Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.

Every noble work is at first impossible.

Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.

Nothing’s ever easy as long as you go on living.

Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.

Let my skin and sinews and bones dry up, together with all the flesh and blood of my body! I welcome it! But I will not move from this spot until I have attained the supreme and final wisdom.

If I can be a leader, I will.

The reward of a thing well done is having done it.

When men speak ill of thee, live so as nobody may believe them.

You know, not to sound corny or nuthin‘, but I felt like a fighter comin‘ up, man. I felt like, you know, I’m being attacked for this reason or that reason, and I gotta fight my way through this.

We acquire the strength we have overcome.

When my ancestors came from Africa, they were shackled by our neck, our wrists, and our ankles in steel chains. I’ve turned those steel chains into gold to symbolize the fact that I’m still a slave, only my price tag is higher.

Everybody has a purpose.

There is no doubt that life is given us, not to be enjoyed, but to be overcome; to be got over.

My parents were just constantly affirming me in everything that I did. Late at night, I’d wake up and hear my mother talking over my bed, saying, ‚You’re going to do great on this test. You can do anything you want.‘

Though she be but little, she is fierce.

The battle is all over except the ‚shouting‘ when one knows what is wanted and has made up his mind to get it, whatever the price may be.

Right now, when we’re hearing so much disturbing and hateful rhetoric, it is so important to remember that our diversity has been – and will always be – our greatest source of strength and pride here in the United States.

I am prepared to resort to anything, to submit to anything, for the sake of the commonwealth.

Do your work with your whole heart, and you will succeed – there’s so little competition.

When you can’t make them see the light, make them feel the heat.

My mother had a saying: ‚Kamala, you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you’re not the last.‘

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.

If you want to be successful, it’s just this simple. Know what you are doing. Love what you are doing. And believe in what you are doing.

A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.

God, our Creator, has stored within our minds and personalities, great potential strength and ability. Prayer helps us tap and develop these powers.

No crime is so great as daring to excel.

In all seriousness, people think that it’s the ideas that are important. Well, everyone has ideas, all the time. I tend to write mine down and remember them, but at some point you have to apply the bum to the seat and knock out about sixty five thousand words – that’s how long a novel is.

We didn’t crumble after 9/11. We didn’t falter after the Boston Marathon. But we’re America. Americans will never, ever stand down. We endure. We overcome. We own the finish line.

We are like boxers, one never knows how much longer one has.

Admiration for a quality or an art can be so strong that it deters us from striving to possess it.

If you’re not going to be rewarded for your virtues, and instead you’re going to be punished for them, then what’s your motivation to continue?

I think it’s healthy for a person to be nervous. It means you care – that you work hard and want to give a great performance. You just have to channel that nervous energy into the show.

A wise woman wishes to be no one’s enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone’s victim.

The strength and power of a country depends absolutely on the quantity of good men and women in it.

I wrote ‚Channel Orange‘ in two weeks. The end product wasn’t always that gritty, real-life depiction of the real struggle that happened.

Excellence encourages one about life generally; it shows the spiritual wealth of the world.

I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.

Now we’re in the midst of not just advocating for change, not just calling for change – we’re doing the grinding, sometimes frustrating work of delivering change – inch by inch, day by day.

A word of encouragement from a teacher to a child can change a life. A word of encouragement from a spouse can save a marriage. A word of encouragement from a leader can inspire a person to reach her potential.

I try to make it look easy, but the behind-the-scenes stuff is the challenge.

Courage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment.

Right discipline consists, not in external compulsion, but in the habits of mind which lead spontaneously to desirable rather than undesirable activities.

Great grief does not of itself put an end to itself.

Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.

Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.

People who pity themselves think, ‚Why would I try to do anything? I’ll just fail.‘

The best luck of all is the luck you make for yourself.

Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything.

Unless India stands up to the world, no one will respect us. In this world, fear has no place. Only strength respects strength.

Choose people who lift you up.

I had my moments of being humiliated, and then I had moments of doing something humiliating. I’m glad I lived out both roles.

Remember that life’s big changes rarely give advance warning.

Everything rises and falls on leadership.

I treated it like every day was my last day with a basketball.

When people are very damaged, they can often meet the world with a kind of defiance.

I believe that one person can make a difference.

We cannot attribute to fortune or virtue that which is achieved without either.

My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose – somehow we win out.

The day-to-day making of policy is arguing all the time. You’re trying to get the right approach and the right answer, and there are moments that aren’t very pleasant. But in the end, you look at the overall product.

God helps those who help themselves.