I did not come from an academic background. My father was a smart man, but he had a fifth-grade education. He and all his friends were plumbers. They were all born around 1905 in great poverty in New York City and had to go to work when they were 12 or 13 years old. Leonard Susskind
My mom and dad put my brother and sister through university and they were very keen for us to have an academic background just to give us a chance. Rob James-Collier
I came out of the Civil Rights Movement, and I had a different kind of focus than most people who have just the academic background as their primary training experience. Bernice Johnson Reagon
I've always been a writer because I've always been a student. My mom's a retired professor, so I come from a very academic background. I love writing, you know? Kerry Washington
Once I engage in something, I really engage in it, and I love the process of reading and researching because I come from an academic background. Michael Hirst
Academia is a rarified culture, especially an Ivy League academic background. Paul Giamatti