I encourage people not to be passive consumers of music and of culture in general. And feeling like, yeah, you can enjoy the products of professionals, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have to completely give up the reins and give up every connection to music or whatever it happens to be.

I am fearless.

We clearly see in God’s Word that anything He tells us to do, He will give us the ability to do it. But do we really believe it? Do we want to believe it? It’s easier to come up with excuses for why we can’t do things that are hard or that we really don’t want to do.

Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.

On every front there are clear answers out there that can make this country stronger, but we’re going to break through the fear and the frustration people are feeling. Our job is to make sure that even as we make progress, that we are also giving people a sense of hope and vision for the future.

Only those who want everything done for them are bored.

I’ve never thought about any kind of prejudice about women in country music because I never felt like it affected me. I was fortunate enough to come about in a time when I didn’t feel that kind of energy at all, and it was always my theory that if you want to play in the same ballgame as the boys, you’ve got to work as hard as them.

Be the hunter, not the hunted.

I am not afraid… I was born to do this.

I was the first woman to burn my bra – it took the fire department four days to put it out.

Carry the battle to them. Don’t let them bring it to you. Put them on the defensive and don’t ever apologize for anything.

Let us be shy no longer. Let us go to our strength. Let us offer hope. Let us tell the world that a new age is not only possible but probable.

When the best leader’s work is done the people say, ‚We did it ourselves.‘

Every man should know, if you’re comfortable and you like it, you should do it. Everyone always worries about what the girls think, what the guys think. If you like it, do it.

I have some good friends of my own who happen to be gay, and when it comes to gay, straight, or whatever, I’m for anything life-affirmative. I’m for gay power, straight power, male power, female power; everybody should feel empowered without oppressing anyone who’s different.

I don’t even know how to speak up for myself, because I don’t really have a father who would give me the confidence or advice.

You are not a problem that needs solving.

The more successful I become, the more I need a man.

Man is free at the moment he wishes to be.

I don’t want to be fake. I’m just being me. And I have the power to break stereotypes and whatever useless rules that society puts on us.

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

I said on the equality side of it, that it is essential to a woman’s equality with man that she be the decision-maker, that her choice be controlling.

A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous.

If we are not free, no one will respect us.

No woman should ever be quite accurate about her age. It looks so calculating.

The more you know of your history, the more liberated you are.

Before all else, be armed.

The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.

A wise woman wishes to be no one’s enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone’s victim.

What someone else does or doesn’t do has no effect on me and what I do.

The people who are doing the work are the moving force behind the Macintosh. My job is to create a space for them, to clear out the rest of the organization and keep it at bay.

You are victors, not victims!

The story of the human race is the story of men and women selling themselves short.

I think life is a matter of choices and that wherever we are, good or bad, is because of choices we make.

I think women want freedom. They want to be empowered. They want hope. They want love; they want all the things that I want, and I’m not afraid to say those things and act on them, and I think that’s why they identify with me.

In too many communities, too many young men of color are left behind and seen only as objects of fear. Through initiatives like My Brother’s Keeper, I’m personally committed to changing both perception and reality.

The wicked leader is he who the people despise. The good leader is he who the people revere. The great leader is he who the people say, ‚We did it ourselves.‘

You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.

My family has very strong women. My mother never laughed at my dream of Africa, even though everyone else did because we didn’t have any money, because Africa was the ‚dark continent‘, and because I was a girl.

Around every corner, always protect the engine that powers you.

Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‚I’m possible‘!

We should not underestimate ourselves, because if lots of individuals go together then we can accomplish almost anything.

There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.

If you see everything from the point of view of women being victims in some way, you don’t see the wood for the trees. It is better to be a person than a woman.

All of these young people have some kind of potential in them. And if we don’t invest in them as a nation, regardless of where they come from or what color they are, if we don’t invest in them, we lose.

Do we not realize that self respect comes with self reliance?

I find with most of my readers are kind of like me, sort of people who were a little bit naive in life and then learned the hard way that this is what’s going on, the political games and most of my readers write to me telling me that the book helped them open their eyes to what other people are doing to them.

We don’t have to let extremists define us.

Let freedom reign. The sun never set on so glorious a human achievement.

When you give everyone a voice and give people power, the system usually ends up in a really good place. So, what we view our role as, is giving people that power.

For me, it’s enough that I have the first and last word.

Every man who knows how to read has it in his power to magnify himself, to multiply the ways in which he exists, to make his life full, significant and interesting.

I’m not going to change the world. You’re not going to change the world. But we can help – we can all help.

Either you’re the one erasing or you’re the one being erased.

Women don’t try to use me.

I’m not a centerfold.

Nobody is my boss.

This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do.

Her body calculated to a millimeter to suggest a bud yet guarantee a flower.

I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.

I believe that God has put gifts and talents and ability on the inside of every one of us. When you develop that and you believe in yourself and you believe that you’re a person of influence and a person of purpose, I believe you can rise up out of any situation.