I’ve learned never to say never.

If you’re not ready for everything, you’re not ready for anything.

When you’re older you want to learn from other people.

Alas! You complain that your soul is out of tune. Then ask the Master to tune the heart-strings.

No one’s policing their own minds more than an author. You spend a lot of time in your own head analysing what you think about things, and a philosophy comes.

Love is a better teacher than duty.

I have made a few mistakes early on that I admit myself, and there have been times when I have gone over the top and done things that you shouldn’t do in international cricket, but that’s how you learn.

Your life is like a play with several acts. Some of the characters who enter have short roles to play, others, much larger. Some are villains and others are good guys. But all of them are necessary; otherwise, they wouldn’t be in the play. Embrace them all, and move on to the next act.

You might not always get what you want, but you always get what you expect.

I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‚Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death.

Arthur Miller wouldn’t have married me if I had been nothing but a dumb blonde.

The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.

I think that I’m perfect.

Freedom is not given to us by anyone; we have to cultivate it ourselves. It is a daily practice… No one can prevent you from being aware of each step you take or each breath in and breath out.

Pretension is a poor joke that you play on yourself. Snap out of it. Recognise your strengths, work on your weaknesses. Real achievement is liking what you see in the mirror every morning.

Knowledge is power.

Knowledge rests not upon truth alone, but upon error also.

I’ve learned not to look at reviews. Early on, I did. I was always curious.

I have spent many years of my life in opposition, and I rather like the role.

There’s hope for everyone. That’s what makes the world go round.

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

If you want to be a good writer, be the best writer in the world. That’s what I’ve done.

The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective.

Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.

A man is what he thinks about all day long.

To be honest with you, when I got into this I never thought about reviews. I never thought about what people would say about me. I was just a young guy who was excited to become a comedian and an actor and I just wanted to get to do what I got to do.

My moms always told me, ‚How long you gonna play the victim?‘ I can say I’m mad and I hate everything, but nothing really changes until I change myself.

I think I lived those years very impersonally. It was almost as though I had erected someone outside myself who was the president’s wife. I was lost somewhere deep down inside myself. That is the way I felt and worked until I left the White House.

Affirmation without discipline is the beginning of delusion.

Mind your speech a little lest you should mar your fortunes.

I never go into a situation with any type of expectations.

Living is like tearing through a museum. Not until later do you really start absorbing what you saw, thinking about it, looking it up in a book, and remembering – because you can’t take it in all at once.

Whether you come from a council estate or a country estate, your success will be determined by your own confidence and fortitude.

He who seeks rest finds boredom. He who seeks work finds rest.

There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever.

As a country, we can’t teach kids how to read and write when we got 18 years to do it. And that’s – that’s a disgrace.

I give the children education.

It’s so easy to settle for less than God’s best for us because we don’t always feel like taking responsibility for our behavior or putting forth some effort to do what we need to do so we can accomplish great things for God and help people. But the cost of settling for less is actually harder than being completely obedient to God’s will.

Love is a state of being.

What is important in life is life, and not the result of life.

I got my own back.

Success is steady progress toward one’s personal goals.

That I be not as those are who spend the day in complaining of headache and the night in drinking the wine which gives the headache!

Control your own destiny! Control your own destiny!

The greatest gift that you can give to others is the gift of unconditional love and acceptance.

Sometimes it is better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness.

As you get older it is harder to have heroes, but it is sort of necessary.

Start with God – the first step in learning is bowing down to God; only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning.

The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.

Let God’s promises shine on your problems.

I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don’t intend to waste any of mine.

Although the circumstances of our lives may seem very disengaged, with me standing here as the First Lady of the United States of America and you just getting through school, I want you to know we have very much in common. For nothing in my life ever would have predicted that I would be standing here as the first African-American First Lady.

People won’t have time for you if you are always angry or complaining.

When people get taken over by the ego to such an extent, there is nothing else in their mind except the ego. They can no longer feel or sense their humanity – what they share with other human beings, or even with other life forms on the planet. They are so identified with concepts in their minds that other human beings become concepts as well.

If everything was perfect, you would never learn and you would never grow.

Vanity is the healthiest thing in life.

I knew ‚Crenshaw‘ had elevated me and distinguished me.

Wow, I get to wake up again? Ok. You have to make good with what you’ve got.

I’m afraid to fail again.

Success or failure depends more upon attitude than upon capacity successful men act as though they have accomplished or are enjoying something. Soon it becomes a reality. Act, look, feel successful, conduct yourself accordingly, and you will be amazed at the positive results.

The way to develop decisiveness is to start right where you are, with the very next question you face.