My pride had been starched by a family who assumed unlimited authority in its own affairs.

Nothing will work unless you do.

A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.

Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud.

We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.

Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. Please remember that your difficulties do not define you. They simply strengthen your ability to overcome.

My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style

If you are always trying to be normal you will never know how amazing you can be.

You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I'll rise!

Never lose hope, for all the interweaved strings will soon straighten out.

True music begins when the song of your soul finds its tune and the emotions of your heart find their voices.

God is the greatest nurturer of all.

You cannot afford a world with slavery, which literally takes someone and turns them into a machine.

JLo and I did not get along well when we worked together. I don't think there's love lost. I don't know if there was a lot of love from the very beginning.

I think that when you let go and "throw it all away" and stop getting attached and say "whatever happens, happens", you don't invest too much in anything particular, and things work out.

Working people are working even longer hours, even though we won the eight-hour workday at the Haymarket General Strike in Chicago.

There is some music that's truly dark, in that it's dark in terms of hopeless. But then again, the act of hope is just making the work of art.

Hey, look at this guy Kenny G. with his thing, walking up and down the aisles of the concert hall and running off the stage and playing the same time. It's old hat!

How poetry comes to the poet is a mystery.