“It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.”

“But whenever I tried to pin down this idea of self-esteem, the specific qualities we hoped to inculcate, the specific means by which we might feel good about ourselves, the conversation always seemed to follow a path of infinite regress. Did you dislike yourself because of your color or because you couldn’t read and couldn’t get a job? Or perhaps it was because you were unloved as a child—only, were you unloved because you were too dark? Or too light? Or because your mother shot heroin into her veins … and why did she do that anyway? Was the sense of emptiness you felt a consequence of kinky hair or the fact that your apartment had no heat and no decent furniture? Or was it because deep down you imagined a godless universe? Maybe one couldn’t avoid such questions on the road to personal salvation. What I doubted was that all the talk about self-esteem could serve as the centerpiece of an effective black politics. It demanded too much honest self-reckoning from people; without such honesty, it easily degenerated into vague exhortation. Perhaps with more self-esteem fewer blacks would be poor, I thought to myself, but I had no doubt that poverty did nothing for our self-esteem. Better to concentrate on the things we might all agree on. Give that black man some tangible skills and a job. Teach that black child reading and arithmetic in a safe, well-funded school. With the basics taken care of, each of us could search for our own sense of self-worth.”

“Homeopathy cures a larger percentage of cases than any other form of treatment and is beyond doubt safer and more economical.”

“Every day is a gift because it can either be the first day of the rest of our life or be our last day here on earth.”

“In the judgment of the most competent living mathematicians, Fraulein Noether was the most significant mathematical genius thus far produced since the higher education of women began.”

“Think Yourself Happy”

“The only way you can truly get more out of life for yourself is to give part of yourself away.”

“You are a special person, and without you, the world would be missing something wonderful. You can do whatever you set your mind to do, as long as it is within God’s will. You are talented, gifted by God, and you are able to accomplish great things in your life. You are amazingly unique, and you never need to compare yourself with anyone else. Be the amazing person that you are. God loves you unconditionally, and that will never change. Your future is so bright that you may need sunglasses to look at it!”

“Every one desires to live long, but no one would be old.”

“The day you stop learning is the day you begin to die. Lack of knowledge is the fundamental principle for killing "alive and kicking" dreams.”

“I trust Jesus with all my tomorrows, knowing that He will solve the mystery of life beyond the grave.”

“If you want to reach your potential and become the person you were created to be, you must do much more than just experience life and hope that you learn what you need along the way. You must go out of your way to seize growth opportunities as if your future depended on it.”

“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”

“A vision without a task is but a dream. A task without a vision is drudgery. But a vision and a task are the hope of the world.” 

“You face the biggest challenge of all: to have the courage to seek your big dream regardless of what anyone says. You are the only person alive who can see your big picture and even you can't see it all.”