To make a difference is not a matter of accident...People CHOOSE to make a difference.

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!

We are often more a piece of work than a work of art.

As another has well said, to handicap a student by teaching him that his black face is a curse and that his struggle to change his condition is hopeless is the worst sort of lynching.

You can always tell where Diana Ross has been by the hair that's left behind!

I think our lives are surely but the dreams Of spirits, dwelling in the distant spheres, Who as we die, do one by one awake.

If Hollywood and Bollywood were how we all lived our lives, that would surprise me. And yet it's often the way our cultures are conveyed, isn't it?

Whatever you read, read the Bible first. Beware of bad books: there are plenty in this day. Take heed what you read.

I become kind of obsessive about research.

My life has included a study of Shakespeare and to me it's very natural, but I know that it's not always accessible to other people.

If life were like a competitive race, some people would be given a flying start and others would line up with weights tied to their ankles.

I really had spent my whole life playing soccer, and the fact that I was willing to give that up for theater, that told me I was moving in that direction.