I am a huge fan of Trevor Noah and his comedy, so of course, Trevor Noah’s quotes from me are not surprising at all. Though I was late to the party, I am so glad I finally got to read his book, Born a Crime. Before buying the book, I heard lots of praise for it, but I also read a few critical comments so I went in with an open mind.
Thankfully, I ended up really enjoying it. I laughed way too much and read it too fast. Each time I picked it up, I did not want to stop turning the pages. I also picked some amazing lessons on life and identity, which you might also like or learn from.
By the way, this was the first memoir I had read in a long time but it was so good, that it inspired me to pick up some more memoirs. My next picks were educated by Tara Westover and Becoming by Michelle Obama, and they did not disappoint either. But I digress. Shall we get into the top Trevor Noah quotes and life lessons picked from Born a Crime?
Born a Crime powerfully addresses a range of issues, from love to domestic violence. I could not think of a better way to do justice to the book’s message, so I decided to share some of my favorite quotes from the book and my takeaways.
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Best Quotes and Powerful Takeaways from Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime
Here are the best book quotes from Born a Crime.
“Learn from your past and be better because of your past, but don’t cry about your past. Life is full of pain. Let the pain sharpen you, but don’t hold on to it. Don’t be bitter.”
~ Born a Crime, Trevor Noah
This is an important lesson for us all. Instead of being bitter about what you have been through in your past, learn from your pain and move forward from it.
If you think too much about the ass-kicking your mom gave you, or the ass-kicking that life gave you, you’ll stop pushing the boundaries and breaking the rules. It’s better to take it, spend some time crying, then wake up the next day and move on. You’ll have a few bruises and they’ll remind you of what happened and that’s okay. But after a while, the bruises fade, and they fade for a reason – because now it’s time to get up to some shit again.
~ Born a Crime, Trevor Noah
On love and life:
Being chosen is the greatest gift you can give to another human being.
~ Born a Crime, Trevor Noah
On fear and regret:
We spend so much time being afraid of failure, afraid of rejection. But regret is the thing we should fear most. Failure is an answer. Rejection is an answer. Regret is an eternal question you will never have the answer to. “What if…” “If only…” “I wonder what would have…” You will never know, and it will haunt you for the rest of your days.
~ Born a Crime, Trevor Noah
Money and freedom
People don’t want to be rich. They want to be able to choose. The richer you are, the more choices you have. That is the freedom of money.
~ Born a Crime, Trevor Noah
Lessons on Life, Identity and Success: Trevor Noah’s Best Quotes from Born a Crime
On success and limitations:
Sometimes the reason why people have ‘small dreams’ is that they have not been exposed to the possibilities around them or they lack the tools needed for them to unlock their potential
We tell people to follow their dreams, but you can only dream of what you can imagine, and, depending on where you come from, your imagination can be quite limited.
~ Born a Crime, Trevor Noah
The next time you are in a position to help someone, it would be nice to not only give information to them, give them the tools they need too.
People love to say, “Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he’ll eat for a lifetime.” What they don’t say is, “And it would be nice if you gave him a fishing rod.”
~ Born a Crime, Trevor Noah
On Comfort:
Comfort can be dangerous. Comfort provides a floor but also a ceiling.
~ Born a Crime, Trevor Noah
On domestic violence
It is so easy, from the outside, to put the blame on the woman and say “You just need to leave.” … Where does a woman go when she leaves one man who hits her, maybe even worse than the first? Where does a woman go when she’s single with three kids and she lives in a society that makes her a pariah for being a manless woman? Where she is seen as a whore for doing that? Where does she go? What does she do?
~ Born a Crime, Trevor Noah
Your turn
There is a lot to learn from Trevor Noah and these important quotes from Born a Crime are just a small indication of the wealth of wisdom in the book. From quotes about identity, family, life, love, to his mom, I hope you found a Trevor Noah quote that resonated with you.
Have you read Born a Crime? If you haven’t, get yourself a copy, you will love it! Click on the link below,
