“In that brief glance Vronsky had time to notice the restrained animation that played over her face and fluttered between her shining eyes and the barely noticeable smile that curved her red lips. It was as if a surplus of something so overflowed her being that it expressed itself beyond her will, now in the brightness of her glance, now in her smile.”

“A call for national and individual repentance is urgently needed today, or judgment is certain to fall.”

“One of the greatest gifts you can give is your undivided attention.”

“I got to the top the hard way—fighting my own laziness and ignorance every step of the way.”

“Everything that we see about us that we count is our possessions only comprises a loan from God, and it is when we lose sight of this all-pervading truth that we become greedy and covetous.”

“All young people sin, and sin produces discord, repellent vibrations which rifle the concert of life until the strings are gutless and flat. The kicks soon lead to kickbacks.”

“And there we all were, as invisible as you could wish to see.”

“Andrew Carnegie said, “As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.” Great”

“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.” 

“If you see the obstacle as being too big, it will keep you defeated.

“Whatever measure of influence I had as a result of the importance which the world attaches to the Nobel Peace Prize would have to be used to bring the philosophy of nonviolence to all the world’s people who grapple with the age-old problem of racial injustice.”

“I have lived through much and now I think I have found what is needed for happiness. A quiet, secluded life in the country with possibility of being useful to people.”

“A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.”

“Christians should be a foreign influence, a minority group in a pagan world.”

“The roles we play in each other's lives are only as powerful as the trust and connection between us--the protection, safety, and caring we are willing to share.”