To be an American is about something more than what we look like, or what our last names are, or how we worship. -Barack Obama

I am pretty fearless, and you know why? Because I don’t handle fear very well; I’m not a good terrified person. -Stevie Nicks

The most valuable possession you can own is an open heart. The most powerful weapon you can be is an instrument of peace. -Carlos Santana

Find a beautiful piece of art. If you fall in love with Van Gogh or Matisse or John Oliver Killens, or if you fall love with the music of Coltrane, the music of Aretha Franklin, or the music of Chopin – find some beautiful art and admire it, and realize that that was created by human beings just like you, no more human, no less.  -Maya Angelou

It’s not about what people think. It’s about who you are.  – Cinda Williams Chima

A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. -Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Life has no meaning a priori. … It is up to you to give it a meaning, and value is nothing but the meaning that you choose. -Jean-Paul Sartre

I learned long ago that being Lewis Carroll was infinitely more exciting than being Alice. -Joyce Carol Oates

“When the student is ready the teacher will appear.” — Buddha

Neither genius, fame, nor love show the greatness of the soul. Only kindness can do that. -Jean Baptiste Henri Lacordaire