The sun is gone, but I have a light.

That’s all I could ever hope for, to have a positive effect on women. ‚Cos women are powerful, powerful beings. But they’re also the most doubtful beings. They’ll never know – we’ll never know – how powerful we are.

In all my work, I try to say – ‚You may be given a load of sour lemons, why not try to make a dozen lemon meringue pies?‘

God wants you to be a winner, not a whiner.

I think it’s important as an artist to never forget where you’re from.

Water is the driving force of all nature.

It’s so clear that you have to cherish everyone. I think that’s what I get from these older black women, that every soul is to be cherished, that every flower Is to bloom.

There are no big problems, there are just a lot of little problems.

Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.

Hundreds of thousands of American servicemen and women are deployed across the world in the war on terror. By bringing hope to the oppressed, and delivering justice to the violent, they are making America more secure.

The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do.

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.

Be generous with kindly words, especially about those who are absent.

Years ago I met Richard Burton in Port Talbot, my home town, and afterwards he passed in his car with his wife, and I thought, ‚I want to get out and become like him‘. Not because of Wales, because I love Wales, but because I was so limited as a child at school and so bereft and lonely, and I thought becoming an actor would do that.

The one excellent thing that can be learned from a lion is that whatever a man intends doing should be done by him with a whole-hearted and strenuous effort.

Bragging just sounds good, man.

To complain is always nonacceptance of what is. It invariably carries an unconscious negative charge. When you complain, you make yourself into a victim. When you speak out, you are in your power. So change the situation by taking action or by speaking out if necessary or possible; leave the situation or accept it. All else is madness.

Our constitution is a ray of hope: H for harmony, O for Opportunity, P for people’s participation and E for equality.

Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.

On every front there are clear answers out there that can make this country stronger, but we’re going to break through the fear and the frustration people are feeling. Our job is to make sure that even as we make progress, that we are also giving people a sense of hope and vision for the future.

When I heard ‚Jesus, Take the Wheel,‘ I was like, OK. Some people look at it as a song written for an American Idol, Carrie Underwood, who is wonderful. But when you’re a songwriter listening to a song, you hear something else. I heard that song, and wow.

The imagination imitates. It is the critical spirit that creates.

I’ve always been very happy. I’ve always been easy going and I’ve always been very encouraging; it’s just my personality.

You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not always be able to solve all of the world’s problems at once but don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.

Everyone I look up to is bringing me into the tech world. You’d be surprised by all the music people in it, invested in it.

No great man lives in vain. The history of the world is but the biography of great men.

I no have education. I have inspiration. If I was educated, I would be a damn fool.

Songwriting is my way of channeling my feelings and my thoughts. Not just mine, but the things I see, the people I care about. My head would explode if I didn’t get some of that stuff out.

Only when Christ comes again will the little white children of Alabama walk hand in hand with little black children.

I think a role model is a mentor – someone you see on a daily basis, and you learn from them.

Deep down, I know I have this intuition or instinct that a lot of creative people have, that their demons are also what make them create.

Don’t wait around for other people to be happy for you. Any happiness you get you’ve got to make yourself.

Writing is such a strange, utterly mysterious process. First, there was nothing; then, suddenly, there was something. I don’t know where thoughts are born. Where the hell does it come from? I don’t know. I really don’t know.

Nature that framed us of four elements, warring within our breasts for regiment, doth teach us all to have aspiring minds.

If you would lift me up you must be on higher ground.

Art is never finished, only abandoned.

We can take a ‚It was hard to get there.‘ But we ain’t taking no loss. We’re going to win.

Faith activates God – Fear activates the Enemy.

Art is not a treasure in the past or an importation from another land, but part of the present life of all living and creating peoples.

Fun is one of the most important – and underrated – ingredients in any successful venture. If you’re not having fun, then it’s probably time to call it quits and try something else.

The chief glory of every people arises from its authors.

How sweet it is to learn the Savior’s love when nobody else loves us! When friends flee, what a blessed thing it is to see that the Savior does not forsake us but still keeps us and holds us fast and clings to us and will not let us go!

Begin noticing and being careful about keeping your imagination free of thoughts that you do not wish to materialize. Instead, initiate a practice of filling your creative thoughts to overflow with ideas and wishes that you fully intend to manifest. Honor your imaginings regardless of others seeing them as crazy or impossible.

If you are a leader, you should never forget that everyone needs encouragement. And everyone who receives it – young or old, successful or less-than-successful, unknown or famous – is changed by it.

I have seen how leaders rule by intimidation. Leaders who demonize and dehumanize entire groups of people often do so because they have nothing else to offer. And I have seen how places that stifle the voices and dismiss the potential of their citizens are diminished: how they are less vital, less hopeful, less free.

You’ll see it when you believe it.

I never really had the classic struggle. I had faith.

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

I subscribe to the myth that an artist’s creativity comes from torment. Once that’s fixed, what do you draw on?

In art the best is good enough.

We have a choice about how we take what happens to us in our life and whether or not we allow it to turn us. We can become consumed by hate and darkness, or we’re able to regain our humanity somehow, or come to terms with things and learn something about ourselves.

Trees go wandering forth in all directions with every wind, going and coming like ourselves, traveling with us around the sun two million miles a day, and through space heaven knows how fast and far!

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God’s handwriting.

Everything rises and falls on leadership.

Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.

I believe that when you think of the negative, and you get up discouraged – ‚There’s nothing good in my future‘ – I really believe it almost ties the hands of God. God works where there’s an attitude of faith. I believe faith is all about hope.

There are two ways of exerting one’s strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.

A lot of my heartbreak songs are inspired by things my sisters are going through, or friends.

Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden.

Dreams are the touchstones of our character.

Not knowing when the dawn will come I open every door.