For whatever reason, God has blessed me with the ability, put me in a position to make these leaps and bounds. I’m fulfilling my part of the bargain, which is to give back and be a positive influence on others.
I don’t concern myself with award. I’d been to the party enough times to know it really didn’t matter.
Man gives you the award but God gives you the reward.
My mother used to tell me: “You gotta smile more. Because if you don’t smile, the way you look at people, they’ll think you’re mad at them.”
The greatest lesson I’ve learned in life is “Who knows what’s good or bad?” Things come along that you really want, and they turn out to be the worst thing in the world. And some of the worst tragedies that you can conceive turn out to be the best things, the exact medicine you need in that moment.
My faith helps me understand that circumstances don’t dictate my happiness, my inner peace.
I’m very proud to be black, but black is not all I am. That’s my cultural historical background, my genetic makeup, but it’s not all of who I am nor is it the basis from which I answer every question.
I say luck is when an opportunity comes along and you’re prepared for it.
I made a commitment to completely cut out drinking and anything that might hamper me from getting my mind and body together. And the floodgates of goodness have opened upon me – spiritually and financially.
Religion to me is when man gets ahold of spirituality: “My god is right, yours is wrong.” Religion to me is the human condition. “If you’re a Muslim, you can’t be a Christian.” That to me is religion.
You can’t break me because you didn’t make me.
I never really had the classic struggle. I had faith.
I think a role model is a mentor – someone you see on a daily basis, and you learn from them.
If you don’t trust the pilot, don’t go.
Cursed be the ground for our sake. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for us. For out of the ground we were taken, for the dust we are and to the dust we shall return.
The time to worrying about flying is when you’re on the ground. When you’re up in the air, it’s too late. No point in worrying about it then.
Nothing in life is worthwhile unless you take risks. Fall forward. Every failed experiment is one step closer to success.
Where I think the most work needs to be done is behind the camera, not in front of it.
Success? I don’t know what that word means. I’m happy. But success, that goes back to what in somebody’s eyes success means. For me, success is inner peace. That’s a good day for me.
The poorest people are the sweetest people.