“You may write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lies, you may trod me in the very dirt but still, like dust, I'll rise.”

“When I'm writing, I am trying to find out who I am, who we are, what we're capable of, how we feel, how we lose and stand up, and go on from darkness into darkness.”

“Children's talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives.”

“There is nothing so pitiful as a young cynic because he has gone from knowing nothing to believing nothing.”

“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.”

“You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”

“A happy life consists not in the absence, but in the mastery of hardships.”

“No doubt the reason is that character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.”

“Believe, when you are most unhappy, that there is something for you to do in the world. So long as you can sweeten another's pain, life is not in vain.”

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”

“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.”