Fear is the first and last obstacle on your path to greatness.

A genuine smile is one of the world’s rarest treasures.

A fish that is afraid of drowning in a river is ignorant of its gifts.

A diamond earns its sparkle from the pressure it endures.

It is in the storm, not the calm, that a rainbow is born.

A determined seed cannot be hidden from the world, not even by dirt.

Calm skies don't make skillful eagles.

If you cry in the rain, only the sky will see your tears.

Birds keep singing beautiful songs, even if they have no audience.

Today's storms help you appreciate tomorrow’s sunshine.

Train the ears to hear more, the eyes to see more, the hands to do more, the feet to accomplish more, the mind to think more, the heart to feel more, and the soul to love more.

Compromise is the assassin of fellowship with God.

Suffering shapes the life force, sometimes into anger, sometimes into blame and self-pity. Eventually it may show us the wisdom of embracing and loving life.

The inevitable is no less a shock just because it is inevitable.

Life is full of games. Be a proactive player. Most importantly, know who is throwing at you, what and why. When you do, life becomes fun...

I did a lot of my writing as though I was an academic, doing some piece of research as perfectly as possible.

The general interest of the masses might take the place of the insight of genius if it were allowed freedom of action.

That is an artist as I would have an artist be, modest in his needs: he really wants only two things, his bread and his art--panemet Circen.

Living is the purpose of life, And meaning can be found therein. I finds thou. Thou becomes it. And it begins again.

That's one of the most important things to me is that Detroit and Ann Arbor got my back. If you don't have hometown love, then what's the point?

You know, at 35 or at 38 or 40 you really start to see what your body could look like if you just don't do anything all winter long. So that's another motivating factor, our vanity.