“Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! — I have as much soul as you, — and full as much heart!”

I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself.

I would always rather be happy than dignified.

I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.

There is no happiness like that of being loved by your fellow-creatures, and feeling that your presence is an addition to their comfort.

I am no bird; and no net ensnares me.

Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.

But still, like air, I'll rise.

Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.