The music was as much a gift as sunshine, as rain, as any blessing ever prayed for.

As I grow older part of my emotional survival plan must be to actively seek inspiration instead of passively waiting for it to find me.

When we finally stop asking America to love us and begin to love ourselves, we will prosper as a people.

Forgiveness is the key to the recovery of the soul.

People of color, particularly African Americans, feel the stigma more keenly. In a race-conscious society, some don't want to be perceived as having yet another deficit.

Knowing who you are begins in the mind.

Discipline is the servant of inspiration.

You live your life between your ears.

My color is my joy and not my burden.

Race, redemption and healing - thats my thing.

African Americans know about racism, but I don't think we really know the causes. I decided it's first of all a family problem.

Whoever is happy will make others happy.

Lonely was much better than alone.

Celebrate the journey. It’s not all about the destination. Savor all of your successes, even the small ones.

Live a life as a monument to your soul.

I got to keep moving, I've got to keep living and I've got to keep working.

A nonviolent warrior knows no leaving the battle. He rushes into the mouth of himsa, never even once harbouring an evil thought.

He who creates three to five haiku poems during a lifetime is a haiku poet. He who attains to completes ten is a master.

We see men who have accumulated great fortunes, but we often recognize only their triumph, overlooking the temporary defeats which they had to surmount before arriving.

A family is everybody all together.

Shannon's most radical insight was that meaning was irrelevant.