The Key to Life

The Key to Life

__by Will Smith

 This is a prepared text of Will Smith’s inspirational speech after winning at the 2005 Kid’s Choice Award

I’m gonna say something that I want you to remember for the rest of your lives, ok, I want you to listen closely. I’m giving you the key to life right now. The key to life, the key to life, is running and reading. Alright? Now listen, I’m very serious. The key to life is running and reading.

Alright, now, why running? When you’re running, when you’re out there and your running, there’s a little person who talks to you. And that little person says, “Agh, I’m tired. Ohhh, I’m so tired, there’s no way I can possibly continue.” And you want to quit. Right? That person–if you learn how to defeat that person when you’re running–you will learn how to not quit when things get hard in your life. Running–alright–that’s the first key to life.

Reading! The reason that reading is so important: There have been millions and billions and zillions of people that have lived before all of us. There is no new problem that you could have–with your parents, with school, with a bully–there is no problem you could have that someone else hasn’t already solved, and wrote about it in a book.

So, the keys to life are running and reading.