Physical strength can never permanently withstand the impact of spiritual force.

History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.

Earnestness is enthusiasm tempered by reason.

The excessive increase of anything causes a reaction in the opposite direction.

‚Mean‘ is a song I wrote about somebody who wrote things that were so mean so many times that it would ruin my day. Then it would ruin the next day. And it would level me so many times, I just felt like I was being hit in the face every time this person would take to their computer.

A fly, Sir, may sting a stately horse and make him wince; but, one is but an insect, and the other is a horse still.

Everywhere I go, the kids call me ‚the book lady.‘ The older I get, the more appreciative I seem to be of the ‚book lady‘ title. It makes me feel more like a legitimate person, not just a singer or an entertainer. But it makes me feel like I’ve done something good with my life and with my success.

I don’t mind people hating me, because it pushes me.

There are going to be things I’m not going to be great at, times when I make mistakes, 100%.

You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give.

Anyone that’s involved in development has discovered that all the good work that’s been done in development has been undone by the AIDS emergency.

If you really love films, and you really want to get the full impact, there’s a huge difference between watching something on a small screen with a mediocre sound system and watching it on a giant screen in a giant theater with a huge beautiful sound system. I mean, the difference is electric.

I can handle pain.

Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.

I feel real good because it’s about representing the young world and how to uplift each other and how to push us to be greater and make sure we don’t fall or get trapped or get in trouble, you know what I mean. Stay focused, you know what I mean.

‚Tis one thing to be tempted, another thing to fall.

I feel like people can relate to me because we all go through wins and roadblocks and passion and pain, and it’s a vibe.

Some people wonder all their lives if they’ve made a difference. The Marines don’t have that problem.

I don’t think it’s possible to have a sense of tragedy without having a sense of humor.

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.

Yeah, I wasn’t chosen to be first. I was just chosen to command that flight. Circumstance put me in that particular role. That wasn’t planned by anyone.

One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity.

Now, you lose something in your life, or you come into a conflict, and there’s gonna come a time that you’re gonna know: There was a reason for that. And at the end of your life, all the things you thought were periods, they turn out to be commas. There was never a full stop in any of it.

One of the wonderful things about Oprah: She teaches you to keep on stepping.

Adjusting to the passage of time, I think, is a key to success and to life: just being able to roll with the punches.

There is no education like adversity.

I don’t have much positive to say about motor neuron disease, but it taught me not to pity myself because others were worse off, and to get on with what I still could do. I’m happier now than before I developed the condition.

Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike.

You know, there is always times where you feel discouraged and things coming against you, but I don’t know if I ever wanted to throw in the towel.

My life as a child did not prepare me for the fact that the world is full of cruel and bitter things.

Moderation is the center wherein all philosophies, both human and divine, meet.

There’s always a bittersweet kind of thing, but I feel like everything had to work out the way it is. Everything that had to happen, happened.

My family didn’t have a lot of money, so I worked my heart out to get my degrees. But the minute I graduated, suddenly everyone was asking me, ‚Well, when are you going to get married and start having kids?‘ And the truth is I had no idea how I would balance the expected role of wife and mother with a challenging career.

Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.

I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.

Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.

The more a person seeks security, the more that person gives up control over their life.

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

Be willing to have it so. Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.

The world can criticize me, but l can always criticize it back.

Fight with a happy heart.

It doesn’t matter if the water is cold or warm if you’re going to have to wade through it anyway.

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.

The world is all the richer for having a devil in it, so long as we keep our foot upon his neck.

Nobody can hurt me without my permission.

Life is just one damned thing after another.

Oh, you weak, beautiful people who give up with such grace. What you need is someone to take hold of you – gently, with love, and hand your life back to you.

The happiness of this life depends less on what befalls you than the way in which you take it.

And I love that even in the toughest moments, when we’re all sweating it – when we’re worried that the bill won’t pass, and it seems like all is lost – Barack never lets himself get distracted by the chatter and the noise. Just like his grandmother, he just keeps getting up and moving forward… with patience and wisdom, and courage and grace.

Must is a hard nut to crack, but it has a sweet kernel.

Agressive music can only shock you once. Afterwards its impact declines. It’s inevitable.

I’m on record that it didn’t really traumatize me to do away with some people.

Peace is more important than all justice; and peace was not made for the sake of justice, but justice for the sake of peace.

There is nothing happens to any person but what was in his power to go through with.

Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.

Most of my young years were spent under the boots of the military.

Experience is not what happens to you; it’s what you do with what happens to you.

What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight – it’s the size of the fight in the dog.

This above all, to refuse to be a victim.

Speeches that are measured by the hour will die with the hour.

I want to make something that is breathtaking. Of course, you can’t make something that is always breathtaking, or you would never be able to breathe. You would collapse.