I’m tough when I have to be, tender when I should be. When you find a really tough guy, he’s not a predator. He doesn’t have to prove himself. Guys who have to pretend to be tough, they ain’t. I’m tough.

A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.

Courage is found in unlikely places.

The strength of a man’s virtue should not be measured by his special exertions, but by his habitual acts.

I have found it easier to identify with the characters who verge upon hysteria, who were frightened of life, who were desperate to reach out to another person. But these seemingly fragile people are the strong people really.

There are two ways of exerting one’s strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.

Those outside the church expect followers of Christ to live differently, yet today many in church are chasing after the world – not to win them, but to be like them.

I don’t believe in the school of hard knocks, although I’ve had them. All that stuff about whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger is so not true. Do you know what makes you stronger? When people treat you and your art with dignity.

Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth.

Any man may be in good spirits and good temper when he’s well dressed. There ain’t much credit in that.

The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home.

I was a fighting machine with a will of iron.

I’m crazy and I don’t pretend to be anything else.

You are victors, not victims!

There are more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible that in any profane history.

I pass my life in preventing the storm from blowing down the tent, and I drive in the pegs as fast as they are pulled up.

The snow goose need not bathe to make itself white. Neither need you do anything but be yourself.

I’m a can-do girl.

Adversity is sometimes hard upon a man; but for one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity.

I pay attention to lyrics and I know what rap fans care about. I try to write for the average listener and I’m conscious of the mainstream without selling out.

To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity.

The power of an air force is terrific when there is nothing to oppose it.

Moral authority is never retained by any attempt to hold on to it. It comes without seeking and is retained without effort.

There are those who believe Black people possess the secret of joy and that it is this that will sustain them through any spiritual or moral or physical devastation.

Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility on him, and to let him know that you trust him.

You don’t need anybody to tell you who you are or what you are. You are what you are!

I never wanted to write the sort of song that said, ‚Look at how abnormal and crazy and out there I am, man!‘

Anything I’ve ever said, I certainly was feeling at the time.

Accept everything about yourself – I mean everything, You are you and that is the beginning and the end – no apologies, no regrets.

I should be a postage stamp, because that’s the only way I’ll ever get licked. I’m beautiful. I’m fast. I’m so mean I make medicine sick. I can’t possibly be beat.

Integrity means that you are the same in public as you are in private.

If you know me, and you call me Stefani, you don’t really know me at all.

As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed.

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‚I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.‘

In the world there is nothing more submissive and weak than water. Yet for attacking that which is hard and strong nothing can surpass it.

Exercise is labor without weariness.

And above all things, never think that you’re not good enough yourself. A man should never think that. My belief is that in life people will take you at your own reckoning.

Fear is present when we forget that we are a part of God’s divine design. Learning to experience authentic love means abandoning ego’s insistence that you have much to fear and that you are in an unfriendly world. You can make the decision to be free from fear and doubt and return to the brilliant light of love that is always with you.

My goal was never to make Facebook cool. I am not a cool person.

Those who believe that they are exclusively in the right are generally those who achieve something.

A leader does not deserve the name unless he is willing occasionally to stand alone.

Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.

Everybody always laughs because I feel so much more comfortable with, like, a giant paper bag on my whole body and paint on my face. Sometimes I try really hard to take it all off. But inevitably what’s underneath is still not a straight edge. And I don’t think it ever will be.

I don’t know if I’ve ever cared much what others think.

Only strength can cooperate. Weakness can only beg.

My fans don’t feel like I hold anything back from them. They know whatever I’m going through now, they’ll hear about it on a record someday. They’ll hear the real story. There’s a little bit of lag time. It’s not as instant as going on a gossip blog. But it’s much more accurate.

I learned, when I look in the mirror and tell my story, that I should be myself and not peep whatever everybody is doing.

Do you know what it means to come home at night to a woman who’ll give you a little love, a little affection, a little tenderness? It means you’re in the wrong house, that’s what it means.

Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful.

But ever since I was a kid, I was always the winner.

One of the best things that ever happened to me is that I’m a woman. That is the way all females should feel.

You may be always victorious if you will never enter into any contest where the issue does not wholly depend upon yourself.

Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it.

It’s hard to be humble, when you’re as great as I am.

If you consider the definition of authenticity, it’s saying something and actually doing it. I write my own songs. I made my own videos. I pick my producers. Nothing goes out without my permission. It’s all authentic.

You have within you right now, everything you need to deal with whatever the world can throw at you.

My sisters are stronger and my brother’s bigger than me.

Youngsters of the age of two and three are endowed with extraordinary strength. They can lift a dog twice their own weight and dump him into the bathtub.

Unless India stands up to the world, no one will respect us. In this world, fear has no place. Only strength respects strength.

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.

I think people should feel encouraged to be themselves.