My mother was the influence in my life. She was strong; she had great faith in the ultimate triumph of justice and hard work. She believed passionately in education.

To succeed, one must be creative and persistent.

Its better to get smart than to get mad. I try not to get so insulted that I will not take advantage of an opportunity to persuade people to change their minds.

If you can somehow think and dream of success in small steps, every time you make a step, every time you accomplish a small goal, it gives you confidence to go on from there.

You spend so much time in your profession it ought to be something you love.

When I see a barrier, I cry and I curse, and then I get a ladder and climb over it.

Dream small dreams. If you make them too big, you get overwhelmed and you don't do anything. If you make small goals and accomplish them, it gives you the confidence to go on to higher goals.

Long shots do come in and hard work, dedication and perseverance will overcome almost any prejudice and open almost any door.

I believe the greater the handicap, the greater the triumph.

There is a wisdom in the body that is older and more reliable than clocks and calendars.

Failure is a word I don't accept.

...sometimes what you go looking for isn't as important as what you leave behind.

Know I don't hate youDon't wanna fight youKnow I'll always love youBut right now I just don't like youCause you took this too far

History has shown that the less people read, the more books they buy.

Being comedian outside of performing, you're someone who's analyzing life, and thinking about it, and observing so much. In my opinion, it can make you feel sort of on the outside looking in.

What brothers say to tease their sisters has nothing to do with what they really think of them.

Democracy was assassinated here when Patrice Lumumba was assassinated. And who brought democracy back to this country? We are the ones who did that after pushing out the dictatorship in 1997.

Each murder is one too many.

The odds against an adoptee ending up as the child of the President of the United States are staggering. But then, so are the odds against a movie star becoming president

When I started to allow the characters to go where they wanted to go, I just had to follow.

I had the human rights life, and I had the family business life.