The only incontrovertible fact of my work is the importance of life.

The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of those depths.

People are like stained - glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.

Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself, and know that everything in life has purpose. There are no mistakes, no coincidences, all events are blessings given to us to learn from.

Death is but a transition from this life to another existence where there is no more pain and anguish. All the bitterness and disagreements will vanish, and the only thing that lives forever is love.

There is within each one of us a potential for goodness beyond our imagining; for giving which seeks no reward; for listening without judgment; for loving unconditionally.

We think sometimes we're only drawn to the good, but we're actually drawn to the authentic. We like people who are real more than those who hide their true selves under layers of artificial niceties

When life puts you through a tumbler, it's your choice whether you come out polished or crushed.

I've told my children that when I die, to release balloons in the sky to celebrate that I graduated. For me, death is a graduation.

You are not a powerless speck of dust drifting around in the wind...we are, each of us, like beautiful snowflakes-unique, and born for a specific reason and purpose.

Watching a peaceful death of a human being reminds us of a falling star; one of a million lights in a vast sky that flares up for a brief moment only to disappear into the endless night forever.

Big things often have small beginnings.

School is a pile of crap. School has always been a pile of crap – he had just never bothered to think about it until today.

I think hearts are very much like glasses. If they do not break with the first ring, they usually last a considerable time.

People are intimidated when they first meet me, but it doesn't take them long to realise I'm just an average person.

I think money isn't any good sitting around, so I spend some time in the shoe department at Saks.

Buddy of mine once told me that he'd rather fly a jet than kiss his girl. Said it gave him more of a kick.

We are not getting rid of carriers any time soon. This is both because of their utility and also because of their role in Navy culture and in the defense-industrial complex. It is an academic debate.

My greatest competition is, well, me.

My own view is that one cannot be religious in general any more than one can speak language in general; at any given moment one speaks French or English or Swahili or Japanese, but not 'language.