My mother, I suppose, is still a main figure in my life because her life was so sad and unfair, and she so brave, but also because she was determined to make me into the Sunday-school-recitation little girl I was, from the age of seven or so, fighting not to be.

A family shares hardships and a connected history.

I like not only to be loved, but also to be told I am loved.

I just received the following wire from my generous Daddy; Dear Jack, Don’t buy a single vote more than is necessary. I’ll be damned if I’m going to pay for a landslide.

It doesn’t matter where you come from, what you have or don’t have, what you lack, or what you have too much of. But all you need to have is faith in God, an undying passion for what you do and what you choose to do in this life, and a relentless drive and the will to do whatever it takes to be successful in whatever you put your mind to.

How do I know about a man’s needs for a sex symbol? I’m a girl.

I’m just a friendly person; that runs in my family.

I shook up the world, I shook up the world.

I used to take my short stories to girls‘ homes and read them to them. Can you imagine the reaction reading a short story to a girl instead of pawing her?

Let reverence for the laws be breathed by every American mother to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap – let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in primers, spelling books, and in almanacs; let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice.

A lot of preachers‘ kids are some of the most rebellious kids in the world. I never was like that.

I’ll never, ever be full. I’ll always be hungry. Obviously, I’m not talking about food. Growing up, I had nothing for such a long time. Someone told me a long time ago, and I’ve never forgotten it, ‚Once you’ve ever been hungry, really, really hungry, then you’ll never, ever be full.‘

If you remember me, then I don’t care if everyone else forgets.

The new ruler must determine all the injuries that he will need to inflict. He must inflict them once and for all.

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.

‚Tis education forms the common mind; just as the twig is bent the tree’s inclined.

The deep, personal material of the latter half of your life is your children. You can write about your parents when they’re gone, but your children are still going to be here, and you’re going to want them to come and visit you in the nursing home.

In nature we never see anything isolated, but everything in connection with something else which is before it, beside it, under it and over it.

Men get to be a mixture of the charming mannerisms of the women they have known.

What is uttered from the heart alone, Will win the hearts of others to your own.

That great Cathedral space which was childhood.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

I urge everyone to be trendsetters for Azza Suleiman. Let’s make it one fashion which everyone will want to follow.

It is necessary to fall in love… if only to provide an alibi for all the random despair you are going to feel anyway.

As I get older, I tend to put more into family than I used to.

The man who has the will to undergo all labor may win to any good.

My dad always said, ‚Champ, the measure of a man is not how often he is knocked down, but how quickly he gets up.‘

My folks ain’t graduated from high school or nothing like that, so we always had to struggle in the family – and I come from a big family.

When I was on TV in the ’80s, I wasn’t thinking, ‚There’s a 10-year-old kid watching this and in 15 years, he’s gonna be doing stuff that was influenced by me.‘ I was trying to get my five minutes together. So now that those people are comedians and they’re influenced by me – it’s bizarre.

I can handle pain.

My pride fell with my fortunes.

If people take anything from my music, it should be motivation to know that anything is possible as long as you keep working at it and don’t back down.

People want you to fail.

My mother fought cancer for almost a decade and died at 56. She held out long enough to meet the first of her grandchildren and to hold them in her arms. But my other children will never have the chance to know her and experience how loving and gracious she was.

I don’t hate women – they just sometimes make me mad.

My grandmother took me to church on Sunday all day long, every Sunday into the night. Then Monday evening was the missionary meeting. Tuesday evening was usher board meeting. Wednesday evening was prayer meeting. Thursday evening was visit the sick. Friday evening was choir practice. I mean, and at all those gatherings, we sang.

When I was a kid, I read the science-fiction shelves, and I read the fantasy shelves.

Most of us aren’t defeated in one decisive battle. We are defeated one tiny, seemingly insignificant surrender at a time that chips away at who we should really be.

For it is mutual trust, even more than mutual interest that holds human associations together. Our friends seldom profit us but they make us feel safe. Marriage is a scheme to accomplish exactly that same end.

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

‚Tis strange what a man may do, and a woman yet think him an angel.

What is success? I think it is a mixture of having a flair for the thing that you are doing; knowing that it is not enough, that you have got to have hard work and a certain sense of purpose.

Children sweeten labours, but they make misfortunes more bitter.

Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.

My wife thinks she’s better than me at puzzles. I haven’t given in on that one yet.

Always remember that others may hate you but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.

Love matches, so called, have illusion for their father and need for their mother.

Marriage is like a game of chess except the board is flowing water, the pieces are made of smoke and no move you make will have any effect on the outcome.

It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived.

If your mom cries a lot, you probably cry a lot. It’s what you learn.

Love is blind; friendship closes its eyes.

You can’t have it all all at once. Over my lifespan, I think I have had it all, but in given periods in time, things were rough. And if you have a caring life partner, you help the other person when that person needs it.

The kindness that’s been shown to me, by doctors as well as my family and my friends, it’s really saved my life.

Everyone got kind of crazy with me mentioning I was in love with a woman.

Mostly, my flying has been solo, but the preparation for it wasn’t. Without my husband’s help and encouragement, I could not have attempted what I have. Ours has been a contented and reasonable partnership, he with his solo jobs and I with mine. But always with work and play together, conducted under a satisfactory system of dual control.

When you’re in hell, you forget how great you really are because you’re suffering and you forget the great things you’ve done.

Don’t despair, not even over the fact that you don’t despair.

You get to a point where it’s like you can’t really do anything right, and people will pick on you for whatever decisions you make, so I just try and take no notice and get on with my music.

To witness two lovers is a spectacle for the gods.

It is better to be the hammer than the anvil.

A man is not paid for having a head and hands, but for using them.