I was set free because my greatest fear had been realized, and I still had a daughter who I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became a solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

I worked my face off.

You’ve got to go out on a limb sometimes because that’s where the fruit is.

Now I do whatever I want.

Mothers and daughters generally have fairly complex relationships, and ours was made much more so by Mother’s illness. She had Parkinson’s disease, which was not diagnosed for a long time… All that made me very self-protective, because for one thing, I didn’t want to get trapped.

If every choice you make comes from an honest place, you’re solid, and nothing anybody can say about you can rock you or change your opinion.

I love my friends and my past, and it’s made me who I am.

Difficulties should act as a tonic. They should spur us to greater exertion.

Today I love myself as I love my god: who could charge me with a sin today? I know only sins against my god; but who knows my god?

You practice mindfulness, on the one hand, to be calm and peaceful. On the other hand, as you practice mindfulness and live a life of peace, you inspire hope for a future of peace.

We live in a culture that relishes tearing others down. It’s ultimately more fulfilling, though, to help people reach their goals. Instead of feeling jealous, remember: If God did it for them, He can do it for you.

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.

People who truly understand what is meant by self-reliance know they must live their lives by ethics rather than rules.

We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us thru that darkness to a safe and sane future.

If you can dream it, you can do it.

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.

I have a living will and I have friends, and I have money and I have hope.

All our words are but crumbs that fall down from the feast of the mind.

I want people to draw strength from me.

True wealth is not of the pocket, but of the heart and of the mind.

I’m always afraid of failing. I have to quiet that fear if I’m going to get up in the morning.

I began writing at the age of 5, but there was a dark period between the ages of 8 and 16 when I didn’t write. I started again at 16 and have no idea why, but it was suddenly the only thing I wanted to do.

Just got back from a pleasure trip: I took my mother-in-law to the airport.

Lots of young players have triumphed at United, so why can’t it happen to me? I’m not worried I’m young – it’s an incentive to do the best I can.

The future rewards those who press on. I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I don’t have time to complain. I’m going to press on.

When younger writers and poets, musicians and painters are weakened by a stemming of funds, they come to me saddened, not as full of dreams and excitement and ideas. I am then weakened and diminished, and made less rich.

God made me and broke the mold.

Anyone who cannot come to terms with his life while he is alive needs one hand to ward off a little his despair over his fate… but with his other hand he can note down what he sees among the ruins.

Help others and give something back. I guarantee you will discover that while public service improves the lives and the world around you, its greatest reward is the enrichment and new meaning it will bring your own life.

The most peaceable way for you, if you do take a thief, is, to let him show himself what he is and steal out of your company.

Whatever talents I possess may suddenly diminish or suddenly increase. I can with ease become an ordinary fool. I may be one now. But it doesn’t do to upset one’s own vanity.

Compared to what we ought to be, we are half awake.

Trees go wandering forth in all directions with every wind, going and coming like ourselves, traveling with us around the sun two million miles a day, and through space heaven knows how fast and far!

You will be as much value to others as you have been to yourself.

Deficiency motivation doesn’t work. It will lead to a life-long pursuit of try to fix me. Learn to appreciate what you have and where and who you are.

You have people come into your life shockingly and surprisingly. You have losses that you never thought you’d experience. You have rejection and you have learn how to deal with that and how to get up the next day and go on with it.

Look at a book. A book is the right size to be a book. They’re solar-powered. If you drop them, they keep on being a book. You can find your place in microseconds. Books are really good at being books, and no matter what happens, books will survive.

You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not always be able to solve all of the world’s problems at once but don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.

I love being American, and I love family. I love having a family, and I feel so blessed, and I feel like God gave me exactly what I wanted, so now I have to do the right thing in God’s eyes also. Just follow what God wants me to do.

There are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge.

Courage is being scared to death… and saddling up anyway.

A strong man doesn’t have to be dominant toward a woman. He doesn’t match his strength against a woman weak with love for him. He matches it against the world.

I allow myself to fail. I allow myself to break. I’m not afraid of my flaws.

I have a terrifying long list of fears. Literally everything – diseases, spiders… and people getting tired of me.

If thy brother wrongs thee, remember not so much his wrong-doing, but more than ever that he is thy brother.

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.

As far as a glass ceiling, I feel that all you can do is give it your absolute best with whatever gifts the universe has given you. And if you make it in some way that other people can recognize, that’s fine. But even if you don’t quote-unquote make it, you’re fine if you’ve given it your whole heart and soul.

I want to go and go, and then drop dead in the middle of something I’m loving to do. And if that doesn’t happen, if I wind up sitting in a wheelchair, at least I’ll have my high heels on.

Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.

Miracles come in moments. Be ready and willing.

If one dream dies, dream another dream. If you get knocked down, get back up and go again.

I believe time wounds all heels.

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.

Mindfulness practices enhance the connection between our body, our mind and everything else that is around us. Mindful living is the key to understanding our struggles with weight and to empowering us to control our weight.

We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.

So live with men as if God saw you and speak to God, as if men heard you.

The great fun in my life has been getting up every morning and rushing to the typewriter because some new idea has hit me.

However weak we are, however poor, however little our faith, or however small our grace may be, our names are still written on His heart; nor shall we lose our share in Jesus‘ love.

You tell me: Can you live crushed under the weight of the present? Without a memory of the past and without the desire to look ahead to the future by building something, a future, a family? Can you go on like this? This, to me, is the most urgent problem that the Church is facing.

Yesterday is but today’s memory, and tomorrow is today’s dream.

My work is about my life, and what I want to do with it.