Members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir are not superhuman. They are ordinary people with ordinary frailties. But therein lies the power of their example.

Music is really driving my whole life.

He that gives good advice, builds with one hand; he that gives good counsel and example, builds with both; but he that gives good admonition and bad example, builds with one hand and pulls down with the other.

Thomas Jefferson once said, ‚We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.‘ And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying.

Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity; so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand.

My dad used to have an expression – ‚It is the lucky person who gets up in the morning, puts both feet on the floor, knows what they are about to do, and thinks it still matters.‘

For me to talk with Obama and the conversation I had with him, I was letting him know that me and my fans have a special connection, and it’s love, and I believe that love is the answer.

Diana Ross is a big inspiration to all of us. We all grew up watching everything about her – her mike placement, her grace, her style and her class.

I just kind of wake up with a new idea and new dreams every day, and I follow that dream, as they say.

Begin noticing and being careful about keeping your imagination free of thoughts that you do not wish to materialize. Instead, initiate a practice of filling your creative thoughts to overflow with ideas and wishes that you fully intend to manifest. Honor your imaginings regardless of others seeing them as crazy or impossible.

Never deprive someone of hope; it might be all they have.

Do not quench your inspiration and your imagination; do not become the slave of your model.

I ain’t never far away from a pencil and paper or a tape recorder.

The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.

I don’t know how many good books I still have in me; I hope there are another four or five.

I have my permanent muses and my muses of the moment.

I’m not a big believer in trying to jam stuff down somebody’s throat: ‚You’re going to do it my way.‘ I’d rather show by example and live my life and have people say, ‚You know what, I want to live like Joel has. He’s got peace and joy, and he seems content.‘

If I waited for perfection… I would never write a word.

Every day, the people I meet inspire me… every day, they make me proud… every day they remind me how blessed we are to live in the greatest nation on earth.

No great genius has ever existed without some touch of madness.

From things that have happened and from things as they exist and from all things that you know and all those you cannot know, you make something through your invention that is not a representation but a whole new thing truer than anything true and alive, and you make it alive, and if you make it well enough, you give it immortality.

Just try new things. Don’t be afraid. Step out of your comfort zones and soar, all right?

I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean.

That is what we are supposed to do when we are at our best – make it all up – but make it up so truly that later it will happen that way.

My mom cleaned toilets for a long time, and she’d seen a lot of terrible things, but she was still the strength of our family. And there are women like that all across the country – all around the world – who show that type of fortitude.

If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.

The bravest sight in the world is to see a great man struggling against adversity.

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

It’s lack that gives us inspiration. It’s not fullness.

Love and desire are the spirit’s wings to great deeds.

Art! Who comprehends her? With whom can one consult concerning this great goddess?

I remember flying in, driving down 101 in a cab, and passing by all these tech companies like Yahoo! I remember thinking, ‚Maybe someday we’ll build a company. This probably isn’t it, but one day we will.‘

He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.

Music is the wine which inspires one to new generative processes, and I am Bacchus who presses out this glorious wine for mankind and makes them spiritually drunken.

If you are going to write, say, fantasy – stop reading fantasy. You’ve already read too much. Read other things; read westerns, read history, read anything that seems interesting, because if you only read fantasy and then you start to write fantasy, all you’re going to do is recycle the same old stuff and move it around a bit.

What kind of people do they think we are? Is it possible they do not realize that we shall never cease to persevere against them until they have been taught a lesson which they and the world will never forget?

Jane Austen is the pinnacle to which all other authors aspire.

Any artist, the work you do, if it’s a painting or if it’s a performance, you hope it translates to a common denominator with the people that they see something in their own life in there. Or they see something in somebody else’s life. That’s what’s fun about sharing art.

I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.

The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.

Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.

I get up every morning and say, ‚Father, give me strength today, not strength so I can lift 500 pounds, but give me strength, Lord, so when I speak, my words might motivate, might inspire somebody, Lord, when they see me, let them see you. When they hear me, Lord, let them hear you. In your holy name I pray.‘

Hope travels through, nor quits us when we die.

I have a fundamental belief in the Bible as the Word of God, written by those who were inspired. I study the Bible daily.

When I am writing, I do not distinguish between the natural and supernatural. Everything seems real. That is my world, you could say.

Better the rudest work that tells a story or records a fact, than the richest without meaning.

The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but has no vision.

How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds makes ill deeds done!

Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question.

I learned from the guys before me – Bill Cosby, Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Richard Pryor, just to name a few. These are guys that let it all hang out. What they lived is what they took to the stage.

Take off your bedroom slippers. Put on your marching shoes,‘ he said, his voice rising as applause and cheers mounted. ‚Shake it off. Stop complainin‘. Stop grumblin‘. Stop cryin‘. We are going to press on. We have work to do.

If you want to shine like a sun, first burn like a sun.

I love those who yearn for the impossible.

Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another.

I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.

I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.

One word from the Lord is like a piece of gold to a believer, who is like a jeweler, shaping and hammering out the promise for a number of weeks.

Men must live and create. Live to the point of tears.

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

Always do whatever’s next.

What inspires me about rap is that it’s written in an almost poetic way. I just think it’s so cool.