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.

Everything negative – pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for me to rise.

I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

We continue to shape our personality all our life. If we knew ourselves perfectly, we should die.

I have the people behind me and the people are my strength.

A lot has happened over the years. And while this nation has been tested by war, and it’s been tested by recession and all manner of challenges – I stand before you again tonight, after almost two terms as your president, to tell you I am more optimistic about the future of America than ever before.

My game is really played above time. I don’t say that like I’m saying I’m ahead of my time. I’m saying, like, if I’m on the court and I throw a pass, the ball that I’ve thrown will lead my teammate right where he needs to go, before he even knows that that’s the right place to go to.

Never complain and never explain.

I was so ashamed of who I was.

I’m not trying to follow a set of rules and stuff. I’m just living my life.

The most peaceable way for you, if you do take a thief, is, to let him show himself what he is and steal out of your company.

Anybody can be good in the country. There are no temptations there.

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.

College isn’t in everyone’s hearts. I am living proof, though, that school doesn’t mess up your plans. It gives you more experiences to write about.

I want to represent… to the kids to draw strength from me. So they can see that everybody goes through something, but you can rise up and do your best. Just try.

The more responsibility the Scoutmaster gives his patrol leaders, the more they will respond.

Once we start to act, hope is everywhere. So instead of looking for hope, look for action. Then, and only then, hope will come.

I don’t even know how to speak up for myself, because I don’t really have a father who would give me the confidence or advice. And if you’re always the new kid, you never get a chance to adapt, so your confidence is just zilch.

My future is righteousness.

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.

Yeah, I was a delinquent. It was when I was in the ninth grade. I was doing stupid stuff, and the cops came into the class. I was humiliated more than anything.

While musical experts of the world focus on what choir members can do, I would like to focus on what choir members can be.

It’s more interesting for me to figure out how to be superior in areas where I’m naive, where I’m a novice.

The man who is dissatisfied with himself, what can he do?

We construct a narrative for ourselves, and that’s the thread that we follow from one day to the next. People who disintegrate as personalities are the ones who lose that thread.

I mean we all need a second chance sometimes.

The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.

We want to answer this classical question, who am I? So I think that most of our works are for art, or whatever we do, including science or religion, tried to answer that question.

Doing nothing while the middle class is hurting. That’s not leadership. Loose regulations and lax enforcement. That’s not leadership. That’s abandoning our middle class.

We are all of us stars, and we deserve to twinkle.

No person is important enough to make me angry.

What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.

The questions which one asks oneself begin, at least, to illuminate the world, and become one’s key to the experience of others.

While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die.

Not what I have, but what I do is my kingdom.

I never deny. I never contradict. I sometimes forget.

Do not look for approval except for the consciousness of doing your best.

I have an expression I use as I’ve gone around the world through my career: ‚You never tell another man or woman what’s in their interest. They know their interest better than you know their interest.‘

Don’t let the incidents which take place in life bring you low. And certainly don’t whine. You can be brought low, that’s OK, but don’t be reduced by them. Just say, ‚That’s life.‘

God helps those who help themselves.

I did go to Wellesley, a women’s college. And I am of a kind of strange generation which is transitional in terms of women who wanted to go out and get jobs.

It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.

I had never been in charge of anything. I’d always worked for someone. I worked for a furniture warehouse. I did masonry. I always had a boss yelling at me. So I’d never been in charge of an organization.

I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.

My lectures, based on Islamic teachings, were on various subjects. Some of the titles were, ‚The Intoxication of Life,‘ ‚The Purpose of Life,‘ ‚The Real Cause of Man’s Distress,‘ ‚The Journey to the Goal in Life,‘ and, one of my favorites, ‚The Heart of Man.‘ They contained important insights that spoke to something deep inside me.

A conductor can’t be too arrogant with an orchestra and try to impose himself too much.

Only strength can cooperate. Weakness can only beg.

When one has not had a good father, one must create one.

Everything is political. I will never be a politician or even think political. Me just deal with life and nature. That is the greatest thing to me.

The greatest magnifying glasses in the world are a man’s own eyes when they look upon his own person.

I was the first woman to burn my bra – it took the fire department four days to put it out.

One of the things I did when I discovered this huge importance of being vulnerable is very happily moved away from the shame research, because that’s such a downer, and people hate that topic. It’s not that vulnerability is the upside, but it’s better than shame, I guess.

I’m just trying to be myself. I’m not trying to be anyone else.

Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.

It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence.

I went through a period when I felt my film characters were having more fun than I was. It might partly explain why I ended up tattooed or doing certain extreme things in my life.

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.

I don’t have any regrets. I made all my own decisions.

I feel like I have a job to do, like I constantly have to reinvent myself. The more I up the ante for myself, the better it is in the long run. I try to interact with my fans as much as possible. It’s good that the person I’m being onstage isn’t really an act. It’s really me.

Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.

Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.