We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation.

You can’t let your failures define you. You have to let your failures teach you.

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

Keep exploring. Keep dreaming. Keep asking why. Don’t settle for what you already know. Never stop believing in the power of your ideas, your imagination, your hard work to change the world.

When ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don't really have to do anything, you just let them talk.

Just because we have the best hammer does not mean that every problem is a nail.

Change is never easy, but always possible.

Don’t ever let anybody tell you that your efforts don’t matter or that your voice doesn’t count. Don’t ever believe that you can’t make a difference. You have.

Where you are right now doesn't have to determine where you'll end up.

Learning to stand in somebody else's shoes, to see through their eyes, that's how peace begins. And it's up to you to make that happen. Empathy is a quality of character that can change the world.

If somebody is different from you, that's not something you criticize, that's something that you appreciate.

A bird is safe in its nest - but that is not what its wings are made for.

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature and God.

We read novels because we want to see the world through other experiences, other beings, other eyes, other cultures.

Loneliness is more painful than being hurt

Why do people so love to wander? I think the civilized parts of the World will suffice for me in the future.

Abuse of power isn't limited to bad guys in other nations. It happens in our own country if we're not vigilant.

The greatest photographs are motivated by human feeling.

My mom's passionate and energetic and very funny and enthusiastic.

I do write songs with a political dimension to them sometimes, but I'm always slightly appalled by it when I do.

The Bible is obviously a mixed book. Literary and nonliterary (expository, explanatory) writing exist side by side within the covers of this unique book.