Tony Hawk's Quotes

#1. There's a stigma to skating. People think of it as a kid's sport. People kept telling me I couldn't possibly make a living out of it. Then they said I couldn't keep it up in my 30s. And here I am in my 40s, and I'm still improving my skills.

Tony Hawk

#2. For those that say I endanger my child: it's more likely that you will fall while walking on the sidewalk than I will while skating with my daughter.

Tony Hawk

#3. I was a lot more cultured than the other kids in my high school. Because I traveled, I understood different cultures and had a more worldly view. Most of the people I went to high school with had never been outside of California.

Tony Hawk

#4. Most snarky critics had their minds set before ever seeing/playing the game. I'm proud of what we created; it's innovative, responsive & fun.

Tony Hawk

#5. There're two different kinds of skating. There's the style skating, and there's the trick skating. He (Tony Hawk) does the trick skating so heavy duty, that he can overcome the style skating. There's always the chance that the style skater can come back, but the whole deal really is learning tricks.

Christian Hosoi

#6. Technology has allowed me to reach my fans directly. Social media: it has been a complete revolution of how to interact, promote and share things.

Tony Hawk

#7. I won't quit skating until I am physically unable.

Tony Hawk

#8. My youngest son's pre-school class was recently asked what their dads do for work. The responses were things like, my dad sells money, and my dad figures stuff out. My son said, 'I've never seen my dad do work.' It's true. Skateboarding doesn't seem like real work, but I'm proud of what I do.

Tony Hawk

#9. The irony about selling out is that they only call you a sell-out when your stuff finally sells - I've had products bearing my name since I was 14, but nobody was buying them then.

Tony Hawk

#10. When you've got videos up on Web sites that are literally shot the same day, the whole skate community knows right away when new tricks are invented or new techniques are available.

Tony Hawk

#11. I feel like skateboarding is as much of a sport as a lifestyle, and an art form, so there's so much that that transcends in terms of music, fashion, and entertainment.

Tony Hawk

#12. If I can stand up when I'm 80, I'll be happy to cruise around on a skateboard. If I feel like my skills are fading, I just won't do it publicly.

Tony Hawk

#13. In ramp skating, there's this guy Alex Perelson who's really coming into his own and doing some amazing new stuff we haven't seen before. Just different types of spin.

Tony Hawk

#14. There are endorsements I regret taking when I was younger and didn't know any better. But I didn't have options then. People weren't knocking on my door.

Tony Hawk

#15. Everyone probably says this, but my favorite athlete is Tony Hawk. I'd really love to meet him.

Mason Cook

#16. I wanted to promote skateboarding as much as possible through different media.

Tony Hawk

#17. It's definitely weird, because pretty much everybody owns the Tony Hawk videogame. Just going over to people's houses and watching play me as I walk in - that's actually happened a few times and that's so weird. It's like, 'Dude, you're playing me right now.' It was too weird.

Bam Margera

#18. When you break your pelvis, you can't do a whole lot. It took me about six weeks to be able to get out of bed. Anything you do that shakes your body is painful all over, so you can't cough, you can't sneeze, and going to the bathroom is impossible.

Tony Hawk

#19. Skateistan's not just about skating. It's giving people life skills and hope for the future.

Tony Hawk

#20. When your daughter asks you to be a fairy for her 5th birthday party ... you better be a damned fairy.

Tony Hawk

#21. I believe that people should take pride in what they do, even if it is scorned or misunderstood by the public at large.

Tony Hawk

#22. Tony's patois kept getting broader as we talked. Like Hawk, he seemed able to turn it on and off. "Sho 'nuff," he said.

Robert B. Parker

#23. I changed high schools three times because my parents moved. I had one friend my freshman year named Miki Vukovich. Miki and I were the only skaters in our high school. He runs my foundation now.

Tony Hawk

#24. When I was around eleven or twelve, my board got hung up on the top of a bowl, and I got a concussion, and I knocked my teeth out. That was the first time that I got seriously injured, and I was taken to the hospital in an ambulance, and my parents briefly doubted.

Tony Hawk

#25. Being different is awesome! All of those who are different are more interesting than those who are clamoring for acceptance because they follow the path.

Tony Hawk

#26. Don't be afraid of girls. That is my big regret. Knowing what I know about girls, I should have just gone for it. Guys are such wimps.

Tony Hawk

#27. Big decisions in my life have always come easy and are made without hesitation. It is easier for me to make a life-changing decision than to decide what to get for dessert.

Tony Hawk

#28. I was nerdy and really into computers. I was a good student until my senior year, when I started traveling and had a lot of absences.

Tony Hawk

#29. I love the fact that there is now a skate park in almost every city, but it will always have a rebellious/underground edge to it because it is based on individuality.

Tony Hawk

#30. Honestly, the best skater that I've seen who raps is Tyler, The Creator. He really can skate ... He's legit.

Tony Hawk

#31. I consider skateboarding an art form, a lifestyle and a sport. 'Action sport' would be the least offensive categorization.

Tony Hawk

#32. You might not make it to the top, but if you are doing what you love, there is much more happiness there than being rich or famous.

Tony Hawk

#33. When I landed the first 900 at the XGames, it was just - it was a personal achievement. It was something that I have strived for for years and years and years, and in a lot of ways had given up on it. But I just didn't think of the resonance that would have.

Tony Hawk

#34. Most of my friends are skaters or were skaters at one time, so they obviously relate.

Tony Hawk

#35. When I started skating, it was such a small community. You didn't aspire to be rich or famous or make a career out of it because that wasn't something anyone had done yet.

Tony Hawk

#36. The biggest lesson I learned from my dad is to support children even if they're doing something that is unorthodox.

Tony Hawk

#37. When you open up 'Instagram,' you need to know that you're seeing the real Tony Hawk, the real Taylor Swift, the real Burberry.

Kevin Systrom

#38. Hawk looked at Tony without speaking. He had three gunshot wounds and still could barely stand, but

Robert B. Parker

#39. If you look at the success of snowboarding in the Winter Games and how that's brought a more youthful edge to the Olympics in general, they don't have that with the Summer Games. They don't have anything that's drawing in a younger viewership.

Tony Hawk

#40. If you have a game with your name on it, you have to learn how to play.

Tony Hawk

#41. I jumped between two seven-story buildings in Los Angeles, launching from one rooftop to the other with ramps.

Tony Hawk

#42. I've definitely had my share of calls where I just laugh. Someone came to me once and wanted to do a signature Hawk cologne. I was like, 'Of what? Sweaty pads? Am I wringing out my pads into a little perfume bottle?'

Tony Hawk

#43. I love snowboarding, but I would never want to do it competitively or at a professional level. Snowboarding is a spawn of skating, and skating is my passion.

Tony Hawk

#44. Skating was popular, but it wasn't mainstream. It had this underground following, and you could go on tours, win decent prize money, and make royalties from signature products - that's how I came to buy a house when I was a senior in high school.

Tony Hawk

#45. The pro skaters I know are responsible members of society. Many of them are fathers, homeowners, world travelers and successful entrepreneurs. Their hairdos and tattoos are simply part of our culture, even when they raise eyebrows during PTA meetings.

Tony Hawk