"I'm very inspired by him-It was my father who taught us that an immigrant must work twice as hard as anybody else, that he must never give up"
About this Quote
The pronouns matter. He starts with “I,” then quickly shifts to “us,” widening the story from a private bond to a shared household ethic. That quiet move turns a personal tribute into a collective biography of immigrant kids who grow up translating their parents’ anxieties into performance. You can hear the subtext: you don’t just work to win, you work to justify your place, to protect your family’s sacrifices from being dismissed as naïveté.
There’s also a strategic modesty. Zidane, a global icon, refuses the lone-genius myth. By crediting his father, he dodges the celebrity narrative of destiny and replaces it with discipline shaped by class and migration. In the French context, where debates over assimilation and belonging have long been charged, the quote reads like an assertion of legitimacy without pleading for it: the immigrant’s bargain is brutal, but it produces excellence.
“Must never give up” closes the loop: not triumphal, almost weary. Persistence becomes less a slogan than a requirement for staying visible in a society ready to overlook you.
Quote Details
| Topic | Father |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Zidane, Zinedine. (2026, February 17). I'm very inspired by him-It was my father who taught us that an immigrant must work twice as hard as anybody else, that he must never give up. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-very-inspired-by-him-it-was-my-father-who-108319/
Chicago Style
Zidane, Zinedine. "I'm very inspired by him-It was my father who taught us that an immigrant must work twice as hard as anybody else, that he must never give up." FixQuotes. February 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-very-inspired-by-him-it-was-my-father-who-108319/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I'm very inspired by him-It was my father who taught us that an immigrant must work twice as hard as anybody else, that he must never give up." FixQuotes, 17 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-very-inspired-by-him-it-was-my-father-who-108319/. Accessed 1 Mar. 2026.



