Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed… Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.

Forward, as occasion offers. Never look round to see whether any shall note it… Be satisfied with success in even the smallest matter, and think that even such a result is no trifle.

One’s only rival is one’s own potentialities. One’s only failure is failing to live up to one’s own possibilities. In this sense, every man can be a king, and must therefore be treated like a king.

The strongest influences in my life and my work are always whomever I love. Whomever I love and am with most of the time, or whomever I remember most vividly. I think that’s true of everyone, don’t you?

Capitalism has destroyed our belief in any effective power but that of self interest backed by force.

Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.

No matter what love throws at you, you have to believe in it.

My inspiration is R. Kelly, Michael Jackson, and Prince – for the vocals, anyway.

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.

Sometimes you stumble across a few chords that put you in a reflective place.

To our brothers in Latin America and the world, we must convey that the Cuban people will overcome.

To become ‚unique,‘ the challenge is to fight the hardest battle which anyone can imagine until you reach your destination.

Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.

The good parts of a book may be only something a writer is lucky enough to overhear or it may be the wreck of his whole damn life and one is as good as the other.

New roads; new ruts.

Stupidly it should not be. It should be also nice. One must get along with that. Is however not necessary.

You should not believe your conscience and your feelings more than the word which the Lord who receives sinners preaches to you.

It’s human nature to gripe, but I’m going ahead and doing the best I can.

Nobody believes in completely unadulterated capitalism.

Move fast and break things. Unless you are breaking stuff, you are not moving fast enough.

The world is divided into two classes, those who believe the incredible, and those who do the improbable.

Being a hero is about the shortest-lived profession on earth.

There is no hope of anyone going to Heaven unless they believe this truth I am presenting. You cannot go to Heaven unless you believe with all your heart that Jesus took your place in Hell.

I read all the time, and I’m often struck by something I’m reading.

An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.

I believe enlightenment or revelation comes in daily life. I look for joy, the peace of action. You need action. I’d have stopped writing years ago if it were for the money.

Your joy comes from how you think, the choices that we make in life.

You must do the things you think you cannot do.

I’m not happy all the time, and I wouldn’t want to be because that would make me a shallow person. But I do try to find the good in everybody.

One cannot really be a Catholic and grown up.

Every production of genius must be the production of enthusiasm.

In the realm of ideas everything depends on enthusiasm… in the real world all rests on perseverance.

Men freely believe that which they desire.

It is better to be the hammer than the anvil.

He is dead in this world who has no belief in another.

Everywhere I go I find that people… both leaders and individuals… are asking one basic question, ‚Is there any hope for the future?‘ My answer is the same, ‚Yes, through Jesus Christ.‘

I can see, and that is why I can be happy, in what you call the dark, but which to me is golden. I can see a God-made world, not a manmade world.

God wants to bless us where we are.

God is everywhere.

I know a lot of people say they always believed they could get into F1, but I didn’t quite believe that, certainly not when I was 7 and maybe not until I was 14. It was always so far away.

No pressure, no diamonds.

Christ managed to boil down an awful lot of commandments to a few very simple rules for living. It’s when you go backwards through the ‚begats‘ and the Garden of Eden, and you start thinking, ‚Hang on, that’s a big punishment for eating one lousy apple… There’s a human-rights issue.‘

Rejoicing in our joy, not suffering over our suffering, makes someone a friend.

Work is the meat of life, pleasure the dessert.

Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.

When doubt comes against us, we have to lift up the shield of faith. We do this when we open our mouth and say what God’s Word says, rather than grumbling and complaining about the problem.

Words without thoughts never to heaven go.

That all men are equal is a proposition to which, at ordinary times, no sane human being has ever given his assent.

I’ve never been to New Zealand before. But one of my role models, Xena, the warrior princess, comes from there.

I grow daily to honour facts more and more, and theory less and less. A fact, it seems to me, is a great thing; a sentence printed, if not by God, then at least by the Devil.

I think people inspire me the most. If I meet a person who is incredibly complex, and all of a sudden, I start thinking in rhymes, that person could be a muse.

The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready.

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.

To hold a pen is to be at war.

Isn’t it funny how babies laugh a lot? I read a toddler, a young child laughs 300 times a day. The average adult laughs, like, four times a day. God put it in them. He put the laugh in us, but I think sometimes we let life get us down, you know, have bad breaks, and we lose our breaks.

I love those who do not know how to live for today.

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.

When it comes to our everyday habits, it’s important to ask: ‚Am I putting God first?‘

Things in themselves have no life in them. A car can’t comfort or encourage you. A house means nothing if there’s no life and love inside.

A home without books is a body without soul.

What you don’t do can be a destructive force.