If you try to protect yourself from pain, it becomes a stone in your heart. But the more you learn to face things, the more likely that stone can become a pearl.

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.

We have two ears and one tongue so that we would listen more and talk less.

We come bulletproof in Ireland. We’re reared tough, and we fight.

Manifest plainness, embrace simplicity, reduce selfishness, have few desires.

It’s amazing: I am a New Yorker. It’s strange; I never thought I would be.

He who falls in love with himself will have no rivals.

Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others.

In those days he was wiser than he is now; he used to frequently take my advice.

The only tyrant I accept in this world is the still voice within.

My faith was tested like Job. That’s the message I try to tell other people: just because you believe in God, serve God, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, people gotta realize, it don’t mean things not gonna happen to you.

Life isn’t meant to be easy. It’s hard to take being on the top – or on the bottom. I guess I’m something of a fatalist. You have to have a sense of history, I think, to survive some of these things… Life is one crisis after another.

If selfishness is the key to being miserable, then selflessness must be the key to being happy!

It is a great piece of folly to attempt to make anything out of my early life.

In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves… self-discipline with all of them came first.

The great secret of success is to go through life as a man who never gets used up.

If I am no longer disturbed myself, I will deal less with disturbed people, but I don’t regret having concerned myself with them because I think most of us are disturbed.

I’ve done many ads because that’s my new career. It’s an inspiring extension for my mind.

Especially for those of us who lived in single cells, you had the time to sit down and think, and we discovered that sitting down just to think is one of the best ways of keeping yourself fresh and able, to be able to address the problems facing you, and you had the opportunity, also, of examining your past.

It’s true my father abused me and didn’t love and protect me the way he should have, and at times it seemed no one would ever help me and it would never end. But God always had a plan for my life, and He has redeemed me.

Money does not change people, people change.

We rarely confide in those who are better than we are.

It’s stasis that kills you off in the end, not ambition.

In our obscurity – in all this vastness – there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us.

I’ve been called a recluse. There’s definitely truth in that. I like to spend time alone.

If a whole bunch of people want to make your life a living hell, they’re gonna do it.

I walk tall; I got a tall attitude.

How poor are they that have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees?

Living in America and, of course, just being women in general, we’ve got more strength than we think we do.

Satan wants us to constantly focus on everything that is wrong with us and look at how far we still have to go. But God desires for us to rejoice in how far we have already come.

Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.

Learning to live for others isn’t something that just comes naturally to anybody. You have to train yourself to do it.

If you have the chance to be exposed to a loving, understanding environment where the seed of compassion, loving kindness, can be watered every day, then you become a more loving person.

For me, I used to be shy towards journalism because it wasn’t poetry. And then I realized that the events that I covered in essays that became journalism were actually great because they inspired me, and they became my muse.

The final proof of greatness lies in being able to endure criticism without resentment.

Do not weep; do not wax indignant. Understand.

I’m not sure if it’s good to have freedom or not. I’m really confused now.

If what you are doing is not moving you towards your goals, then it’s moving you away from your goals.

I know that I always wanted things. I was always proud of my people, proud of my home, but I always wanted more. I think most people do.

Because my dad abused me, I was determined to never let a man tell me what to do. God clearly showed me that I needed to be a submissive wife if I wanted to be effective in ministry. The truth is, if we don’t learn to submit to authority, we won’t ever learn to submit to God.

Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.

The highest result of education is tolerance.

I am just one human being.

I just want to be myself.

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

If you don’t like how things are, change it! You’re not a tree.

You’ll never find a better sparring partner than adversity.

We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our education system.

The idea of recognising your strengths and using them in as versatile a way as you can is cool to me.

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

If the other person injures you, you may forget the injury; but if you injure him you will always remember.

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.

The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.

Instead of being concerned that you have no office, be concerned to think how you may fit yourself for office. Instead of being concerned that you are not known, seek to be worthy of being known.

I think I’ve got wiser.

My work is the only ground I’ve ever had to stand on. To put it bluntly, I seem to have a whole superstructure with no foundation, but I’m working on the foundation.

Oh, God, I struggle with low self-esteem all the time! I think everyone does. I have so much wrong with me, it’s unbelievable!

If there are people you haven’t forgiven, you’re not going to really awaken. You have to let go.

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.

I have to keep improving myself and challenging myself.

Don’t be afraid to see what you see.