Nobody is my boss.

No one ever told me I was pretty when I was a little girl. All little girls should be told they’re pretty, even if they aren’t.

I know that I came into the world with what I call ‚big dharma‘ – with a blueprint to teach self-reliance and a positive loving approach to large numbers of people all over the globe. I am ever so grateful for the circumstances of my life that allowed me to be pretty much left alone and to develop as I was so intended in this incarnation.

We have to wake up. We have to refuse to be a clone.

My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent.

My job is to bring out in people what they wouldn’t dare do themselves.

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.

If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.

I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.

Agency is a divine gift to you. You are free to choose what you will be and what you will do.

Her body calculated to a millimeter to suggest a bud yet guarantee a flower.

Unless India stands up to the world, no one will respect us. In this world, fear has no place. Only strength respects strength.

The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves.

There are some people, you know, they think the way to be a big man is to shout and stomp and raise hell-and then nothing ever really happens. I’m not like that I never shoot blanks.

No woman should ever be quite accurate about her age. It looks so calculating.

I’ve always done whatever I want and always been exactly who I am.

Every man gotta right to decide his own destiny.

Those of us who submitted or surrendered our ideas and dreams and identities to the ‚leaders‘ must take back our rights, our identities, our responsibilities.

Young people can create beautiful things.

Contraceptive protection is something every woman must have access to, to control her own destiny.

I am above the weakness of seeking to establish a sequence of cause and effect, between the disaster and the atrocity.

I believe that God has put gifts and talents and ability on the inside of every one of us. When you develop that and you believe in yourself and you believe that you’re a person of influence and a person of purpose, I believe you can rise up out of any situation.

My protest about the post exchange seating bore some results. More seats were allocated for blacks, but there were still separate sections for blacks and for whites. At least I had made my men realize that something could be accomplished by speaking out, and I hoped they would be less resigned to unjust conditions.

The body is meant to be seen, not all covered up.

Accept everything about yourself – I mean everything, You are you and that is the beginning and the end – no apologies, no regrets.

No, we don’t own our children. Our parental privilege is to love them, to lead them, and to let them go.

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.

We lost the American colonies because we lacked the statesmanship to know the right time and the manner of yielding what is impossible to keep.

A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.

My dear sisters, whatever your calling, whatever your circumstances, we need your impressions, your insights, and your inspiration. We need you to speak up and speak out in ward and stake councils.

The first requisite of a good citizen in this republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his own weight.

Do we not realize that self respect comes with self reliance?

Together, we can help make sure that every family that walks into a restaurant can make an easy, healthy choice.

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries or the way she combs her hair.

My goal is just to be respected as a man when I walk down the street with my family. I don’t care what your job is, you’re not gonna talk down to me, you’re not gonna try to get a rise out of me. I’m a man first. And in establishing that, some interesting things have happened.

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.

If I were a Negro, I’d be fighting, as Martin Luther King fought, for human recognition and justice. I’d rather go down with my flag flying. If you’re weak or crippled, or you can’t speak out or fight back in some way, then people don’t hesitate to treat you badly.

What you are, you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am by myself. There are and will be a thousand princes; there is only one Beethoven.

The function of posterity is to look after itself.

Your love is not outside; it is deep within you. You can never lose it, and it cannot leave you. It is not dependent on some other body, some external form.

Your life must be a progression towards ownership – first mentally of your independence, and then physically of your work, owning what you produce.

I think a number of the leaders are, whether you like it or not, in the hip-hop generation. And when they understand enough, they’ll do wonders. I count on them.

I can express myself.

‚Tis not enough to help the feeble up, but to support them after.

Blessed are the hearts that can bend; they shall never be broken.

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!

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.

I have always liked running, so it wasn’t particularly difficult to make it a habit. All you need is a pair of running shoes and you can do it anywhere. It does not require anybody to do it with, and so I found the sport perfectly fits me as a person who tends to be independent and individualistic.

If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.

My main goal is to be a self-made man and have control over what’s mine.

Freedom is what you do with what’s been done to you.

Be proud to be Latino and never lose that pride!

You may make some mistakes – but that doesn’t make you a sinner. You’ve got the very nature of God on the inside of you.

The former colonies, in Latin America in particular, have a better chance than ever before to overcome centuries of subjugation, violence and foreign intervention, which they have so far survived as dependencies with islands of luxury in a sea of misery.

The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without his teacher.

Some men never feel small, but these are the few men who are.

Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness.

For me, it’s enough that I have the first and last word.

I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act.

You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.

One whose knowledge is confined to books and whose wealth is in the possession of others, can use neither his knowledge nor wealth when the need for them arises.