real healing ... forgiveness.

Louis Zamperini

#41. The great lesson of my life is perseverance. Never give up. It's like my brother said, "Isn't one minute of pain worth a lifetime of glory?

Louis Zamperini

#42. I believe everybody in the world should try to help somebody else. Let's say half the people in the world are successful. If they help the other half, hey, you've got no problem.

Louis Zamperini

#43. If you can take it, you can make it.

Louis Zamperini

#44. I couldn't speak English. I'm in kindergarten, and the only reason I got through to first grade is because I cheated.

Louis Zamperini

#45. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, so I took Him at His word, begged for His pardon, and asked Jesus to come into my life.

Louis Zamperini

#46. Positive self-esteem must be preceded by self-respect. To get self-respect you have to do something good.

Louis Zamperini

#47. To live, a man needs food, water, and a sharp mind.

Louis Zamperini

#48. 'Unbroken' was published as a help to society.

Louis Zamperini

#49. God has given me so much. He expects so much out of me.

Louis Zamperini

#50. Even at my age, I'm trying to improve. Never give up, no matter what. Even if you get last place - finish.

Louis Zamperini

#51. I was a rotten kid. My excitement came from seeing what I could get away with.

Louis Zamperini

#52. The race film had confirmed a dead heat. That was great. But even better, most of the New York press finally learned to spell my name correctly.

Louis Zamperini