21 Mike Rowe Quotes That Prove He's America's "Everyman"
Standing up for the little guy.
Donald Trump's presidential win made working-class Americans finally feel visible and like their needs were being prioritized over white-collar Americans — at least, that’s what Mike Rowe, the actor best-known as for hosting of the Discovery Channel show Dirty Jobs thinks.
"In a very simple way, Dirty Jobs said ‘Hey — we can see you,’ to millions of regular people who had started to feel invisible," Mike Rowe said in an interview with the Washington Times. "Ultimately, that’s why Dirty Jobs ran for eight seasons. And today, that’s also why Donald Trump is the President of the United States.”
You don’t have to agree with him, but you can and NEED to understand where he’s coming from. Because where he's coming from is where a lot of Americans come from too.
Mike Rowe watched his grandfather build his family's home from the ground up with his own hands. It was from him, Rowe says, that he first learned the value of hard work.
Mike Rowe helped launch a celebration of hard work with Dirty Jobs, which featured rough-and-tumble blue-collar professions and helped further Rowe's admiration of the hard-working everyday man. The show has allowed Rowe not only to connect with the working class — but actually put himself in their position.
Representing the working class didn’t just stop when Dirty Jobs did, though. Through his mikeroweWORKS Foundation, Mike Rowe has been able to award scholarships to those who are looking to start a career in high-demand, skilled trades.
So, not only does he understand the value of hard work and what it means to the working class citizens of America, but he’s also taken initiative to help as many people as he can find fulfilling careers.
But even then, he knows that just because he appreciates the working class, not everyone else does, which is why he spoke at the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee in 2011.
Mike Rowe explained that while it was great that young kids wanted to grow up to be astronauts, you would never find an ad looking to hire astronauts. Just like any career, you need to work your way up to the job you want.
But that's not the only thing Mike Rowe believes in.
Take his stance on gun control. According to Rowe, an NRA supporter, nothing has made gun the situation worse than the dated records and technology America uses to handle gun control. “I’m just skeptical that expanding a broken system is the best way to keep guns away from bad guys and lunatics,” he wrote on Facebook.
What Mike Rowe is saying resonates with people.
With a successful weekly podcast, a huge following on Facebook, and a blog that covers pretty much everything, Mike Rowe is a social media wizard (and you’d have to be crazy not to get in on it).
And if that doesn’t convince you how well-rounded and admirable he is, he’s still an Eagle Scout. Yes, it’s true — Rowe was awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. Now, let me put that into perspective for you: This award is only given to Eagle Scouts who have a rank of 25 years of service at a minimum.
In his TED Talk, Mike Rowe explains how he’s constantly learning and discovering new things, no matter how those lessons come about.
Above all, Rowe knows that nothing good comes of trying to rush through anything or by not putting in enough effort.
So, we pulled together some quotes by Mike Rowe that prove he’s more relatable and authentic than you might think.
1. “I wouldn't wish any specific thing for any specific person - it's none of my business. But the idea that a four-year degree is the only path to worthwhile knowledge is insane. It's insane.”
2. "'Dirty Jobs' is a fun, simple little show with huge themes under it. For me, it's penance, it's redemption, it's a sweaty mess."
3. “People like to cherry-pick the parts of their career that they're either in the midst of or that they're the most proud of, but the truth is careers and lives are tapestries.”
4. "Good jobs look a lot like kids playing and adults working."
5. “You've got a lot of very, very smart people standing by waiting for somebody else to do the work. Not a recipe for long-term solvency in my opinion.”
6. "I always complain because I'm old now and everything hurts."
7. “I'm looking forward to the future, and feeling grateful for the past.”
8. "I come from a blue-collar family, but my personal life isn't. I didn't get the gene that my grandfather had in spades. He was a local hero. Built the church that I went to. Built the house I grew up in. Steamfitter, pipefitter, electrician, mechanic, and plumber. I wanted to do those things. But it just didn't come easy."
9. “The one thing that TV is bad at doing is preaching. There are two extremes, you either turn the people into a punchline or turn them into heroes, and both of those things suck because most people are neither in real life.”
10. "Every bad joke, every endorsement deal, all of the things that a typical host would normally get creamed for, people don't mind, because they know I don't cheat when it comes to the work I actually try. I'm a lab rat. I'm a perpetual apprentice. The joke is on me if there is one."
11. “Dirt used to be a badge of honor. Dirt used to look like work. But we've scrubbed the dirt off the face of work, and consequently, we've created this suspicion of anything that's too dirty.”
12. "We need to promote an ethic of work. And there's no way one guy or one company is going to be able to do it. It has to be a big hot mess - public, , government, NGOs and smart alecks on the TV talking about it."
13. “I can say the willingness to get dirty has always defined us as a nation, and it's a hallmark of hard work and a hallmark of fun, and dirt is not the enemy.”
14. "We've waged war on work. We have collectively agreed, stupidly, that work is the enemy."
15. "Happiness does not come from a job. It comes from knowing what you truly value, and behaving in a way that's consistent with those beliefs."
16. "For me, what's the old expression, 'Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable,' that's really what religion is good at when it is done right. And the truth is, so is television."
17. "Our country is currently obsessed with determining the difference between a 'good job' and a 'bad job' because we have become convinced that the road to 'job satisfaction' is dependent on the job itself."
18. "To me, we're living in a non-linear world... But the truth is we are linear creatures. Everything unfolds one after the next. And that's the thing we've become disconnected from."
19. "Attitude, attitude, attitude. You can't teach it; either you have it or you don't."
20. "Most people don't know where their food comes from. We're confused about the fundamentals. How does our food wind up on our plates? How exactly is it that, when I flick the switch, the lights come on?"
21. "How are we ever going to accomplish anything in this incredibly divisive time if we associate only with people that we don't disagree with?"
