Liz Murray

Elizabeth Murray (born September 23, 1980 New York) is an American memoirist and inspirational speaker. Murray's memoir Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard (2010) was a New York Times Best Seller; Murray was accepted by Harvard University despite being homeless in her high school years. Her life story was the basis for the television film Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003) shown by the Lifetime cable network.

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Quotes

• I learned from that time period that, even though the past is always kind of right there, you can decide to start over with a loved one," Liz tells OWN. "I lost my mom, and we did not have enough connection at the time, and I was not going to let that happen again."
• We ate ice cubes because it felt like eating. We split a tube of toothpaste between us for dinner."
• Like my mother, I was always saying, 'I'll fix my life one day.' It became clear when I saw her die without fulfilling her dreams that my time was now or maybe never,
• I was one of those people on the streets you walk away from."
  • Liz Murray: 'My parents were desperate drug addicts. I'm a Harvard graduate' The Guardian (26 September 2010)
• “I saw her die without fulfilling her dreams and I knew that my time was now or maybe never,
• The fork in the road happens over a hundred times a day, and it’s the choices that you make that will determine the shape of your life.”
  • BEYOUROWNICON: LIZ MURRAY American Sunglass (April 16, 2018)
• I felt like I wasn’t going to make it,” she said. “When I thought about my life in front of me, how I’m going to rise up to anything … it was so overwhelming.”
• “I went to high school while I was homeless, (I) received dental care, hot meals, counselling … I was helped so much in my journey that at some point, it clicked for me,” she explained. “I quickly came to realize that a lot of people were also struggling.”
• “Eventually, as I was able to change my circumstances with that help, I went on to start a non-profit (and) began volunteering (so) that I could help (others),”
• You don’t have to ‘wait until.’ You have something right now of value,”
• I like to ask people to think about the courage it takes for someone experiencing homelessness to knock on the door, asking for service,” Murray continued. “It’s very hard. It’s very vulnerable.
• The problem may be huge, but your job is not to fix the entire problem. It’s to do what you can with what you have.”
  • Liz Murray to speak at Mission Services of London banquet in November globalnews (