Where there is no vision, the people perish. Hang on to your vision.

Fire is harmful unless it’s controlled. Then it provides warmth, enables us to cook, and sets a romantic tone when contained in a fireplace.

Your response to rejection is the same way. When your response is unbridled, it can devastate. When your response is controlled, it can be used to motivate you, stir you into action, and bring you closer to your goals.

Be careful not to compare how insecure you feel about yourself on the inside with how polished others may look on the outside.

The more perfect another person appears to be, the more likely they feel inadequate.

It ought to be with a sense of relief, not a sense of compromise and reluctance, that we come to the conclusion that we are not and never will be perfect.

Your own life is your competition.

Rejection causes pain but like physical pain, it goes away.

By understanding that all rejection is beneficial, you’ll be able to open-mindedly examine each rejection rather than allowing negativity to creep in and take over.

Positive thinking people use rejection to motivate them.

We conquer by continuing.

Be like a postage stamp - stick to one thing until you get there.

Submitting to fear and avoiding rejection takes away our freedom to dream.

When we feed ourselves full of possibilities, we gain courage.

When you continue exploring your possibilities, great ideas emerge that can benefit you and others in a big way.

Every lasting success involves overcoming rejection.

You can do amazing things if you have strong faith, deep desire, and just hang in there.

You can’t make the decision for someone else to reject you. Take the risk!

Their pride often got the best of them. Rather than face the fear of embarrassment, they would simply reject the idea.

There are people who wonder if faith is real. I can tell you, in my family there is not a second of doubt.

The perception of linked fate and that feeling of being always on the spot as a representative of the race, at least in mixed company, are features of African American life that predate affirmative action and arise outside of its presence.

It doesn't matter who other people are saying the favourite is; I'm still going in to win the gold medal.

I couldn't be Susan Sontag. I'm not very good with abstract thought. I always just take to the emotional core of me.

I go home every weekend to see my family.

Barack Obama's historic 2008 presidential campaign touched on all the themes I have covered throughout my career and all of the layers of meaning that run through black politics. Ambition. Aspiration. Fear. Folly. It was all on display as Obama boarded the roller coaster that ultimately led to the White House.

Life is rough. If it were smooth, we'd slide right through it without noticing. A bumpy ride teaches us gratitude and perspective.

I'm so positive.

There's a tendency in politics to attribute bad motivation much too quickly, and the sooner you attribute bad motivation to someone you disagree with, the harder it is to find some common ground to make some progress that would give people confidence that you got it more right than wrong.

I like to write first-person because I like to become the character I'm writing.

Most Americans acquire dogs impulsively and for dubious reasons: as a Christmas gift for the kids. Because they saw one in a movie. To match the new living-room furniture. Because they moved to the suburbs and see a dog as part of the package.

It is a good idea to obey all the rules when you're young just so you'll have the strength to break them when you're old.

I'm saying look, here they come, pay attention. Let your eyes transform what appears ordinary, commonplace, into what it is, a moment in time, an observed fragment of eternity.

Technique is communication: the two words are synonymous in conductors.

But I do know people that have stalkers and it's not nice.

I didn't hang any pictures in my office for a year because I thought that I would be jinxing myself and have to take them down the next day.

Everyone in a complex system has a slightly different interpretation. The more interpretations we gather, the easier it becomes to gain a sense of the whole.

People see truth in my films. That's what they react to, and that's what they relate to.

It is important to be passionate, but it is also important to combine the heart and the head. I have made mistakes in both my private and professional lives.

I can't grow a moustache.

The fine line that you do when you do political comedy is, as long as you have that laugh, you're fine.

The nexus between terrorism and nuclear weapons, or even nuclear material, is obviously a current concern.

My mother never watched me train in Romania. She wasn't allowed, it just wasn't done back then. My training was paid for by the government. My parents were not at the Olympics with me, either. I never expected them to be.

I know there are some good American police. But I grew up in a country where we were afraid of the police.