My mother was very strong. Once, she picked up a coconut and smashed it against my father’s head. It taught me about women defending themselves and not collapsing in a heap.

We make the Sabbath a delight when we teach the gospel to our children.

Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.

Because I am a mother, I am capable of being shocked: as I never was when I was not one.

My mom was a terrible parent of young children. And thank God – I thank God every time I think of it – I was sent to my paternal grandmother. Ah, but my mother was a great parent of a young adult.

When we talk about mortality, we are talking about our children.

In defense of our persons and properties under actual violation, we took up arms. When that violence shall be removed, when hostilities shall cease on the part of the aggressors, hostilities shall cease on our part also.

I’m not one icon. I’m every icon. I’m an icon that is made out of all the colors on the palette at every time. I have no restrictions. No restrictions.

When I was young, an eccentric uncle decided to teach me how to lie. Not, he explained, because he wanted me to lie, but because he thought I should know how it’s done so I would recognise when I was being lied to.

No one ever died from sleeping in an unmade bed. I have known mothers who remake the bed after their children do it because there is wrinkle in the spread or the blanket is on crooked. This is sick.

The people will save their government, if the government itself will allow them.

I can express myself.

One truth stands firm. All that happens in world history rests on something spiritual. If the spiritual is strong, it creates world history. If it is weak, it suffers world history.

What someone else does or doesn’t do has no effect on me and what I do.

I know I’m talented, but I wasn’t put here to sing. I was put here to be a wife and a mom and look after my family. I love what I do, but it’s not where it begins and ends.

It is any day better to stand erect with a broken and bandaged head then to crawl on one’s belly, in order to be able to save one’s head.

I am impelled, not to squeak like a grateful and apologetic mouse, but to roar like a lion out of pride in my profession.

The people you choose to have around you make all the difference. My family and close friends keep me grounded. You have to have a mind of your own and a strong head on your shoulders. Cricket is the most important thing to me, so the rest of it pales in comparison.

Key is never be afraid of being yourself. Never!

I have a brother and sister; my mother does not care for thought, and father, too busy with his briefs to notice what we do. He buys me many books, but begs me not to read them, because he fears they joggle the mind.

I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.

Women must pay for everything. They do get more glory than men for comparable feats, but, they also get more notoriety when they crash.

All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me… You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.

I came up from a difficult background.

When you are organizing a group of people, the first thing that we do is we talk about the history of what other people have been able to accomplish – people that look like them, workers like them, ordinary people, working people – and we give them the list: these are people like yourself; this is what they were able to do in their community.

When I get up and work out, I’m working out just as much for my girls as I am for me, because I want them to see a mother who loves them dearly, who invests in them, but who also invests in herself. It’s just as much about letting them know as young women that it is okay to put yourself a little higher on your priority list.

Tears shed for self are tears of weakness, but tears shed for others are a sign of strength.

Most of us have far more courage than we ever dreamed we possessed.

Marriage is a school itself. Also, having children. Becoming a father changed my whole life. It taught me as if by revelation.

If you have to stand and fight, you train yourself so that you’re able to do it.

He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.

Every summer’s mine.

My father wasn’t perfect. He had a temper. I took some of that. He would snap, but the older he got, he started calming down. He learned about life, but the thing that he taught my whole family was that family was the most important thing and, no matter what, if a family member needs you, you go and help them out; you get there.

Young people can create beautiful things.

God has equipped you to handle difficult things. In fact, He has already planted the seeds of discipline and self-control inside you. You just have to water those seeds with His Word to make them grow!

I think all women go through periods where we hate this about ourselves, we don’t like that. It’s great to get to a place where you dismiss anything you’re worried about. I find flaws attractive. I find scars attractive.

The financial crisis should not become an excuse to raise taxes, which would only undermine the economic growth required to regain our strength.

When I was growing up, my family was so poor we couldn’t afford to pay attention.

The Constitution preserves the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation where the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.

God is not on the side of the big battalions, but on the side of those who shoot best.

Fashion is always of the time in which you live. It is not something standing alone. But the grand problem, the most important problem, is to rejeuvenate women. To make women look young. Then their outlook changes. They feel more joyous.

Who in their infinite wisdom decreed that Little League uniforms be white? Certainly not a mother.

I am just happy to be part of the Nike family.

Brad and I have never wanted our kids to be actors, but we also want them to be around film and be a part of Mommy and Daddy’s life and for it not to be kept from them, either. We just want them to have a good, healthy relationship with it.

I used to carry my father’s Bible and put it on the pulpit so he could preach.

What matters in the Sun-tzu universe are not positions of strength and power, but situations in which you have options, full of potential force.

If you’re too big to fit into fashion, then you just have to do your own fashion.

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.

The strong man is the one who is able to intercept at will the communication between the senses and the mind.

I think it’s so important for girls to love themselves and to treat their bodies respectfully.

I sing seriously to my mom on the phone. To put her to sleep, I have to sing ‚Maria‘ from West Side Story. When I hear her snoring, I hang up.

I do not think that I am a natural born mother… If I ever wanted to mother anyone, it was my father.

I break ground. I trailblaze.

In cricket, my superhero is Sachin Tendulkar. He has always been my hero and will continue to remain so. Apart from him and outside cricket, my mother has remained my inspiration. Whatever difficult time I had faced, she was always there for me. She has given me all the strength. She maintained her composure and supported me in tough times.

All the awards in the world, you can get into all the nightclubs, they’ll send you the nicest clothes. Nothing better than walking into your dad’s restaurant and seeing a smile on his face and knowing that your mom and dad and your sister are real proud of you.

My family was mostly unemployed working class.

I want to appeal to everyone. Because I’m not saying I’m the best, but we the best.

Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.

I wasn’t allowed to go to movies when I was kid; my father was a minister. 101 Dalmatians and King of Kings, that was the extent of it.

Love begins by taking care of the closest ones – the ones at home.

If we are not free, no one will respect us.