--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It's not what you've been given, it's…" description: "\"It's not what you've been given, it's what you do with what you've got.\" — Eddi Reader" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea8/eddi-reader-35793_given_it-s-not-what-you-ve-been-given-it-s-wha_1193987.jpg" --- # It's not what you've been given, it's what you do with… ![“It's not what you've been given, it's what you do with what you've got.” quote by Eddi Reader](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea8/eddi-reader-35793_given_it-s-not-what-you-ve-been-given-it-s-wha_1193987.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea8/eddi-reader-35793_given_it-s-not-what-you-ve-been-given-it-s-wha_1193987.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea8/eddi-reader-35793_given_it-s-not-what-you-ve-been-given-it-s-wha_1193987.jpg) > “It's not what you've been given, it's what you do with what you've got.” [Eddi Reader](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eddi-reader/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Success depends on how you utilize existing resources, not just what you receive. **In simple terms:** Use what you have wisely. Key Takeaway Focus on effective action over gifts. Themes resourcefulness initiative self‑reliance Mood inspirational pragmatic Type advice motivational When to use this quote - career development - entrepreneurship - home projects - budgeting Key Concepts Opportunity utilization personal agency Questions to Reflect On - What resources are underused? - How can you maximize current assets? A Different Perspective Limited resources can restrict possibilities. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Given](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/given/) [Given Ve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/given-ve-3554762/) [Ve Given](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ve-given/) ## Related quotes > [I've never had anything given to me. I've never had anything easy. My whole career has been that way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-waltrip/i-ve-never-had-anything-given-to-me-i-ve-never-had-anything-easy-my/) [Michael Waltrip](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-waltrip/) > [Nothing is given to you. You've got to work for it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-charlton/nothing-is-given-to-you-you-ve-got-to-work-for-it/) [Jack Charlton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-charlton/) > [Before you give up ask yourself if you've given it ALL you've got because chances are you haven't](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sonya-parker/before-you-give-up-ask-yourself-if-you-ve-given-it-all-you-ve-got/) [Sonya Parker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sonya-parker/) > [Losing is no disgrace if you've given your best.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-palmer/losing-is-no-disgrace-if-you-ve-given-your-best/) [Jim Palmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-palmer/) > [I've not given them (the poor people of Bihar) heaven, but I've given them a voice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lalu-prasad-yadav/i-ve-not-given-them-the-poor-people-of-bihar-heaven-but-i-ve-given/) [Lalu Prasad Yadav](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lalu-prasad-yadav/) > [“For as long as I've known you, you've given me a part of you that you haven't given to anyone else. And now I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/priscilla-glenn/for-as-long-as-i-ve-known-you-you-ve-given-me-a-part-of-you-that-you/) [Priscilla Glenn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/priscilla-glenn/) > [I've given everything I've got as attorney general.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-beshear/i-ve-given-everything-i-ve-got-as-attorney-general/) [Andy Beshear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andy-beshear/) > [I've always given people the benefit of the doubt until they prove me otherwise.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boris-kodjoe/i-ve-always-given-people-the-benefit-of-the-doubt-until-they-prove-me/) [Boris Kodjoe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boris-kodjoe/) > [Thankyou for the happines you've given to my life especially those times when I was wasted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/redeyeen/thankyou-for-the-happines-you-ve-given-to-my-life-especially-those/) [Redeyeen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/redeyeen/) > [I've lived my life in a way that I feel would be an example to young women and I've always given my best in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cindy-margolis/i-ve-lived-my-life-in-a-way-that-i-feel-would-be-an-example-to-young/) [Cindy Margolis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cindy-margolis/) > [I know it's near the end and when it's over I want to be able to say to myself - not anyone else -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kell-brook/i-know-it-s-near-the-end-and-when-it-s-over-i-want-to-be-able-to-say/) [Kell Brook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kell-brook/) > [I've given up, damn the dawn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clay-walker/i-ve-given-up-damn-the-dawn/) [Clay Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clay-walker/) > [Immigration has been good for this country; I know the value of it - hopefully I've given something back.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theo-paphitis/immigration-has-been-good-for-this-country-i-know-the-value-of-it/) [Theo Paphitis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theo-paphitis/) > [I've given everything I can possible to the game, on and off the field.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emmitt-smith/i-ve-given-everything-i-can-possible-to-the-game-on-and-off-the-field/) [Emmitt Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emmitt-smith/) > [I have given to some Republicans, I've given to some Democrats.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-bankman-fried/i-have-given-to-some-republicans-i-ve-given-to-some-democrats/) [Sam Bankman-Fried](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-bankman-fried/) ## More by Eddi Reader > [Why should Scotland be stopped from suggesting to the English people that we join a new union under new terms? Let's not try to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eddi-reader/why-should-scotland-be-stopped-from-suggesting-to-the-english-people/) [Eddi Reader](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eddi-reader/) > [I can speak French, understand Gaelic and know my history. That's the training music has given me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eddi-reader/i-can-speak-french-understand-gaelic-and-know-my-history-that-s-the/) [Eddi Reader](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eddi-reader/) > [Miley Cyrus is about making money. Amanda Palmer is about making art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eddi-reader/miley-cyrus-is-about-making-money-amanda-palmer-is-about-making-art/) [Eddi Reader](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eddi-reader/) > ['Vagabond' is about owning where I come from, understanding the real power music had to transport myself with, whether that's busking in Europe or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eddi-reader/vagabond-is-about-owning-where-i-come-from-understanding-the-real/) [Eddi Reader](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eddi-reader/) > [I have never had a man give me money. I've always been the provider. I have always been the one who went out and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eddi-reader/i-have-never-had-a-man-give-me-money-i-ve-always-been-the-provider-i/) [Eddi Reader](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eddi-reader/) > [People are people, and I get a bit annoyed that the music business only focuses in on the big metropolises. I find that people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eddi-reader/people-are-people-and-i-get-a-bit-annoyed-that-the-music-business/) [Eddi Reader](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eddi-reader/) > [I decided to build a studio in my house. We built it in my basement kitchen. I had the drummer up by the fish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eddi-reader/i-decided-to-build-a-studio-in-my-house-we-built-it-in-my-basement/) [Eddi Reader](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eddi-reader/) > [I've often felt I've been born out of my time, and when I started Fairground Attraction in the 1980s, I wanted to be a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eddi-reader/i-ve-often-felt-i-ve-been-born-out-of-my-time-and-when-i-started/) [Eddi Reader](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eddi-reader/) > [A couple of taxi drivers have asked me if we can survive financially as an independent nation. I say, how come we are more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eddi-reader/a-couple-of-taxi-drivers-have-asked-me-if-we-can-survive-financially/) [Eddi Reader](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eddi-reader/) > [I'm not really clear what the whole deal is with flags. I like my flag, but I wouldn't die for it. There's issues of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eddi-reader/i-m-not-really-clear-what-the-whole-deal-is-with-flags-i-like-my-flag/) [Eddi Reader](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eddi-reader/) > [I'm just an ordinary, walking-down-the-street, mother of two children who sings for her supper.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eddi-reader/i-m-just-an-ordinary-walking-down-the-street-mother-of-two-children/) [Eddi Reader](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eddi-reader/) > [I've been a massive obsessive about jazz singers all my life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eddi-reader/i-ve-been-a-massive-obsessive-about-jazz-singers-all-my-life/) [Eddi Reader](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eddi-reader/) [Explore all 13 Eddi Reader quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eddi-reader/) ## More Given quotes > [I could not limit my values and pursuits to what makes others comfortable. Being possessed by a promise I live without options. I will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-johnson/i-could-not-limit-my-values-and-pursuits-to-what-makes-others/) [Bill Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-johnson/) > [Let me tell you that atheism has never painted a masterpiece. Atheism has never dispelled fear. Atheism has never healed a disease; faith in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-hagee/let-me-tell-you-that-atheism-has-never-painted-a-masterpiece-atheism/) [John Hagee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-hagee/) > [A low-minded person should not be given good advice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chanakya/a-low-minded-person-should-not-be-given-good-advice/) [Chanakya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chanakya/) > [The old charters of Massachusetts, Virginia, and the Carolinas had given title to strips of territory extending from the Atlantic westward to the Pacific.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-bushnell-hart/the-old-charters-of-massachusetts-virginia-and-the-carolinas-had/) [Albert Bushnell Hart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-bushnell-hart/) > [I just think my own ambition would not allow me to sit on the gifts that my creator had given me. And so that's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janelle-monae/i-just-think-my-own-ambition-would-not-allow-me-to-sit-on-the-gifts/) [Janelle Monae](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janelle-monae/) > [Susan B. Anthony must be turning in her grave if she knew that millions of women who have the right to vote are not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madeleine-m-kunin/susan-b-anthony-must-be-turning-in-her-grave-if-she-knew-that/) [Madeleine M. Kunin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madeleine-m-kunin/) > [I'd be more frightened by not using whatever abilities I'd been given. I'd be more frightened by procrastination and laziness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denzel-washington/i-d-be-more-frightened-by-not-using-whatever-abilities-i-d-been-given/) [Denzel Washington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denzel-washington/) > [If life were like a competitive race, some people would be given a flying start and others would line up with weights tied to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mardy-grothe/if-life-were-like-a-competitive-race-some-people-would-be-given-a/) [Mardy Grothe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mardy-grothe/) > [Consideration is the soil in which wisdom may be expected to grow, and strength be given to every up-springing plant of duty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/consideration-is-the-soil-in-which-wisdom-may-be-expected-to-grow-and/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Music is one of the ways by which you can know everything which is going on in the world. You can feel... through music...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nina-simone/music-is-one-of-the-ways-by-which-you-can-know-everything-which-is/) [Nina Simone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nina-simone/) > [Today, at Harvard, any student with the currently fashionable color of skin is given rights denied to students of the currently unfashionable color.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/al-capp/today-at-harvard-any-student-with-the-currently-fashionable-color-of/) [Al Capp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/al-capp/) > [Much like teaching art to young art students age 10 to 15 or so on, you have to break it down into bite-sized pieces,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/much-like-teaching-art-to-young-art-students-age-10-to-15-or-so-on/) [Kehinde Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/) > [In this choice of inheritance we have given to our frame of polity the image of a relation in blood; binding up the constitution…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/in-this-choice-of-inheritance-we-have-given-to-our-frame-of-polity/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [It was given out that the animals there practised cannibalism, tortured one another with red-hot horseshoes, and had their females in common. This was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/it-was-given-out-that-the-animals-there-practised-cannibalism/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [God has given believers the responsibility of spreading the Gospel to all the world, and we need to use all at our disposal to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-epp/god-has-given-believers-the-responsibility-of-spreading-the-gospel-to/) [Theodore Epp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-epp/) [Browse all 10,948 Given quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/given/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It's not what you've been given, it's what you do with what you've got.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Eddi Reader" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eddi-reader/it-s-not-what-you-ve-been-given-it-s-what-you-do-with-what-you-ve-got/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Given" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eddi-reader/it-s-not-what-you-ve-been-given-it-s-what-you-do-with-what-you-ve-got/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea8/eddi-reader-35793_given_it-s-not-what-you-ve-been-given-it-s-wha_1193987.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea8/eddi-reader-35793_given_it-s-not-what-you-ve-been-given-it-s-wha_1193987.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea8/eddi-reader-35793_given_it-s-not-what-you-ve-been-given-it-s-wha_1193987.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It's not what you've been given, it's what you do with what you've got.” — Eddi Reader", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Eddi Reader", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eddi-reader/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "It's not what you've been given,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eddi-reader/it-s-not-what-you-ve-been-given-it-s-what-you-do-with-what-you-ve-got/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eddi-reader/it-s-not-what-you-ve-been-given-it-s-what-you-do-with-what-you-ve-got/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```