The willow which bends to the tempest, often escapes better than the oak which resists it; and so in great calamities, it sometimes happens that light and frivolous spirits recover their elasticity and presence of mind sooner than those of a loftier character.

It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.

Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on.

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

When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.

The energy of the mind is the essence of life.

When life is too easy for us, we must beware or we may not be ready to meet the blows which sooner or later come to everyone, rich or poor.

When it comes to the pinch, human beings are heroic.

I never read one hateful thing said about me by some 12 year old. So I got to live an actual life. And I’ve kept that mentality. Just because there’s a hurricane going on around you doesn’t mean you have to open the window and look at it.

Applause is the spur of noble minds, the end and aim of weak ones.

What is common sense isn’t common practice.

New ideas pass through three periods: 1) It can’t be done. 2) It probably can be done, but it’s not worth doing. 3) I knew it was a good idea all along!

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.

When we tackle obstacles, we find hidden reserves of courage and resilience we did not know we had. And it is only when we are faced with failure do we realise that these resources were always there within us. We only need to find them and move on with our lives.

Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.

Start with what is right rather than what is acceptable.

How poor are they that have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees?

I never think of myself as an icon. What is in other people’s minds is not in my mind. I just do my thing.

I don’t suffer of anything that I’ve lost.

Control and surrender have to be kept in balance. That’s what surfers do – take control of the situation, then be carried, then take control. In the last few thousand years, we’ve become incredibly adept technically. We’ve treasured the controlling part of ourselves and neglected the surrendering part.

I don’t want to make money, I just want to be wonderful.

One’s past is what one is. It is the only way by which people should be judged.

If a whole bunch of people want to make your life a living hell, they’re gonna do it.

No sanction can stand against ignited minds.

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

I don’t want to hear the word ‚can’t.‘

As our enemies have found we can reason like men, so now let us show them we can fight like men also.

Things do not always happen the way I would like them to happen, and I had better get used to that.

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.

I have often been downcast but never in despair; I regard our hiding as a dangerous adventure, romantic and interesting at the same time. In my diary, I treat all the privations as amusing.

Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power.

Those people in New York are not gonna change me none.

We awaken in others the same attitude of mind we hold toward them.

I believe you have to be willing to be misunderstood if you’re going to innovate.

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.

It takes no more time to see the good side of life than it takes to see the bad.

If I panic, everyone else panics.

It’s important that we invest in America – literally. The terrorists wanted to destroy our economy, and we can’t let our system fall apart. We also have to invest in one another.

A good thing to remember is somebody’s got it a lot worse than we do.

If selfishness is the key to being miserable, then selflessness must be the key to being happy!

One must change one’s tactics every ten years if one wishes to maintain one’s superiority.

I was in my late thirties when my eyes were opened to truth in God’s Word that showed me I wasn’t living the abundant life Jesus died for me to have. I had a very negative mindset and was miserable most of the time because of the abuse I had experienced throughout my childhood.

My friends, no matter how rough the road may be, we can and we will, never, never surrender to what is right.

From the moment I open my eyes, I’m trying to free my body. I’m trying to get looser, more flexible, to gain control. Movement is medicine to me.

What’s coming will come and we’ll just have to meet it when it does.

I was in a terrible mess in my childhood.

I think politicians really go with the tide.

You must capture and keep the heart of the original and supremely able man before his brain can do its best.

Of all virtues and dignities of the mind, goodness is the greatest, being the character of the Deity; and without it, man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing.

Failure is nature’s plan to prepare you for great responsibilities.

Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill together.

I was raised to be an independent woman, not the victim of anything.

Happiness is a how; not a what. A talent, not an object.

By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity. Another man’s, I mean.

My pride fell with my fortunes.

When one’s expectations are reduced to zero, one really appreciates everything one does have.

Our intention creates our reality.

Highly functioning self-actualized people simply never imagine what it is that they don’t wish to have as their reality.

You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.

Someone said to me, ‚If fifty percent of the experts in Hollywood said you had no talent and should give up, what would you do?‘ My answer was then and still is, ‚If a hundred percent told me that, all one hundred percent would be wrong.‘

Always fall in with what you’re asked to accept. Take what is given, and make it over your way. My aim in life has always been to hold my own with whatever’s going. Not against: with.