opportunity. >> it is an honor to be here with you. thank you. good evening, ladies and gentlemen. coming outo much for tonight for c-span book tv to do a presentation on the latest book class dismissed. we are so happy to have you here and for those of you that do not know, i am the wife of nick adams.

[applause] if you have heard make speak before, you are in for a treat because it will be different from anything that you have ever heard before as it does on his gew book. one of my favorite things about being married to nick is growing up knowing the american dream existed, but getting to see it through someone who wasn't born and raised here, getting to see him without exactly that american dream is. in three short years he's been able to travel the country. i've been with him for about two and a half of those years traveling the country. i've gotten to meet people from all 50 states who confirm exactly what he is speaking about that america is the greatest country in the history of the world and if you work hard determination that you can

do anything you want in this country. he says that success isn't guaranteed in the country but if you work hard and hustle coming your success will be rewarded. getting to see firsthand from someone living it every day has been so incredibly special particularly at a time where america is more polarized than ever. this country is going in a direction we don't want to see it go because there are two distinct sides at once like each other very much. we need somebody who can unite people. so the man himself, my husband nick adams.

[applause] good evening ladies and gentlemen tonight we gather to do something unique, to do something as a path seldom traveled we are not going to focus on our weaknesses or orruggles, nor will the label on our intersection lamenting our failures were blamed for guilty parties. tonight we are going to focus on what unites us as americans and what i'm ties us. tonight, we celebrate our amazing adhesive, the glue to our greatness. what makes us tick to so many so different.

the american dream. it's set up by the founders esteemed men of legacy that would permit men and women beyond what they would and could in other lands. it didn't focus on strengthening the weak by weakening the strong.

you cannot help that all men by tearing down big men in a society that refuses to lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer got rejected helping the poor by destroying the rich and aware that the brotherhood of man would be furthered by assigning the class hatred. circumstances that limit or prohibit your own personal american dream from being possible. i don't care, i'm too busy, i leave well enough alone.

if you are concerning yourself to a listless life, one defined by mediocrity if you have that wproach in life, you will fail. if you pursue your life with disinterest my advice is to lay off theaf decaf if you do not strive for demand perfection in everything that you do you are guaranteed to get the big ones wrong and if you do not dream, nightmares will be more difficult to combat.

you must discover your fact idiot compassion, plan your purpose and execute your plan. it won't be easy, it never is. there is still a little bit of them. as a motivator in public school classrooms and assembly halls i urge americans to know they are the descendents who refuse to accept the limits of the old world without difficul difficulk great risk and paid a great price this is become from and

their blood runs in our vein. that is america coming as innovators and those to start over the legacy is unmatched. our farmers, scientists, citizens, entrepreneurs and we harvested. we realize the power with us now and their impact on the world we live in today. the american dream is responsible for the following and imagine life without them this is hardly an exhaustive list.

we wasted our flag on the moon within two generations ago and met a decade ahead of schedule. all of the life-saving drugs administered around the world are the product of american pharmaceutical research. and it was norman who developed the high yield of disease resistant crops and the worldwide famine and single-handedly saved the entire world. billions of people are alive today because of him. sadly most of our young people have never heard of him. talk about punching above your

weight. think of the passion, purpose and resolve in all of that inventive genius. opportunity, not dependency created these successes. for the shackles of doubt and negativity and instead to wear the cape of confidence and conviction for the discouraged and ready to quit to increase the aristocracy of america won

the unlike any other it's not based on social rank it is based on individual efforts come individual vision from individual passion and individual tenacity. it can be the part of this aristocracy. it doesn't matterro if you come from a big city or town so small you can't find it on a map. the american dream is rich in determination. they cannot come to those that would conform and it will not

come to the lunch or the parasite itself comes to the self-starter. these are the lessons that i have learned in my life. these are the lessons that i try to impasse to every audience. it's to know how much of a head start they have on achieving their dreams. i was raised here and it didn't go to school. no one in my family ever lived c here but i always wanted to come

here, and coming here is the best thing that ever happened to me. for as long as i live i will never forget that in no other country on earth is my story even possible. i believe in the american dream. this comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the american people and the brainsia and uniqueness of the american idea but it also comes from my own story. i'm the son of a mathematician and a nurse with greek and german heritage and i've lived in three different countries and i speak three languages. i've gone to some of the best schools in the world. i have been immersed in different cultures my whole life. i have friends who are jewish,

muslim, hindu and buddhist. ndfriends that are indian, sri lankan, italian, chinese, korean, serbian and lebanese. ideally the american dream is central. they would do anything to reach america and to commence their search for. so it is not only inheritance who strive to reach their american dream, but untold millions who do not have the means because of the way the current birthplace is set up. while on paper my success in australia were many.

and r australia i was a square g in a round hole. since coming to america just three years ago i developed a million-dollar organization. i employed six people on their regular national television i've been to the white house several times been aboard air force one into c-span has done a documentary on my life. i received the highest honorary us award in four different states and i'm in a different city almost every day and in 40 of the 50 states by dismissed

was in the whole window of the barnes and noble for the entire month of february. i'm now married to an american who carries within her the blood of military veterans who fought in several wars and inheritance we will pass on to our children by tying in america has let me far beyond any dreams or ambition that i have ever known. as i tell school students, but within you is a dynamic thinking creative human being but sometimes following your dream is like driving in a bad snowstorm you might be calling at 5 miles per hour until you finally get to where you are going. but if you persist and keep going, you will get to yourst

destination. i will call you something about america. it doesn't offer much of a gimmick but it does offer a trampoline. and that is why this is the best place. never has there been a culture so in love with redemption with failure and other societies that lead to isolation in america it is set up for a comeback. there's no reason to hold onto o the lingering effects of a previous failure. those that fail constantly and get a permanent place.

henry ford, thomas edison, winston churchill, jk rowling, steve jobs, bill gates. when i go aroundnt this country and speak to students i ask what do you think is hindering you were stopping you, what obstacles are in your way and it's always the same answer. students tell me that they are poor and have no money and no wayan to make think so i told tm this story. in the early 70s there was an unknown actor trying to make it in new york. he moved to california but things were not going so well they are either. as a matter of fact, things were

so bad he had to sell this stock because he couldn't afford and then one day she saw something that gave him an idea to write a script about a man who was going to stand up t to life, take a st and go the distance. within three days he finished the script. some hollywood producers read the script and loved it except for one. they didn't want him to play the main character. he was too much of a risk at the box office. they offered him $360,000 but only on the condition he couldn't be in the movies. remember the actor had no car, $106 in the bank and sold his old to pay the bills, but he knew he'd never forgive himself if the movie ended up being a

success and he wasn't in it. he believed in it too much. so he rolled the dice on it and eventually the producers relented and gave them $1 million to make the movie starring himself. even in the 1970s it was an extraordinarily low amount for a film budget using friends and family, handheld cameras and only using one tape to film the footage they came in just under budget they went on to receive the nominations and two when three of them including best picture it grossed over $200 million was the beginning of a movie franchise that burned over $1.54 billion at the box office. that movie was rocky movie actor

with sylvester stallone. tenacity was passion, resilience, it's all there. a public school student at east allegheny high in pittsburgh told me recently that he was confined to that luck. almost everything he tried something, terrible to do something terriblcosomething te. so i told him the story of a lady thathelady that needed mon. she was a single mother with two kids to raise and her job at tulane university just wasn't cutting it. ithe ad in the newspaper seemed to jump out at her.

she was selling his business. i can do that, said ruth positively. that was a bold statement. having experienced running a restaurant wasn't something on the resume but she had faith in god. she believed in herself and knew that the name had great value. for 40 years, they've built up a loyal clientele and all she had to do was keep it going. there was the management on the job. i don't know whether i was naïve or just plain stupid, but i never thought that i would fail, she said years later. the hours were terrible, but the

customer saw how hard i was working and they wanted me to succeed. besides, i thought my employees would respect me more if i worked right alongside of them and so i did. for the next ten years her business grew stronger andel stronger they went from 35 k. to 250. then disaster struck. the restaurant burned to the ground. she owed a large sum of money though she didn't reoffend right away she would be bankrupt. more than that, being held sight, out of mind would be aadly for her business. >> they were hoping they might have an idea why don't you read over and in the building that you already had they thought

about it wasn't a bad idea she purchased the other publication nearby awaiting the private parties but how could she get it ready quickly? then a stroke of good luck something that often happens with the right attitude. it just so happened a man who did construction within the bank said he could get my new location opening in a week, and he did it as they were about to move in, ruth was given more bad news. her attorney remained of her het the original agreement stipulated that the name could only he used in the original location by moving to a new address, she could be sued. now what to do. she couldn't change the name of a business she spentad a decade

building up in which they operated under that name. she thought about it for a moment and said a quick prayer. i don't have time to do a marketing study on the name and i can't afford a lawsuit so put my name in front, that's it. later that day they all looked at her blankly just add my name in the front of it, she repeated to them, just call it the steakhouse. today they are 90 of them. that is a book when god winks at you and another appearance at a anschool in missouri whose students within the presentation about my book class dismissed faulty about my message about entrepreneurship at the college

in some cases was too cavalier and risky. this made me think about the story he was the son of a small-town. after buying the first five and dime with a $25,000 loan in 1945 shot down by the ben franklin executives so he went out. he opened up his first wal-mart and began amassing a family fortune that today is more than

$175 billion. then there was fred a steelworker until he was laid off. say he became a barber. but for the entire field of personal grooming. fred whose education was forged into this deal mills rather than university classrooms built products in multibillion dollar corporation as i tell students regularly if he could reinvent his life why shouldn't you be able to overcome any obstacles in your own path. >> entrepreneurship has been the path to the american dream.

in my dream class dismissed i urge people to not follow the crowd, but to do what is right for them. if you are not going to be a doctor or lawyer, then college is not. a far more important quality and a checklist is having the strength of character and purpose to find opportunity.. george was a scientist and a teacher who encouraged the planting two improve the lives of some. but then after several they thought he wass a genius. but then life tossed up a challenge.

everyone planted peanuts. the market became flooded. do not demand plummeted and rot in the fields. farmers became discouraged. we were fools for listening to you they told him. george was condemned but free trade and capitulation were not in his nature. he returned to his laboratory and emerged in triumph. his research cooking and rotting whales which are published from shavingoo cream and bleach. today george washington carver

is a household name. the questions i ask and that prompted me to rise class dismissed, do you know your purpose and do you have a roadmap for your life, have you made a list of the things that inspire you the most and have you been able to put together a concept that would allow you to incorporate some of the things you are passionate about them is it big enough to find out how to make ith happen. the cemeteries are full of unfulfilled dreams and that is why it is so critical to change your life and followr your drea. achieve it.

i want to champion the opportunities that are out there for anyone. if you are not there yet, don't worry. as you continue to work on the roadmap the vision for your life will become clear. living your purpose is a lifelong process. always use your hardship and impossible circumstances to find new strategy.d a at the battle of the reservoir when asked about being surrounded by the chinese we can attack at any direction.

dare to be great and live. have unflinching zeal, unbending resolve, and unshakable sense of self belief can be on fire with energy committee the flame that refused them there will be no problem you cannot solve it no destiny that you cannot fulfill. im a product of the american dream, because i stand on the shoulders of giants before me. it is their bravery and their determination that sustained me and it is their legacy to preserve for the generations to come. thank you ladies and gentlemen, and god bless you. [applause]