Our cellar home had a kitchen and a combination bedroom and half bath, which meant we had a sink next to the bed. We had no refrigerator, no shower or tub, and no privacy. My parents shared the bedroom with my sister and me.

I think any teenager, any single parent household teenager growing up in New York City, will probably go through tumultuous years. I definitely did. It all sort of righted itself once I definitively got on the path of being a musician or, like, following that directly.

Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.

You got in over your head. That happens. You have to learn when to call for help. That's when you are strong.

It's not what happens to us, it's how we respond. Being broken, being empty is part of life. But how we fill up those empty places, how we heal - that's what matters.

It's the way of evil. It is unrelenting. And the fight is always there. Our job is to just fight the battles we're assigned to fight.

And hello, maybe you're exactly where you are supposed to be...maybe God used your issues to give you exactly what you wanted.

Life, itself, is a great chariot race, and the victory goes only to those who have developed the strength of character and determination and willpower to win.

He recalled, too, his mistake in having stopped only three feet from gold, "but," he said, "that experience was a blessing in disguise. It taught me to keep on keeping on, no matter how hard the going may be, a lesson I needed to learn before I could succeed in anything.

Failure is a trickster with a keen sense of irony and cunning. It takes great delight in tripping one up when success is almost within reach.

He recalled, too, his mistake in having stopped only three feet from gold, but, he said, that experience was a blessing in disguise. It taught me to keep on keeping on, no matter how hard the going may be, a lesson I needed to learn before I could succeed in anything.

Before success comes in any man's life, he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat, and, perhaps, some failure. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to QUIT. That is exactly what the majority of men do.