People never fail to amaze me. They face the unimaginable with a shot of grace and a rush of adrenaline; they steel their nerves; they summon their cool or anger or faith or whatever it takes to pull them through, and they go on to live another day.

You have to be responsible for the energy you're putting out into the world.

When you educate a girl, you begin to change the face of a nation.

I really feel a sense of responsibility first as a creation of a force that I call God, that's bigger than myself. And because I'm black, I feel the responsibility to that. I feel the responsibility to my womanness. But more importantly, I feel a responsibility to my humanness.

I would say my faith has become strengthened every time I have faced what I considered to be a trial, and there is no greater trial than being 14 and pregnant and not even knowing what it is.

You become excellent, and when you become excellent, no-one can take that away from you.

When you give up on life, never give up on yourself, because there is so much for you to keep on giving!