My son is the best thing that ever happened to me. And through me - to a lot of people.

I am overwhelmed by the grace and persistence of my people.

Without defeats, how do you really know who the hell you are? If you never had to stand up to something - to get up, to be knocked down, and to get up again - life can walk over you wearing football cleats. But each time you do get up, you're bigger, taller, finer, more beautiful, more kind, more understanding, more loving. Each time you get up, you're more inclusive. More people can stand under your umbrella.

It's a bleak morning for me and for many people and yet it's a great morning because we have a chance to look at her and see what she did and who she was. It's bleak because I can't - many of us can't hear her sweet voice but it's great because she did live, and she was ours. I mean African-Americans and white Americans and Asians, Spanish-speaking - she belonged to us and that's a great thing.

I will not sit in a room with black people when the N word is used. I know it was meant to belittle a person, so I will not sit there and have that poison put on me. Now a black person can say, 'Oh, you know, I can use this word because I'm black.'

When you know better you do better.

All knowledge is spendable currency, depending on the market.

On the day of your birth, the Creator filled countless storehouses, set aside for your use and yours alone.

The dread of futility has been my life-long plague.

My life has been one great big joke, A dance that's walked, A song that's spoke, I laugh so hard I almost choke, When I think about myself.

If you want what you're saying heard, then take your time and say it so that the listener will actually hear it. You might save somebody's life. Your own, first.

At fifteen life had taught me undeniably that surrender, in its place, was as honorable as resistance, especially if one had no choice.

There is a very fine line between loving life and being greedy for it.

Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told: 'I'm with you kid. Let's go.'

I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.

You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody.

remember this: When you cross my doorstep, you have already been raised. With what you have learned...you know the difference between right and wrong. Do right. Don't anybody raise you from the way you have been raised. Know you will have to make adaptations, in love, in relationships, in friends, in society, in work, but don't let anybody change your mind.

Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.

I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.

Anything that works against you can also work for you once you understand the Principle of Reverse.

Ask for what you want and be prepared to get it!

Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.

In diversity there is beauty and there is strength.

I've learned that I still have a lot to learn.