“Poetry puts starch in your backbone so you can stand, so you can compose your life.”

“Life is going to give you just what you put in it. Put your whole heart in everything you do, and pray, then you can wait.”

“You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead pursue the things you love doing and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off of you.”

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”

“You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I'll rise!”

“A person is the product of their dreams. So make sure to dream great dreams. And then try to live your dream.”

“I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.(Popular misquote of "You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.")”