Tony Finau Quotes

The trouble with being educated is that it takes a long time; it uses up the better part of your life and when you are finished what you know is that you would have benefited more by going into banking.

At the same time most people were getting out of college, I was offered a buttload of cash to star in a movie. I don't think most students would have said no.

I almost didn't turn pro at all. I was tempted to be a career amateur. I worked as an investment banker for nine months after I got out of school, and the money was fantastic and promised to get even more lucrative.

I left home the day after I graduated from high school because I knew we weren't going to make any dough to pay the rent in music.

I would never judge anyone for going anywhere for money.

I didn't cry when I left free-booting, smash-and-grab papers that would have appeared to be far more natural homes for me and, at the risk of being vulgar, paid far better for my services.

I could probably make more money if I did more commercial projects.

I had to think ahead. How much would I really enjoy committing five or seven years to working on this? When you're an unemployed actor offered a TV pilot, no matter who you are you're tempted by the good hunk of change to be made. It keeps you out of the unemployment line.

Everyone I know thinks television is the most important part of my life. I did it for the money! I was able to send my daughter to college.

Fortunately, there's another handy driver that has manifested itself throughout the history of cultures. The urge to want to gain wealth. That is almost as potent a driver as the urge to maintain your security. And that is how I view NASA going forward - as an investment in our economy.

When I went pro at 13, I had plenty of sponsors that give me endorsement deals and stuff like that.

It's true that I had two different offers from Chinese football, but I stayed in England in order to give myself the opportunity. To go there would have been the easiest way, because it was a great offer, but I wanted to stay.

I think every athlete wants to get sponsored. If you do really well in your sport, then I think sponsorship can help you get rewarded in that sense: doing what you can for your sponsor. It's just another achievement in life.

I don't have a sponsor or come from an exotic country where I can bring tonnes of money.

I made more from sponsorship than I did from fighting. I did that for the longest time.

I received an offer from China: I would've earned an incredible sum. But Napoli didn't want me to go, and I wanted to stay. So nothing came of it.

A tournament pays me to show up because the fans want to see me and I move the needle at the box office? That's amazing. It's good for tennis, good for me and good for the event. If a sponsor wants to pay to put their company name on my shirt because they think I'm a strong ambassador for their brand? Heck yes.

I don't know how much the other fighters make. But I need to tell you that, for myself, money is not the first consideration.

I traded my 2002 Silverado in for the Trailblazer, and after my second fight, I got a win bonus. It was the knockout-of-the-night bonus, $50,000, and I paid the rest of my car off, and I gave it to my mother because I had a sponsorship with a Chevy dealership.

My first contract with WCW was, like, $70,000 a year. I didn't know you could make that kind of money doing this. I was like, 'Wow. I think I'm going to stick around for a long time.'

Sometimes you take something because it's an offer and it's big and it's good money and you have to absolutely respect that process, because it's not easier.

Part of the reason that I wanted to become a footballer was to help my family and friends financially so that was one of the thoughts that kept me going.

I wouldn't tell nobody to sign no slave deal or sign your life away or nothing like that, but if the deal is right and if it benefits you, you'd be a fool if you did not take advantage of it.

My challenge is that because I am not self-funding... I'm going out leaning on the generosity of everyday folks.

I'm a prize fighter. Titles don't pay bills. I fight for money. I'm making money. They're making money. Everybody's making money. That's what this is all about.