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Motherhood Quote by Vin Diesel

"My mother gave me this book called Feature Films at Used Car Prices by a guy named Rick Schmidt. I gotta credit the guy, cuz he gave me the most practical advice. It empowers you"

About this Quote

Vin Diesel isn’t selling inspiration here so much as staking a claim to a particular kind of legitimacy: the blue-collar, do-it-yourself gospel of filmmaking. Dropping the full, slightly absurd title Feature Films at Used Car Prices works like a badge. It signals thrift, hustle, and a refusal to wait for permission. That’s not an abstract creative philosophy; it’s a survival strategy in an industry built to make newcomers feel dependent on gatekeepers.

The mom detail matters. It softens the hard-edged action-star persona and reframes his origin story as something handed down, almost like a family tool kit. In celebrity storytelling, that move is shrewd: it makes ambition feel grounded, even wholesome, while keeping the focus on work, not privilege. The casual diction - “a guy named,” “I gotta credit,” “cuz” - is doing cultural work too. Diesel positions himself as someone who learned by doing and talking, not by theory or pedigree.

When he says the advice is “practical,” he’s also throwing a small punch at the mystique of Hollywood: the idea that success is about waiting for discovery, the right network, the right room. “It empowers you” is the key phrase, because empowerment here isn’t self-care language; it’s autonomy. It’s the promise that with a camera, a plan, and enough nerve, you can build your own on-ramp to the industry. That’s the subtext: you don’t audition for agency - you manufacture it.

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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Diesel, Vin. (2026, January 16). My mother gave me this book called Feature Films at Used Car Prices by a guy named Rick Schmidt. I gotta credit the guy, cuz he gave me the most practical advice. It empowers you. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-mother-gave-me-this-book-called-feature-films-113933/

Chicago Style
Diesel, Vin. "My mother gave me this book called Feature Films at Used Car Prices by a guy named Rick Schmidt. I gotta credit the guy, cuz he gave me the most practical advice. It empowers you." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-mother-gave-me-this-book-called-feature-films-113933/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"My mother gave me this book called Feature Films at Used Car Prices by a guy named Rick Schmidt. I gotta credit the guy, cuz he gave me the most practical advice. It empowers you." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-mother-gave-me-this-book-called-feature-films-113933/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.

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Vin Diesel on practical filmmaking and empowerment
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About the Author

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Vin Diesel (born July 18, 1967) is a Actor from USA.

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