It was incredible being on tour with Taylor Swift: she was the epitome of a professional, and she works so hard. For someone as successful as her to work that hard every night - truly inspirational.

It's as if inside the White House the belief in Obama's inspirational charisma is still such that every time the ugliness of brute politics intrudes, it's a startling revelation.

What's on my playlist when I'm fighting is not so much hip-hop. Sometimes, it's something more inspirational. I get a chance to think about what I'm fighting for, like, my family. It takes me to that state because a lot of times, it's a spiritual warfare for me.

I look up to a strong woman; maybe that's why I fell for Gaga. She works incredibly hard and is very strong and inspirational like Mom, with a great work ethic.

Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul.

Thelonious Monk was one of the musicians I most connected with early on. I'm a huge Betty Carter fan, and the way that Abbey Lincoln and Shirley Horn grew immensely from the time they were young is so inspirational.

Like the United Nations, there is something inspirational about New York as a great melting pot of different cultures and traditions. And if this is the city that never sleeps, the United Nations works tirelessly, around the clock around the world.

Seeing RuPaul go out there and not only create music, but TV and film roles, and continue to go down so many creative avenues - that is inspirational. For a person of color like myself, I see RuPaul and I say, 'Oh, honey, I can do it too.'

Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.

I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value.

The hymn 'Amazing Grace' is so inspirational - I wish I'd written it.

A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.

I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.

I wanted to write a book about what it's like to be 50 and trying to reinvent yourself - that struggle. There are all these books and inspirational speakers talking about being a lifelong learner, and it's so great to reinvent yourself, the brand of you. And I wanted to say, you know, it's not like that. It's actually really painful.

'Star Wars' is fun, its exciting, its inspirational, and people respond to that. It's what they want.

I used to make up stuff in my bio all the time, that I used to be a professional ice-skater and stuff like that. I found it so inspirational. Why not make myself cooler than I am?

God always gives His best to those who leave the choice with him.

If you want to know why the coast is such an inspirational place, ask Herman Melville, Jack London, Nordhoff and Hall, Robert Louis Stevenson or Joseph Conrad. It's a glimpse of eternity. It invites rumination, the relentless whisper of the tide against the shore.

Late in my career, I was asked to do an inspirational record and a duets album and I didn't want to do either.

I look up to a strong woman; maybe that's why I fell for Gaga. She works incredibly hard and is very strong and inspirational like Mom, with a great work ethic.