Prey cannot bribe its way out of a predator’s hand.

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.

Failure comes from fear. Success comes from boldness and persistence.

There'll always be working people in my poems because I grew up with them, and I am a poet of memory.

We have gone into a war, an unelected president sending us into a war that the Congress frankly had no right, I believe, to authorize.

For me, the subject is of secondary importance: I want to convey what is alive between me and the subject.

You can't live on amusement. It is the froth on water - an inch deep and then the mud.

You can't build the bridge of trust with the scaffolding of lies and underhand deals

I waited a long time to have children because I had this career that was kind of like my kid, it required as much nurturing.

We always question the bonafides of the man who tells us unpleasant facts.

My career has been up and down, and I like it much better being up.

We live by faith, and faith lives by exercise.