“I believe that one defines oneself by reinvention. To not be like your parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself. To cut yourself out of stone.”
Inspiration is personal — what lights a fire in one person barely registers with another. This collection casts a wide net, gathering words that have moved people to action, to tears, to changed minds, and occasionally to changed lives.
“Tears are often the telescope by which men see far into heaven.”
“I believe that one defines oneself by reinvention. To not be like your parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself. To cut yourself out of stone.”
“I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life - and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.”
“I grew up in a bookless house - my parents didn't read poetry, so if I hadn't had the chance to experience it at school I'd never have experienced it. But I loved English, and I was very lucky in that I had inspirational English teachers, Miss Scriven and Mr. Walker, and they liked us to learn poems by heart, which I found I loved doing.”
“Let us dream of tomorrow where we can truly love from the soul, and know love as the ultimate truth at the heart of all creation.”
“Joy descends gently upon us like the evening dew, and does not patter down like a hailstorm.”
“In a gentle way, you can shake the world.”
“I am very conscious of who I am as an artist and as an inspirational person.”
“Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.”
“The single most important thing in a child's performance is the quality of the teacher. Making sure a child spends the maximum amount of time with inspirational teachers is the most important thing.”
“The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another's, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises.”
“If it were not for hopes, the heart would break.”
“Men must live and create. Live to the point of tears.”
“We convince by our presence.”
“We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone.”
“Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'!”