To grow up is to stop putting blame on parents.

Nothing will work unless you do.

A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.

Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud.

We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.

Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. Please remember that your difficulties do not define you. They simply strengthen your ability to overcome.

My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style

If you are always trying to be normal you will never know how amazing you can be.

You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I'll rise!

When I remove the layers that say I can't, I discover a burning ember that says I should, I can, and I will.

There is a need for heroism in American life today.

I feel betrayed by own mother.

To play with a band all of the time, just about nightly, was good for me because I wrote lots of arrangements and I got a lot of my transposition and chords ironed out.

Winning doesn't always mean being first.

Every idea occurs while you are working. If you are sitting around waiting for inspiration, you could sit there forever.

It’s not getting to the wall that counts; it’s what you do after you hit it.

Little drops of water, little grains of sand, Make the mighty ocean, and the pleasant land. So the little minutes, humble though they be, Make the mighty ages of eternity.

What we have is a crisis of imagination. Albert Einstein said that you cannot solve a problem with the same mind-set that created it.

Try to love others and serve others and hopefully find those who love and serve you in return.