A lot of the stuff I do in terms of PR, I learned it from Muhammad Ali.

Don’t let schooling interfere with your education.

Our brand of democracy is hard. But I can promise that a year from now, when I no longer hold this office, I’ll be right there with you as a citizen – inspired by those voices of fairness and vision, of grit and good humor and kindness that have helped America travel so far.

There’s definitely going to be things that I’m not very good at, things I can improve.

Because of a great love, one is courageous.

God’s Spirit moves through us and the world at a pace that can never be constricted by any one religious paradigm. I love that.

My dad always said, ‚Champ, the measure of a man is not how often he is knocked down, but how quickly he gets up.‘

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.

It’s none of their business that you have to learn how to write. Let them think you were born that way.

Susceptibility to the highest forces is the highest genius.

Opportunity dances with those already on the dance floor.

True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, as those move easiest who have learn’d to dance.

You know, nothing is more important than education, because nowhere are our stakes higher; our future depends on the quality of education of our children today.

You see something, then it clicks with something else, and it will make a story. But you never know when it’s going to happen.

There is no sin except stupidity.

When you’re traveling constantly, every day you become inspired, and it shows in my work, sonically, lyrically, visually. Conversations with women with different accents and stories told in those accents. I like to create characters based on different people I’ve met, and relationships. I like to tell stories loosely based on real-life events.

One man with courage is a majority.

I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can’t be done.

No man should escape our universities without knowing how little he knows.

If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.

There wasn’t much as a kid that inspired me in what I did as an adult, but I was always very interested in what motivates people, and in telling stories and building things.

I’ve been blessed to be somebody that’s been climbing that success mountain top for years of hard work, you know, but now it’s all connecting. And now, the whole world is watching, you know what I’m saying, and it feels good ‚cause it’s good energy. This is all positive vibes, and good vibes and good energy, so it feels incredible.

I can find in my undergraduate classes, bright students who do not know that the stars rise and set at night, or even that the Sun is a star.

You cannot be creative with people around you.

Sweet are the uses of adversity which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in his head.

In acting, you have to pull from real-life situations, from people, to help develop a character.

I would fain grow old learning many things.

However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.

Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error.

There is spontaneity to my work.

He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.

Life is one grand, sweet song, so start the music.

I write for no other purpose than to add to the beauty that now belongs to me. I write a book for no other reason than to add three or four hundred acres to my magnificent estate.

All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning. Great works are often born on a street corner or in a restaurant’s revolving door.

We learn from experience that men never learn anything from experience.

Every moment is an organizing opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world.

If I waited for perfection… I would never write a word.

There’s hope for everyone. That’s what makes the world go round.

I am not one who was born in the possession of knowledge; I am one who is fond of antiquity, and earnest in seeking it there.

If you can’t read, the only thing you can do is enjoy the pictures, not the whole story. Reading is the key to knowledge. Knowledge is the key to understanding. So read on, young man! Read on, young lady!

When small men attempt great enterprises, they always end by reducing them to the level of their mediocrity.

Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted… but to weigh and consider.

I do love being in my studio. Especially at night.

Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before.

Diana Ross is a big inspiration to all of us. We all grew up watching everything about her – her mike placement, her grace, her style and her class.

It’s like a jar of salad dressing sitting on a shelf… most of the seasoning settles to the bottom of the bottle. But when you shake that bottle up, all the ingredients mix together and then the dressing can add flavor to a salad. In the same way, we can stir ourselves up and regain the reverence, respect and awe we once had for the Lord.

Thought is the wind and knowledge the sail.

I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

It’s good to wander into the studio and walk out with something that’s better than you’d imagined it to be. If everything was as you imagined it to be, it just wouldn’t be as much fun.

I booked my first studio at like 12 or 13. Somewhere in that season of my life, singing along with the radio became me wanting to be on radio, you know. And writing Langston Hughes replica poems became me wanting to write like Stevie Wonder.

What is true of the individual will be tomorrow true of the whole nation if individuals will but refuse to lose heart and hope.

The ‚Maddox Jolie-Pitt‘ Foundation’s work is inspired by our children and their connections to particular countries.

I love the name of honor, more than I fear death.

I learned from my dog long before I went to Gombe that we weren’t the only beings with personalities. What the chimps did was help me to persuade others.

Knowledge slowly builds up what Ignorance in an hour pulls down.

The arrogance of age must submit to be taught by youth.

Everything I learned I learned from the movies.

The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result. He does not expect that his advanced ideas will be readily taken up. His work is like that of the planter – for the future. His duty is to lay the foundation for those who are to come, and point the way.

I do not like the man who squanders life for fame; give me the man who living makes a name.

All great truths begin as blasphemies.

Let every dawn be to you as the beginning of life, and every setting sun be to you as its close.