No one can resist the idea of a crippled genius.

I was in a terrible mess in my childhood.

I never thought of losing, but now that it‘ s happened, the only thing is to do it right. That’s my obligation to all the people who believe in me. We all have to take defeats in life.

Courage is grace under pressure.

We need somebody who’s got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it’s like to be a young teenage mom, the empathy to understand what it’s like to be poor or African-American or gay or disabled or old – and that’s the criterion by which I’ll be selecting my judges.

Nothing is more fearful than imagination without taste.

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.

Never give in – never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.

Shun no toil to make yourself remarkable by some talent or other; yet do not devote yourself to one branch exclusively. Strive to get clear notions about all. Give up no science entirely; for science is but one.

I wouldn’t say that I am one of the greatest dancers, but I am really quite good at what I do.

With me poetry has not been a purpose, but a passion.

Great geniuses have the shortest biographies.

The truest wisdom is a resolute determination.

Wherever the invitation of men or your own occasions lead you, speak the very truth, as your life and conscience teach it, and cheer the waiting, fainting hearts of men with new hope and new revelation.

When I heard Little Richard, I mean, it just set my world on fire.

Adversity has ever been considered the state in which a man most easily becomes acquainted with himself.

I am sometimes sad when I hear the personal stories of Tibetan refugees who have been tortured or beaten. Some irritation, some anger comes. But it never lasts long. I always try to think at a deeper level, to find ways to console.

There are two kinds of teachers: the kind that fill you with so much quail shot that you can’t move, and the kind that just gives you a little prod behind and you jump to the skies.

There is a tendency for things to right themselves.

A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.

You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you.

When I heard the Pixies for the first time, I connected with that band so heavily I should have been in that band – or at least in a Pixies cover band.

Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.

All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning. Great works are often born on a street corner or in a restaurant’s revolving door.

I can’t say that my disability has helped my work, but it has allowed me to concentrate on research without having to lecture or sit on boring committees.

One can survive everything, nowadays, except death, and live down everything except a good reputation.

Living in America and, of course, just being women in general, we’ve got more strength than we think we do.

If I get stuck, I look at a book that tells me how someone else did it. I turn the pages, and then I say, ‚Oh, I forgot that bit,‘ then close the book and carry on. Finally, after you’ve figured out how to do it, you read how they did it and find out how dumb your solution is and how much more clever and efficient theirs is!

Why do I like to write short stories? Well, I certainly didn’t intend to. I was going to write a novel. And still! I still come up with ideas for novels. And I even start novels. But something happens to them. They break up. I look at what I really want to do with the material, and it never turns out to be a novel.

My dad has kind of been the standard for me, he played 16 years in the league, and since I’ve been in the league, every year that I go through and deal with the scratches, the bumps and bruises, just the grind that it is to go through one NBA season.

You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.

People ask me where I got my singing style. I didn’t copy my style from anybody.

The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

My biggest criticism is how can people be so easily satisfied? Even people with talent.

Bad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good learner would not miss.

A lost battle is a battle one thinks one has lost.

I think a big test we all face in life on a regular basis is that discouragement test. Life’s not always fair, but I believe if you keep doing the right thing, God will get you to where you are.

Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There’s plenty of movement, but you never know if it’s going to be forward, backwards, or sideways.

I think when people make a record with a goal in mind – like taking it to the next level or making them seem more mature – that gets in the way of writing great songs.

Cause I’m a musician, I’m not really good at posing and being a model, like, modeling.

Hope is not a resting place but a starting point – a cactus, not a cushion.

Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well.

One likes people much better when they’re battered down by a prodigious siege of misfortune than when they triumph.

People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things.

Let the people on both sides keep their self-possession, and just as other clouds have cleared away in due time, so will this, and this great nation shall continue to prosper as before.

Every secret of a writer’s soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind is written large in his works.

Eating words has never given me indigestion.

How you think when you lose determines how long it will be until you win.

I’m not resigned, but I’m realistic too. The statistics in my case are very poor. Not many people come through esophageal cancer and live to talk about it, or not for long. And the other wager is, the part of the wager, it’s a certainty you’ll have a terrible time and you may wish you were dying because it’s an awful process.

The greater the difficulty, the greater the glory.

Having listened to great songwriters like James Taylor and Carole King, I felt there was nothing new that was coming out that really represented me and the way I felt. So I started writing my own stuff.

If you have the ability to pick yourself up by the bootstraps and start over, you come out stronger because you learn from whatever mistakes you made.

Love is the answer, and you know that for sure; Love is a flower, you’ve got to let it grow.

The artist alone sees spirits. But after he has told of their appearing to him, everybody sees them.

Nothing can come of nothing.

I suppose for me as an artist it wasn’t always just about expressing my work; I really wanted, more than anything else, to contribute in some way to the culture that I was living in. It just seemed like a challenge to move it a little bit towards the way I thought it might be interesting to go.

Innovation can only occur where you can breathe free.

With patient and firm determination, I am going to press on for jobs. I’m going to press on for equality. I’m going to press on for the sake of our children. I’m going to press on for the sake of all those families who are struggling right now. I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I don’t have time to complain. I am going to press on.

So that’s the dissenter’s hope: that they are writing not for today but for tomorrow.

Many times, we miss out on God’s best because we give up too soon. We don’t realize how close we are to victory.