"Whatever has happened to you in your past has no power over this present moment, because life is now."

"So go ahead. Fall down. The world looks different from the ground."

"I believe luck is preparation meeting opportunity. If you hadn't been prepared when the opportunity came along, you wouldn't have been lucky."

"The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude."

"Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. This is your moment. Own it."

"As you become more clear about who you really are, you'll be better able to decide what is best for you - the first time around."

"When I look to the future it's so bright it burns my eyes."

"The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate."

"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."

"You alone are enough."

"Where there is no struggle, there is no strength."

"I always knew I was destined for greatness."

"My first day in Chicago, September 4, 1983. I set foot in this city, and just walking down the street, it was like roots, like the motherland. I knew I belonged here."

"What God intended for you goes far beyond anything you can imagine."

"All pain is the same."

"I trust that everything happens for a reason, even if we are not wise enough to see it."

"I think education is power. I think that being able to communicate with people is power. One of my main goals on the planet is to encourage people to empower themselves."

"When the universe compels me toward the best path to take, it never leaves me with "maybe," "should I," or even "perhaps." I always know for sure when it's telling me to proceed - because everything inside me rises up to reverberate "YES!"

"What I know is, is that if you do work that you love, and the work fulfills you, the rest will come."

"Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down."

"Every action, thought and feeling is motivated by an intention, and that intention is a cause that exists as one with an effect. If we participate in the cause, it is not possible for us not to participate in the effect. In this most profound way, we are held responsible for our every action, thought, and feeling which is to say, for our every intention it is therefore, wise for us to become aware of the many intentions that inform our experience, to sort out which intentions produce which effects, and to choose our intentions according to the effects that we desire to produce."

"The enjoyment comes from knowing the receiver understands the spirit of the gift."

"I believe that every single event in life happens in an opportunity to choose love over fear."

"Gratitude can transform any situation. It alters your vibration moving you from negative energy to positive."

"A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself."

"Improving your life doesn't have to be about changing everything " it's about making changes that count."

"Surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you higher."

"What material success does is provide you with the ability to concentrate on other things that really matter. And that is being able to make a difference, not only in your own life, but in other people's lives."

"I'm not even kind of a lesbian."

"I am grateful for the blessings of wealth, but it hasn't changed who I am. My feet are still on the ground. I'm just wearing better shoes."

"I remember a specific moment, watching my grandmother hang the clothes on the line, and her saying to me, 'you are going to have to learn to do this,' and me being in that space of awareness and knowing that my life would not be the same as my grandmother's life."

"You did the best you could, the best you knew how at the time." It was something like that. From Oprah on an Oprah show. Then I believe my quote above was from Maya Angelou on the Oprah show, not Oprah herself. I had heard it before but it was on Oprah's show again 1-7-09 and she said Maya had said it."

"When I look at the future it's so bright it burns my eyes."

"When I look at the future, it's so bright it burns my eyes!"

"The greatest lesson of life is that you are responsible for your life."

"Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother."

"The great courageous act that we must all do, is to have the courage to step out of our history and past so that we can live our dreams."

"It isn't until you come to a spiritual understanding of who you are - not necessarily a religious feeling, but deep down, the spirit within - that you can begin to take control."

"I still have my feet on the ground, I just wear better shoes."

"Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment."

"If you come to fame not understanding who you are, it will define who you are."

"Follow your feelings. If it feels right, move forward. If it doesn't feel right, don't do it."

"I think people who have good parents come into the world with a strength, yes, and an advantage."

"I am a woman in process. I'm just trying like everybody else. I try to take every conflict, every experience, and learn from it. Life is never dull."

"Money is worth nothing if it can't buy you the opportunity to love more."

"Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you."

"Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity."

"Every day brings a chance for you to draw in a breath, kick off your shoes, and dance."

"Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure."

"Your calling isn't something that somebody can tell you about. It's what you feel. It is the thing that gives you juice. The thing that you are supposed to do. And nobody can tell you what that is. You know it inside yourself."