“Instead of trying to be great, be part of something greater than yourself.”

“I've come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that's as unique as a fingerprint - and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you. ”

“We did live in dire poverty. And one of the things that I hated was poverty. Some people hate spiders. Some people hate snakes. I hated poverty. I couldn't stand it. My mother couldn't stand the fact that we were doing poorly in school, and she prayed and she asked God to give her wisdom. What could she do to get her young sons to understand the importance of developing their minds so that they control their own lives? God gave her the wisdom. At least in her opinion. My brother and I didn't think it was that wise. Turn off the TV, let us watch only two or three TV programs during the week. And with all that spare time read two books a piece from the Detroit Public Libraries and submit to her written book reports, which she couldn't read but we didn't know that. I just hated this. My friends were out having a good time. Her friends would criticize her. My mother didn't care. But after a while I actually began to enjoy reading those books. Because we were very poor, but between the covers of those books I could go anywhere. I could be anybody. I could do anything. I began to read about people of great accomplishment. And as I read those stories, I began to see a connecting thread. I began to see that the person who has the most to do with you, and what happens to you in life, is you. You make decisions. You decide how much energy you want to put behind that decision. And I came to understand that I had control of my own destiny. And at that point I didn't hate poverty anymore, because I knew it was only temporary. I knew I could change that. It was incredibly liberating for me. Made all the difference.” 

“The focus on self has led our society into a fascination with pleasure, emotional and sexual stimulation, and “personal fulfillment.” America’s compulsion for “maximum personhood” is evidenced everywhere.”

“One must divide one's time between politics and equations. But our equations are much more important to me, because politics is for the present, while our equations are for eternity.”

“Your life is intricately woven into the lives of scores and hundreds of others around you. Consider the variety of lives that you influence in one day. Somewhere within your circle of contacts someone is being hurt. Are you aware of it?”

“Do good even if no one is watching you and do it as if everyone is watching you.”

“The evangelistic ministry is a fight, not a frolic.”

“Emerson said, Do you love me? means Do you see the same truth?-Or at least, "Do you care about the same truth?”

“Prayer is not our using of God; it more often puts us in the position where God can use us.”

“You may deceive all the people part of the time, and part of the people all the time, but not all the people all the time.”

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.”

“the world has the habit of making room for the man whose words and actions show that he knows where he is going.”

“A prayerless Christian is a powerless Christian.”

“There comes a special moment in everyone’s life, a moment for which that person was born.… When he seizes it… it is his finest hour.”