As fire when thrown into water is cooled down and put out, so also a false accusation when brought against a man of the purest and holiest character, boils over and is at once dissipated, and vanishes and threats of heaven and sea, himself standing unmoved.

Our real problem, then, is not our strength today; it is rather the vital necessity of action today to ensure our strength tomorrow.

You can tell the strength of a nation by the women behind its men.

People need hard times and oppression to develop psychic muscles.

When a person is going through hell, and she encounters someone who went through hellish hell and survived, then she can say, ‚Mine is not so bad as all that. She came through, and so can I.‘

Occasionally the conflict between ‚what we stand for‘ and ‚what we do‘ has been forthrightly addressed.

I could never identify with that word, ‚weak.‘

Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, for wise men say it is the wisest course.

Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.

Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.

The strength and power of a country depends absolutely on the quantity of good men and women in it.

Be willing to have it so. Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.

How one life turns out is not dependent on what people do to us or what they don’t do for us.

He who has faith has… an inward reservoir of courage, hope, confidence, calmness, and assuring trust that all will come out well – even though to the world it may appear to come out most badly.

If your determination is fixed, I do not counsel you to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance.

There’s many ups and downs in the fight game.

My whole family have all been through a difficult time. My focus is my children, our children.

Nothing can resist the person who smiles at life – I don’t mean the ironic and disillusioned smile of my grandfather, but the triumphant smile of the person who knows that he will survive, or that at least he will be saved by what seems to be destroying him.

If I made a commitment, I stood by that commitment – and try to make it real. Because when you become leaders, the most important thing you have is your word, your trust. That’s where respect comes from.

I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.

One tells as few lies as possible only by telling as few lies as possible, and not by having the least possible opportunity to do so.

I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.

The time has come for all evangelists to practice full financial disclosure. The world is watching how we walk and how we talk. We must have the highest standards of morality, ethics and integrity if we are to continue to have influence.

There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of life’s July and left standing amid the piercing chill of an alpine November.

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.

To our brothers in Latin America and the world, we must convey that the Cuban people will overcome.

The block of granite which was an obstacle in the pathway of the weak, became a stepping-stone in the pathway of the strong.

I can’t say this enough – the food that you put into your bodies can actually help you get better grades. And it can also affect your performance in sports and other activities too. You see, when you give your body the best possible fuel, you have more energy, you’re stronger, you think more quickly.

It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.

And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that religion and Government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together.

Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.

Let me tell you what I literally told every world leader I’ve met with, and I’ve met them all: It’s never, never, never been a good bet to bet against America. We have the finest fighting force in the world.

In all my work, in the movies I write, the lyrics, the poetry, the prose, the essays, I am saying that we may encounter many defeats – maybe it’s imperative that we encounter the defeats – but we are much stronger than we appear to be and maybe much better than we allow ourselves to be. Human beings are more alike than unalike.

I heard that when Christina Aguilera went back to her prom, people, like, booed her. I can’t imagine going through that. If you know that’s going to happen, why put yourself in that situation? I’d rather play for 20,000 screaming people, you know?

I have seen many storms in my life. Most storms have caught me by surprise, so I had to learn very quickly to look further and understand that I am not capable of controlling the weather, to exercise the art of patience and to respect the fury of nature.

A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.

To keep your character intact you cannot stoop to filthy acts. It makes it easier to stoop the next time.

Will power is to the mind like a strong blind man who carries on his shoulders a lame man who can see.

I’ve had a lot of success; I’ve had failures, so I learn from the failure.

I’m proof against that word failure. I’ve seen behind it. The only failure a man ought to fear is failure of cleaving to the purpose he sees to be best.

Everything negative – pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for me to rise.

Discontent, blaming, complaining, self-pity cannot serve as a foundation for a good future, no matter how much effort you make.

Character is destiny.

Endurance is nobler than strength, and patience than beauty.

A fly, Sir, may sting a stately horse and make him wince; but, one is but an insect, and the other is a horse still.

The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous.

The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way.

When something an affliction happens to you, you either let it defeat you, or you defeat it.

Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.

I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.

Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking.

Truly, I would not hang a dog by my will, much more a man who hath any honesty in him.

Our passions are like convulsion fits, which, though they make us stronger for a time, leave us the weaker ever after.

People want to tear me down, they were going to knife me anyway.

We were poor. But my mom never accepted that. She worked hard to become a residential contractor – got her master’s with honors at the University of New Orleans. I used to go to every class with her. Her father was my paternal figure.

Dreams are the touchstones of our character.

There are those who believe Black people possess the secret of joy and that it is this that will sustain them through any spiritual or moral or physical devastation.

Courage is grace under pressure.

All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me… You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.

Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.

I don’t suffer of anything that I’ve lost.