Steve Harvey is more than just a familiar face on television. Born on January 17, 1957, in Welch, West Virginia, he embarked on a journey that saw him wearing multiple hats — comedian, actor, television host, producer, radio personality, author, and more. Harvey’s story is one of resilience, tenacity, and a dash of humor. From his early days doing stand-up comedy in the late 1980s to hosting the popular game show “Family Feud,” Steve’s charisma and wit have endeared him to audiences worldwide.
But beyond his screen presence and comedic prowess, Steve Harvey stands as a beacon of wisdom, consistently offering advice, life lessons, and memorable quotes that strike a chord with individuals from every corner of the world. As we explore the profundity of Steve Harvey quotes, let’s appreciate the depth and multifaceted nature of the man behind them, one who has turned obstacles into sources of laughter, wisdom, and inspiration for countless individuals.
Table of Contents
- Steve Harvey Quotes on Success
- Steve Harvey Quotes on Life
- Steve Harvey Quotes on Relationships
- Steve Harvey Quotes on Comedy
- Steve Harvey Quotes on Faith
- Interesting Facts about Steve Harvey
Steve Harvey Quotes on Success
You are never too old to reinvent yourself.
A person has to remember that the road to success is always under construction. You have to get that through your head. That it is not easy becoming successful.
Failure is a great teacher, and I think when you make mistakes and you recover from them and you treat them as valuable learning experiences, then you’ve got something to share.
Procrastination will delay your change! Today is a very good day to change; don’t let you stop yourself from growing.
To be No. 1 on the ‘New York Times’ best-seller list, well, that’s alarming. Having been a stand-up comedian, I think it’s surprising to a lot of people that I had the insight I had.
Remember this: the number one cause of failure in this country is the fear of failure. Fear paralyzes you from taking action.
Your willingness to jump will open doors for you. Every jump will increase your wisdom and broaden your vision.
Use adversity to your advantage. Don’t let it stop you.
The only difference between you and the successful people you see in your life every day is that they have jumped.
Don’t think for a moment that successful people don’t have fears.
Steve Harvey Quotes on Life
I think that we, as the African-American men in hip-hop, we have a greater responsibly because we have the ears of so many millions of our young people. And they listenin’.
Your mission, your purpose and your destiny will all be tied to one thing – your gift.
Your career is what you’re paid for. Your calling is what you’re made for.
Growth is in a series of mistakes. That’s the only way you learn.
I am from the hood; I never had nothing. Now that I have something, I must give back.
What you want out of life is the thing you have to give the most of.
Your dream has to be bigger than your fear.
People don’t like to hear the truth out here because the truth makes them think.
I had, like, 11 jobs. I’ve been fired 11 times! ‘Cause I’m not cut for that. You know, I was a great employee, man. Everybody loved me coming to work – I’m singing, tellin’ jokes on the assembly line. I was miserable, man. I was dying. I was dying.
I pay attention to every minute of the day.
My calling is to help people, to teach people, to share with people, until I die. I can never stop doing that. I can’t, and I don’t want to.
My marriage to Marjorie is the most rewarding thing that ever happened to me. She gave me a life and a relationship that I didn’t know existed.
There’s a lot more to me than just funny.
When you’re happy at home, you can make a lot of things happen.
I tell people I’m a stand-up comedian two hours a week. The rest of the time, I’m somebody’s husband, I’m somebody’s father. I’m a man. I take great pride in that.
All I knew growing up was that my father was married to and loved my momma, period. He worked hard, made some money, and put it on the dresser. She spent it on the family, and he went out and earned some more. He taught me the most about love.
Men are driven by who they are, what they do, and how much they make.
The Three Things Every Man Needs: Support, Loyalty, and the Cookie.
Don’t be afraid to lose him, because if a man truly loves you, he’s not going anywhere.
During adversity is not the time to lick your wounds. Failures make you who you are.
If you accept that life is a series of ups and downs, you will get through the downs.
You don’t have to sit there and keep losing valuable years of life with a man who’s not right for you…You have to keep moving forward and believe that God has the right person for you.
Be optimistic when going through adversity. Adversity is necessary to identify your dream.
Steve Harvey Quotes on Relationships
You can be happy, or you can be right. If you want to be part of a couple and win every argument, you’re in trouble.
You’ve got to quit lowering your standards. Set your requirements upfront so when a guy hooks you, he has to know this is business.
A guy that’s really serious about you, he’s gotta be talking to you, he’s gotta want to have one-on-one, in-your-face interaction. That’s how we are.
You’ve got to be in a bad relationship to really understand what a great one is.
Women are the real reason we get up every day. I’m talking about real men. If there were no women, I would not even have to bathe, because why would I care? These are guys I’m hanging with. I wake up for a woman every day of my life to make it happen for her.
I think there are so many books out there written on relationships and romance that women are the authors of. How can women know exactly how men think? And there are so many guys out there with relationship books who are just not telling the truth. They have shaded parts.
The first time I saw my wife, Marjorie, I was doing stand-up in Memphis, and she was sitting in the front row. Afterward, I walked up and said, ‘Ma’am, I’m going to marry you one day.’ And 15 years later, I did.
Men don’t come up to you to just talk. We come up to you with a plan. We’re looking across the room at you, and we don’t care about your hopes and dreams. We don’t care about what your future holds. We saw something we wanted.
Here’s a generalization but in my experience, it’s true. Women love to sit and talk for no apparent reason but to talk, but we men, we’re just not cut out to chitchat for the sake of chitchat—we don’t have time for it. We men are very simple people: if we like what we see, we’re coming over there. If we don’t want anything from you, we’re not coming over there. Period.
All men can and will change. But there’s only one woman we’re going to change for.
I got married for the wrong reasons. I was tired of being alone. I have to own that. It was me, not her.
The problem is, women have stopped setting the bar high.
I’m not a relationship expert. I’m an expert on manhood.
You have nothing if you’re texting a guy in a relationship. We can text six women a minute. We can text it and push ‘reply all.’ I mean, since we’re lying, we might as well lie to everybody.
We all think that this relationship thing is a game out here. All I’m saying to women is, ‘Okay. If it’s a game, here are the rules that we play by.’
I tell my boys not to play rough with their younger sister. I try to teach them what I know already: You’re never going to win an argument with a girl, so just let her have what she wants!
One of the biggest misconceptions that a woman has is that a man has to accept her the way she is. No, we don’t. I don’t know who told you that. We like the bright and shiny. If you stop wearing the makeup, stop putting on nail polish, stop wearing high heels, you’ll lose us.
You control what you can control—your image, the way you conduct yourself, the way you let men talk to and approach you—and use that to get the relationship you want.
Stop heaping your own definition of love on men and recognize that men love differently.
It’s not the guy who determines whether you’re a sports fish or a keeper — it’s you.
Providing for the ones he loves and cares about, whether it’s monetarily or with sweat equity, is a part of a man’s DNA, and if he loves and cares for you, this man will provide for you all these things with no limits.
A woman’s love – it stands the test of time, logic, and all circumstance.
Love comes in every color—and if a person finds love and that person is of a different race from him or her, it shouldn’t matter because the two of them found love.
We need to talk. For a man, few words are as menacing as those four — especially when a woman is the one saying them and he’s on the receiving end. Those four words can mean only two things to men: either we did something wrong or, worse, you really literally just want to talk.
All men can change, but that doesn’t mean that all men will change. There’s only one woman whom we will change for. If a man is not willing to change, it means that you aren’t the one.
Steve Harvey Quotes on Comedy
You can take lessons to become almost anything: flying lessons, piano lessons, skydiving lessons, acting lessons, race car driving lessons, singing lessons. But there’s no class for comedy. You have to be born with it. God has to give you this gift.
Comedians walk out, get a feel for the crowd. If it’s not going good, we change directions. If we got to drag your momma into this thing, we will. Whatever we got to do.
I won an amateur night, October 8th, 1985. I went to work the next day and quit my job.
I never saw myself not being a stand-up. That was my plan.
I tell jokes for a check; I’m on TV for a check.
I’m going to take this God-given gift of being funny, and I’m going to spread it out like peanut butter on everything I do.
The best timed joke or the best timed phrase comes at spontaneous moments and just relies on me as the host to be very quick, and that’s what I do.
I’m a comedian first. I’ve learned how to act. I just draw on life experiences and that’s how I’ve learned. I didn’t take classes or anything. I don’t need no classroom.
Steve Harvey Quotes on Faith
I’m just a living witness that you can be an imperfect soldier and still be in the army fighting for God Almighty. Don’t you think you got to be perfect ’cause I ain’t.
I don’t think it’s cool for people to say, ‘You shouldn’t reference God because I don’t believe that, and I don’t want to hear it.’ Well, there’s a lot of stuff I don’t believe that I still gotta hear.
God lets you be successful because he trusts you that you will do the right thing with it. Now, does he get disappointed often? All the time, because people get there and they forget how they got it.
There has been nothing more impactful on my life and meaningful to me than the introduction of Christ. That, hands down, blows away every joke I’ve ever written.
My mother was a Sunday school teacher. So I am a by-product of prayer. My mom just kept on praying for her son.
I just believe if you don’t believe in God, then where is your moral barometer? That’s just me talking. You can believe what you want to believe.
God has given me a life far beyond anything I ever dreamed about. God is, man, God is something else man.
God will do exceedingly, abundantly above all that I ask or think.
There’s no way you’re going to make it out of this world without spending some time down in the valley or in a dark place. But this isn’t the time to give up. This is the time to understand that God is trying to lead you to your purpose and to your gift.
The abundant life that God has in store for you will allow you to have unimagined riches; riches so overflowing that you’ll have plenty—especially to share with others.
When you are bold enough to step off in faith, to jump, that is when you’ll soar.
Life is going to get bad sometimes. You’ll make poor choices. You’ll fail. You’ll lose hope and maybe want to give up. If you jump, and trust that He will be there to help you soar, there is nothing you cannot achieve.
Acknowledge your fear and move forward. Fear is there to let you know that what you are taking on is worth your risking your current lifestyle.
God wants you to have the life that you are dreaming about, or else He would not have planted it in your mind.
Once you jump, God will take it from there. He will place you in positions to learn important lessons that will prepare you for the next stage of your life—your next jump.
Interesting Facts about Steve Harvey
Here are X interesting facts about Steve Harvey that may surprise you. Enjoy!
- Starting Performing at a Late Age – Steve Harvey starting performing at an age that would be considered a bit late, as he first performed his stand-up act in 1985, when he was 27 years old. It was part of an amateur night competition at a Cleveland nightclub, which he also won. He liked it so much, that he had decided to quit his job as an insurance salesman and started doing comedy for $25 per-night.
- He Was Homeless Once – Starting out as a comedian is hard and it takes time before you begin seeing good profits and money from it. When Harvey became a comedian, he lived from gig-to-gig, but then he hit a bump in the road. One or two gigs didn’t go as planned, and he suddenly found himself homeless. He had no choice at that point but to live in his car, a 1976 Ford Tempo. He would go into hotel bathrooms in order to bathe there and used the swimming pools too as a substitute for showers. He lived that way for 3 years from the ages of 30-33.
- Almost Missing His Huge Breakthrough – Harvey was struggling for 8 years as a comedian, when suddenly he was offered the chance for a national TV exposure on Showtime At The Apollo in 1993. However, there was a problem – the shoot was in New York City in 4 days and Harvey was in Florida, having only $35 to his disposal, not enough to get from Florida to New York. He was able to book two stand-up gigs in Florida that weekend which allowed him to earn just enough to cover airfare to New York. That appearance helped Harvey score a new job – the host of Showtime At The Apollo.
- He’s a Relationship Guru – You’ve read all his quotes about relationships above, so it comes as no surprise he knows a things or two about the subject. Over the years, Harvey has become a sort of relationship guru, and even has his own on-line dating website, Delightful. He has also written the book Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man (2009), which was later adapted into the feature film Think Like A Man (2012) featuring Harvey in a cameo. Other of his books include Straight Talk, No Chaser (2010), Act Like A Success, Think Like A Success (2014) and Jump: Take The Leap Of Faith To Achieve Your Life Of Abundance (2016).
- He Grew Up in a Farm – Steve Harvey’s father was acoal miner and a Sunday school teacher. When coal mining in West Virginia began to slow, he moved with his family to a farm in Cleveland, Ohio where they grew their own food and survived on a small income. They were 13 people who lived in a one-bathroom house. When Harvey became successful and rich, he added bathrooms to every room in his house.
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