In this condition of the most devastating humiliation, I still possessed the most precious of liberties, that no-one could take away from me: that of deciding who I wanted to be.

I was discovering that the most precious gift someone can give us is time, because what gives time its value is death.

What we have in Colombia is a war against the poor and the guerillas from the left side are against the poor.

It is said that the compensation for the effort courage, tenacity, and endurance displayed during the journey was not happiness. Nor glory. What God offered as a reward was only rest.

In Colombia today we have 16% of the population, which is a very small amount of the population owning 90% of the land and 20 years ago it wasn't like that.

I knew of no instruction manual for reaching a higher level of humanity and a greater wisdom. But I felt intuitively that laughter was the beginning of wisdom, as is was indispensable for survival.

If you believe what you say, words will become reality.

I no longer knew whether it was raindrops or my own tears that were flowing down my cheeks, and I hated to have to drag along this relic of a sniveling child.

Hostages want to survive - they are very focused on their own little view of things.

Sometimes I'm fragile, sometimes too emotional, but I'm putting everything I can on my side to be a happy person.

After six years without seeing one, I love just seeing a smile - every smile I see gives me hope.

May all humankind find grace.

There was little Hiroko Tanaka hadn’t learnt about the shameful resilience of the human heart.

It is OK to say 'no'.It is OK to say 'I will think about it'.It is OK to say 'I will try'.It is NOT OK to make promises you cannot keep.

A different direction defines what to me is real and to you is hooey.

Pursue your dreams with all your strength.

I wanted to give the house back to the parents.

It is love, not faith, that moves mountains.

I have a hard time watching people getting punched on screen; I have to close my eyes a lot.

I still think science is looking for answers and art is looking for questions.

Nothing is contrived. At night, the clothes should pour like liquid over the body.