Seek patience and passion in equal amounts. Patience alone will not build the temple. Passion alone will destroy its walls.

Each of us has the right and the responsibility to assess the roads which lie ahead, and those over which we have traveled, and if the future road looms ominous or unpromising, and the roads back uninviting, then we need to gather our resolve and, carrying only the necessary baggage, step off that road into another direction. If the new choice is also unpalatable, without embarrassment, we must be ready to change that as well.

I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.

We need to haunt the house of history and listen anew to the ancestors' wisdom.

Without defeats, how do you really know who the hell you are? If you never had to stand up to something - to get up, to be knocked down, and to get up again - life can walk over you wearing football cleats. But each time you do get up, you're bigger, taller, finer, more beautiful, more kind, more understanding, more loving. Each time you get up, you're more inclusive. More people can stand under your umbrella.

I wouldn't trade anything for my story now.

I think we have systematically and critically harmed ourselves and many young people by advising them not to try things.