I was raised by a mother who told me I was great every day of my life.

Only God Himself fully appreciates the influence of a Christian mother in the molding of character in her children.

It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else.

When doubt comes against us, we have to lift up the shield of faith. We do this when we open our mouth and say what God’s Word says, rather than grumbling and complaining about the problem.

My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.

In this great country, we celebrate success. We don’t want to penalize those who have done well.

I still derive immense pleasure from remembering how many hod-carrying brickies were encouraged to put on lurex tights and mince up and down the high street, having been assured by know-it-alls like me that a smidgen of blusher really attracted the birds.

Humility is to make a right estimate of one’s self.

When I was four, my mother insisted I get out of the car and find my own way home. Although I got lost, I did find my way home. It taught me the value of independence at an early age.

Believers, look up – take courage. The angels are nearer than you think.

My job is to bring out in people what they wouldn’t dare do themselves.

I was born in a very poor family. I used to sell tea in a railway coach as a child. My mother used to wash utensils and do lowly household work in the houses of others to earn a livelihood. I have seen poverty very closely. I have lived in poverty. As a child, my entire childhood was steeped in poverty.

The only thing I have to go by is what my mother and father told me, how I was brought up.

My parents weren’t actors or studio executives.

I grew up cursing a lot.

My mom is American, so I was raised in her household in my formative years.

I was raised by strong women, and that DNA is in my daughter and wife.

It is the nature of the artist to mind excessively what is said about him. Literature is strewn with the wreckage of men who have minded beyond reason the opinions of others.

A true friend encourages us, comforts us, supports us like a big easy chair, offering us a safe refuge from the world.

Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told: ‚I’m with you kid. Let’s go.‘

I’ve been a huge fan of Chris Martin forever; it’d be awesome to work with him. He’s really kind, and he’s been really encouraging when we’ve met.

My mother encouraged me to be artistic. It was written in a contract at an early age that I would be an artist.

We cannot live being obsessed with what other people think about us. It’s impossible to live like that. Not even God managed to please the entire world.

I sing seriously to my mom on the phone. To put her to sleep, I have to sing ‚Maria‘ from West Side Story. When I hear her snoring, I hang up.

Pride is pleasure arising from a man’s thinking too highly of himself.

I know I’m talented, but I wasn’t put here to sing. I was put here to be a wife and a mom and look after my family. I love what I do, but it’s not where it begins and ends.

I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinions of himself than on the opinions of others.

Beauty is an outward gift, which is seldom despised, except by those to whom it has been refused.

Get someone else to blow your horn and the sound will carry twice as far.

Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child.

Everybody likes a compliment.

Let the path be open to talent.

Who in their infinite wisdom decreed that Little League uniforms be white? Certainly not a mother.

I feel real good because it’s about representing the young world and how to uplift each other and how to push us to be greater and make sure we don’t fall or get trapped or get in trouble, you know what I mean. Stay focused, you know what I mean.

As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.

I have been brought up and trained to have the utmost contempt for people who get drunk.

The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion because if a mother can kill her own child, what is left for me to kill you and you to kill me? There is nothing between.

My mother loved children – she would have given anything if I had been one.

The generous Critic fann’d the Poet’s fire, And taught the world with reason to admire.

‚Royal Beatings‘ was my first story, and it was published in 1977. But I sent all my early stories to ‚The New Yorker‘ in the 1950s, and then I stopped sending for a long time and sent only to magazines in Canada. ‚The New Yorker‘ sent me nice notes, though – penciled, informal messages. They never signed them. They weren’t terribly encouraging.

I was reared in the church, in the Presbyterian Church.

All the learnin‘ my father paid for was a bit o‘ birch at one end and an alphabet at the other.

I got a lot of support from my parents. That’s the one thing I always appreciated. They didn’t tell me I was being stupid; they told me I was being funny.

A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.

I think that I’m perfect.

Encouragement to all women is – let us try to offer help before we have to offer therapy. That is to say, let’s see if we can’t prevent being ill by trying to offer a love of prevention before illness.

Becoming an inspiration for kids is great. I want to inspire them to do whatever they want to.

Applause is the spur of noble minds, the end and aim of weak ones.

People who want the most approval get the least and people who need approval the least get the most.

I’m not the most attractive fella. I’m not a Billy Dee Williams. Personality is everything.

Successful people will always tell you you can do something. It’s the people who have never accomplished anything who will always discourage you from trying to achieve excellent things.

When people are around us, they should leave better off than they were previously. Rather than feeling discouraged or defeated, people should feel challenged and inspired after spending any time with you and me.

Nothing builds self-esteem and self-confidence like accomplishment.

For an Ethiopian mother, if you have a chubby kid, it means you’re doing something good.

Don’t ever criticize yourself. Don’t go around all day long thinking, ‚I’m unattractive, I’m slow, I’m not as smart as my brother.‘ God wasn’t having a bad day when he made you… If you don’t love yourself in the right way, you can’t love your neighbour. You can’t be as good as you are supposed to be.

I prefer to praise people and the world rather than criticize them and it.

Electric communication will never be a substitute for the face of someone who with their soul encourages another person to be brave and true.

Encouragement to others is something everyone can give. Somebody needs what you have to give. It may not be your money; it may be your time. It may be your listening ear. It may be your arms to encourage. It may be your smile to uplift. Who knows?

I think many people in my community had very different kinds of mothers: they had mothers who acquiesced in the system of male and white-supremacist domination, and my mother never did. She just could not do it. It just wasn’t in her.

I’ve always been surrounded by many great people and professors, but my family, especially my mom who was a teacher, was the person who encouraged me to study and pushed me to continue. When we’re young, we don’t understand why our parents bug us so much with school and doing homework, but it’s a blessing to have that support at home.

I love people talking about me; I love anybody just looking at me.