Quotes about Strength

After years of imprisonment, physical and emotional abuse, and separation from his family, Mandela said, "I realized that they could take everything from me except my mind and my heart. They could not take those things. Those things I still had control over. And I decided not to give them away." So Mandela's story is really the story of those two things he never gave away: his brilliant mind, and his great heart.

Prison was a kind of crucible which tested a man's character. Some men, under pressure of incarceration, showed true mettle, while others revealed themselves as less than what they had appeared to be.

Never forget that the most powerful force on earth is love.

If you can't get a miracle, become one.

Style has a profound meaning to Black Americans. If we can't drive, we will invent walks and the world will envy the dexterity of our feet. If we can't have ham, we will boil chitterlings; if we are given rotten peaches, we will make cobblers; if given scraps, we will make quilts; take away our drums, and we will clap our hands. We prove the human spirit will prevail. We will take what we have to make what we need. We need confidence in our knowledge of who we are.

Life's blows cannot break a person whose spirit is warmed at the fire of enthusiasm.

Never talk defeat. Use words like hope, belief, faith, victory.

The cyclone derives its powers from a calm center. So does a person.

Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them. You will find that they haven't half the strength you think they have.

When every physical and mental resources is focused, one's power to solve a problem multiplies tremendously.

Stand up to an obstacle. Just stand up to it, that's all, and don't give way under it, and it will finally break. You will break it. Something has to break, and it won't be you, it will be the obstacle.

Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them. You'll find they haven't half the strength you think they have.