You are not the product of your circumstances. You are a composite of all the things you believe, and all the places you believe you can go. Your past does not define you. You can step out of your history and create a new day for yourself. Even if the entire culture is saying, "You can't." Even if every single possible bad thing that can happen to you does. You can keep going forward.

We're all looking for the highest, fullest expression of ourselves as a human being.

If you believe you can only go so far, it is an obstacle.

I tried to empty myself and let the spirit of Sethe inhabit me.

Anybody pretending to be anything other than who you really are-you will never, ever reach your personal potential.

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

You cannot continue to succeed in the world or have a fulfilling life in the world unless you choose to use your life in the service somehow to others and give back what you have been given. That's how you keep it. That's how you get it. That's how you grow it.