On growing up in a poor family:
"My chidhood was surrounded by trouble, illness, and my dad's alcoholism, but as I said, we just didn't have time to be impressed by all those misfortunes. I have an idea that the Irish possess a built-in don't-give-a-damn that helps them through all stress. Moreover, we had the advantage of an awful lot of love in our family..."
"If we didn't have much in material gain, we were amply supplied with the best in nonmaterial gain---lots of laughs."
"It never occurred to us, despite the poverty to hold our heads or feel sorry for ourselves. We just did the best we could."
About one's work ethic:
"One shouldn't aspire to stardom, one should aspire to be doing the job well." (My take on this---Mr. Cagney was completely successful at fulfilling this aspiration, because I do believe he may be the most brilliant actor there has ever been. He always did the job well!)
About what kept him and his brothers from going wild despite being raised in a rough neighborhood:
"A question people have asked me through the years is why the Cagney boys didn't get involved with guns and crime the way my old Sing Sing pals did. The answer is simple: there wasn't a chance. We had a mother to answer to. If any of us got out of line, she just belted us, and belted us emphatically. We loved her profoundly, and our driving force was to do what she wanted because we knew how much it meant to her."
Aren't these awesome quotes?! I hope you all are enjoying the opportunity to get to know James Cagney a bit better through these snippets from his autobiography. I have a few more passages to share and will be doing so in a future post.
