Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

~ William Ernest Henley (1849–1903)

"It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others."

—Marianne Williamson (Our Greatest Fear from the book "Return To Love", 1992)

"I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength
from distress, and grow brave by reflection."

-- Thomas Paine (1737-1809)

"He who finds diamonds must grapple in mud and mire because diamonds
are not found in polished stones.  They are made."

-- Henry B. Wilson

"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." 

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." 


- Nelson Mandela

"There is in every true woman's heart a spark of heavenly fire,
which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity; but which
kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity."

-Washington Irving