You have to develop ways so that you can take up for yourself, and then you take up for someone else. And so sooner or later, you have enough courage to really stand up for the human race and say, ‚I’m a representative.‘

Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.

It’s still scary every time I go back to the past. Each morning, my heart catches. When I get there, I remember how the light was, where the draft was coming from, what odors were in the air. When I write, I get all the weeping out.

If you are against yourself, you will never reach your highest potential. And when you criticize yourself, you’re criticizing God.

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to trust your team. It’s a lesson I’ve had to relearn quite a few times.

Even though I was very shy, I found I could get onstage if I had a new identity.

March on. Do not tarry. To go forward is to move toward perfection. March on, and fear not the thorns, or the sharp stones on life’s path.

What we face may look insurmountable. But I learned something from all those years of training and competing. I learned something from all those sets and reps when I didn’t think I could lift another ounce of weight. What I learned is that we are always stronger than we know.

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

If I make a fool of myself, who cares? I’m not frightened by anyone’s perception of me.

For me, education was power.

From my perspective, I absolutely believe in a greater spiritual power, far greater than I am, from which I have derived strength in moments of sadness or fear. That’s what I believe, and it was very, very strong in the forest.

Things won’t get better dwelling on the past. Accept what has happened. Then move forward.

Get busy living, or get busy dying.

Accept everything about yourself – I mean everything, You are you and that is the beginning and the end – no apologies, no regrets.

There may sometimes be ungenerous attempts to keep a young man down; and they will succeed, too, if he allows his mind to be diverted from its true channel to brood over the attempted injury.

I don’t like it when people who are young act like they’re 40. That’s taking too much on. Putting up a shield and trying to act like you’re so mature or whatever – I don’t try to act mature. Some people might say I’m mature for my age, but it’s not something I’m trying to do, you know? I’m just me.

What I have in common with the character in ‚Truman‘ is this incredible need to please people. I feel like I want to take care of everyone and I also feel this terrible guilt if I am unable to. And I have felt this way ever since all this success started.

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

Power is given only to those who dare to lower themselves and pick it up. Only one thing matters, one thing; to be able to dare!

If small things have the power to disturb you, then who you think you are is exactly that: small.

When I look back on my life as a whole, it is impossible for me not to feel blessed.

Whatever is making you so angry, it’s time for you to give it to God and get over it.

Never take anything for granted.

Sometimes it is better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness.

To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.

I’m not going to stop having problems.

I’m not a natural joiner.

Part of me suspects that I’m a loser, and the other part of me thinks I’m God Almighty.

When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.

You have to take risks. We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen.

Compared to what we ought to be, we are half awake.

I’m inconsistent, even to myself.

You might well remember that nothing can bring you success but yourself.

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

I am an example of what is possible when girls from the very beginning of their lives are loved and nurtured by people around them. I was surrounded by extraordinary women in my life who taught me about quiet strength and dignity.

Have the humility to learn from those around you.

There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.

I think that’s something that all mothers have to deal with, especially single mothers. We work, and we have to leave the kids behind. And I think that’s one of the reasons that we, not only as women but as families, we have to advocate for early childhood education for all of our children.

People disparage knowing and the intellectual life, and urge doing. I am content with knowing, if only I could know.

I have spoken to Chinese leaders occasionally on human rights, but I’ve always done it in private.

If the Christian is a restorationist, a legalist, if he wants everything clear and safe, then he will find nothing. Tradition and memory of the past must help us to have the courage to open up new areas to God.

Every one of my regrets has produced a song I’m proud of.

To live is to find out for yourself what is true, and you can do this only when there is freedom, when there is continuous revolution inwardly, within yourself.

The question of sexual dominance can exist only in the nightmare of that soul which has armed itself, totally, against the possibility of the changing motion of conquest and surrender, which is love.

With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.

I just use fashion as an excuse to talk about politics. Because I’m a fashion designer, it gives me a voice, which is really good.

I think we must get rid of slavery, or we must get rid of freedom.

This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well.

In a universe that’s an intelligent system with a divine creative force supporting it, there simply can be no accidents. As tough as it is to acknowledge, you had to go through what you went through in order to get to where you are today, and the evidence is that you did.

A coward is much more exposed to quarrels than a man of spirit.

The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react.

When you think of the sort of things that happen when a genocide happens, it’s again not people who are intrinsically evil.

To this day, some of my closest friends say, ‚Gaga, you know, everything’s great. You’re a singer; your dreams have come true.‘ But, still, when certain things are said to you over and over again as you’re growing up, it stays with you and you wonder if they’re true.

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

I am a child but I have to think and act like a woman, this business forces you to.

I lived a sloppy life. So I took very small increments in my life. I started making my bed. I started cleaning my room. There were dishes in the sink. It started off with doing small house chores. I saw that the yard needed to be mowed. So instead of being told it needed to be mowed, I would mow it.

Growing up, I decided, a long time ago, I wouldn’t accept any manmade differences between human beings, differences made at somebody else’s insistence or someone else’s whim or convenience.

You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn’t wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain’t got no manhood left anyway.

In the practice of tolerance, one’s enemy is the best teacher.

I have never felt that the one thing that I am ‚known for‘ is what I am.