"I certainly wasn't able to get it when I was a kid growing up on the Lower East Side; it was very hard at that time for me to balance what I really believed was the right way to live with the violence I saw all around me - I saw too much of it among the people I knew"

In this quote, Martin Scorsese reflects on his childhood growing up on the Lower East Side and the battles he faced in trying to reconcile his beliefs with the violence he experienced in his neighborhood. He acknowledges that as a child, he was not able to totally understand or grasp the idea of living an exemplary life while being surrounded by consistent violence. This internal conflict was a tough one for him to browse, as he was exposed to a lot of violence among individuals he knew. This quote highlights the obstacles and intricacies of maturing in a hard environment and the effect it can have on one's beliefs and worths.